Real History With Jeff LaHurd: Beloved by many, Charles Ringling left big mark on Sarasota

Of the seven Ringling brothers, only two, Augustus and Henry, did not involve themselves with the circus. The other five – Albert, Alfred T., Otto, Charles and John – formed what would evolve into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Combined Shows, and it made them wealthy.

It was John and Charles, particularly John, who became synonymous with Sarasota’s successful growth and claim of being the cultural hub of the Gulf Coast.

Charles has not been forgotten, of course, but his contributions to his adopted hometown are overshadowed by John’s many major achievements here.

Of the two men, Charles was by far the most liked, both on and off the circus lot. John was a gruff, no-nonsense taskmaster who sometimes berated his performers. According to his long-time personal secretary, Richard Fuchs, he was easily given to cursing.

According to John Ringling biographer, David Weeks, circus-man Fred Branda described his management style: “(He) conducted his affairs like a Moorish potentate; ornately, glitteringly, incredibly. No scene concocted by Cecil B. DeMille of Hollywood rivaled the manner in which he lived from day to day.”

“Mr. Charlie,” as the elder of the two was affectionately known, was a gentler soul. Kind and empathetic, he was not given to the stern lectures and domineering mannerisms of his brother. He was sought out for advice and counsel and was known for his charitable endeavors.

A historical marker text described Charles as “a sober, industrious individual who went to bed early, got up early and generally had a steadying influence on his more volatile brothers. He was tremendously popular with circus performers. They knew he never made a promise he couldn’t keep.”

So important was his reputation to his family that when local banks crashed during the Great Depression, Charles’ bank, the Ringling Bank and Trust Company, was the only one which paid depositors in full. Most banks were settling for approximately 18 cents on the dollar. Charles had died, but his widow, Edith, made up the difference with her own money.

Charles Ringling was born in McGregor, Iowa, on Dec. 2, 1863. As the Ringling Bros. Circus grew, each brother played an important role in the daily operation of the big top. According to Weeks, in the early years Charles led the band and played the violin (he also became proficient in many other instruments). John played a Dutch clown when the brothers were starting out, performing the town hall circuit.

As the circus prospered Charles took on the gargantuan task of being the show’s manager. Weeks offered, “[He] was to be the administrator of the whole crew. ... For this he was well suited; he could manage the tumult of circus life, yet he was always “Mr. Charlie” to the whole organization, a name suggesting their respect and affection.”

John was the advance man, scheduling the circus as it played in small communities across America. No mean feat given the number of dates, and how quickly the big top had to be raised, struck, the entire circus packed up before it left by rail for the next town to be raised, lowered, and packed up again, and again, and again. It was a logistical nightmare, but John became expert at the task.

After John and Mable moved to Sarasota in 1912, settling on the bayfront area then called Shell Beach, Charles and Edith came for a visit, fell in love with its beauty and potential and soon purchased acreage to the north of John’s pre-Ca’ d’Zan mansion.

The brothers were always in a friendly competition, be it in personal railway cars, yachts or homes. Charles Ringling and his family traveled by a private railway car, the Caledonia. In his memoir “Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story.” Henry Ringling North wrote, "Uncle Charles had a splendid car called the Caledonia, furnished in magnificent red plush and gold, with real lace curtains.”

John and Mable’s private Pullman cars over the years, first the Wisconsin (which can be seen in its restored glory at the Circus Museum within The Ringling) and then the Jomar, were both luxurious in every way with a private cook, servant, fine furniture and personal appointments such as a cigar holder attached to Ringling’s tub for his ever-present cigar.

When John was in town the Jomar rested on a rail spur off Strawberry Avenue that jutted into the bay for all to see. The preliminary plans for the first Ringling bridge to his developments on the keys offered tracks to run along the side of it for trains ala Henry Flagler and Henry Platt.

Over the years both brothers enjoyed the pleasures of grand yachts appropriately crewed and lusciously appointed. Each docked off Gulf Stream Avenue in front of the Sarasota Yacht and Automobile Club near the city pier. Their presence, the Herald assured, would draw other yachtsmen to the remarkably beautiful Sarasota Bay.

Each built a mansion reflective of their high social standing. John’s (of course) was wildly colorful and ostentatious. In fact, it was designed by Dwight James Baum to be “pretentious” – mirroring the Doge’s Palace on the Grand Canal in Venice.

As for Charles and Edith’s home, like Charles and Edith, it was grand but subdued. A home for their daughter, Hester, was attached by a colonnade. (The couple also had a son, Richard, who became a highly regarded opera singer.)

The twenty-room Italian Renaissance design was the work of noted architect Alfred C. Claus. While not as showy as Ca’d’Zan, the 20-room, 19,000-square-foot pink marble home remains a majestic site on Sarasota Bay. The home was completed in 1926, shortly before Charles passed away. Today the grand mansion and Hester’s home are a part of New College.

While John Ringling concentrated his efforts west of downtown on the barrier islands and others that he and Owen Burns dredged, filled, and beautified, brother Charles made his mark east into what had previously been scrub-filled wasteland. The Herald credited Charles and his son-in-law, Louis Lancaster, for transforming a “rubbish heap and sandy wastes into a Civic Center in two years.”

The move helped to extend the downtown area east. He purchased the golf course which John Hamilton Gillespie installed in 1905 and upon it platted his Court House Subdivision.

Charles donated the land upon which the courthouse would be built, and began construction of the Sarasota Terrace Hotel, at 10 stories the tallest building in the city.

Located near the recently opened Atlantic Coast Line Railway (“A tribute to the certainty of Sarasota’s future”), at 125 rooms it was billed as, “Far enough in to be convenient ... Far enough out to be pleasant.”

In 1927, the Herald reported that the hotel’s manager, the “always smiling” Hazen J. Titus had gained fame as the superintendent of the dining car system of the Northern Pacific Railways. The Herald further noted the “Hotel Sarasota Terrace and Hazen J. Titus blend in splendid combination.”

Thanks to Titus, “one of the best known and popular landlords in Dixieland,” the Terrace became one of the most fashionable gathering places in town with entertainment on the mezzanine and rooftop dining and dancing, with an unparalleled view of the city scape.

Holiday parties at the hotel were well attended. Local service clubs held their weekly meetings there, with the Kiwanis Club presenting Titus a pearl and diamond stickpin in recognition of the hospitality afforded to the club.

A novelty item which Titus had introduced to the dining cars of his railway with great success was the Great Big Baked Potato, which became a popular staple of the Terrace.

Titus bragged that every guest at Terrace would leave as a friend and booster of the hotel and Sarasota.

Across the street from the Terrace and constructed around the same time was the Charles Ringling Building, which, like the hotel, still stands. The reported $65,000 structure, the Herald described the building as “a small link in the mighty chain in the accomplishments of the Charles Ringling organization.”

The Spanish Mediterranean designed structure initially housed the University Club, Saunders Grocery Store, and the Triangle Drug Store. Abutting the four-story Archibald Furniture Company building, it rounded out a business block that became known as Terrace Square.

In 1926, Charles was the active president of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, the organization which had done so much to make Sarasota a go-to haven for snowbirds from around the country. When the hurricane of September of that year hit, he was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, traveling with the circus. He wired home inquiring about the destruction, assuring, “If there is any damage at all, Sarasota will repair it before the wind stops blowing.”

After a life well lived, Charlie died on Dec. 3, 1926; the day after his sixty-third birthday. The Sarasota Herald reported his death the next morning, noting that he had been ill for some time. The cause of death was reported as a cerebral hemorrhage; he was surrounded by family members and Dr. Joe Halton.

The grief over his death was palpable. In praising his life and achievements, the Herald eulogized him as a man “of great character,” writing, “The companion of presidents, he was a friend of the humblest citizen, a man who in his life and work set forth the best traditions of our American manhood.”

Jeff LaHurd was raised in Sarasota and is an award-winning author/historian.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Jeff LaHurd: Legacy of beloved ‘Mr. Charlie’ Ringling endures