An 'all together' push and a war on peddlers: How the Tallahassee Chamber was born a century ago

In June 1909, a coterie of businessmen met with the hopes of pushing Tallahassee and Leon County forward and said there needed to be an organization that could pool their resources "all together for Tallahassee."

An article dated June 25, 1909, in the Weekly True Democrat described the sentiment of the business climate as told by the then editor.

"It had been so often said ... that the people of Tallahassee are satisfied ... and have no desire to see the town grow, will not assist in any effort at promotion and many other remarks," the excerpt said. "But a determined effort to have them meet and organize and unite as one man for Tallahassee's good has been great in its results."

That meeting prompted the creation of the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and the organization's inaugural officers, newspaper archives show.

Fourteen years later, the Chamber received its charter as a non-profit on Jan. 9, 1923, and passed its first resolution at its first official meeting days later.

"Resolved to waste less and work more; to hate less and love more; to dream less and do more; to be a booster, not a whiner; a leader, or at least a loyal follower; to be honest with myself, my fellow man, my Maker; to make my work a service of hand and heart and head; to live the golden rule, and to ask no greater success than the rewards thereof."

Fast forward 100 years, some of those same ideals and calls for action resonate as the Chamber now celebrates its milestone chapter while also balancing economic wins and challenges, including Tallahassee's poverty rate, a tricky political climate and job creation needs.

Sue Dick sits in a unique seat as the organization's longest serving president and CEO. Her 21-year tenure touches a host of initiatives and business-led campaigns that includes a working group that eventually led to the passage of Blueprint 2000 and the half-penny sales tax — all she said helped moved the community forward.

"In the last 20 years, there are many examples of that but when I look back at how the Chamber was started, it really stayed the same," Dick said. "It's definition of community leaders coming together to move the community forward. It just depends on where you are on the timeline of history. That's the theme that goes across."

Even the challenges of yesterday echo today. For example, days before incorporating, the Chamber launched a push to keep "peddlers out of this city."

"Every week a number of men and women peddlers call at offices and homes, taking orders for household and office supplies and clothing. These itinerant merchants take business from the home stores and pay nothing in the way of license nor taxes for the upkeep of local government," a Democrat article dated Jan. 23, 1929 reported. "This is a gross injustice to local merchants who not only pay license and taxes but also contribute heavily, each year, to various community enterprises."

The then-Chamber urged residents to support local businesses, which Dick says aligns with the organization's stance today. Through the years, the chamber has also advocated for infrastructure expansion and efforts that could expand Tallahassee's tourism and economic development.

In recent years, especially amid a persistent violent crime problem, the Chamber has joined calls for more community involvement and created tools like the "Community Scorecard" to reveal a quick view of the community's progress and shortcomings.

Dick said the journey really has been about the "last word in our name, which is commerce."

Whether it was in 1922 or 2022, it really is about creating commerce to drive the overall quality of life for everyone in our community," Dick said.

A TALLAHASSEE CHAMBER TIMELINE

1920 to 1930

1921 — Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce elected into membership of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States

1921 — Chamber champions an effort to help fund public schools and keep schools operating on normal schedule.

Jan. 9, 1923 — The new charter for the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce was approved by Judge E.C. Love, making it an incorporated not-for-profit organization. Over the course of six years, Chamber offers support in lifting cattle tick quarantine, creating of a statewide radio system, sponsoring Tallahassee's original airport and field, Dale Mabry Field. Another vital effort during this time was securing a hotel for Tallahassee after a large fire consumed the Leon Hotel.

1930 – 1940

1939 – Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce approves new city office building.

1940 to 1950

1947 – A special committee headed by Weldon G. Starry offered assistance and guidance toward more investment in public universities in Tallahassee.

1950 to 1960

1953 – The Chamber sponsors road signs to help direct tourists toward Florida’s capital city.

1960 to 1970

1962 – The Chamber wins merit competition from Gov. Farris Bryant; first place in class for cities with 25,000 to 75,000 residents.

1966 – Tallahassee Chamber Committee 100 forms to promote Tallahassee Industrial Park and other industrial developments.

1967 – Tallahassee becomes the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. and leads the state in family income – resulting in a record year of business growth. Some announcements that year included a new Holiday Inn hotel, terminal construction for Greyhound, construction of the Tallahassee Democrat building, opening of Killearn Golf & Country Club, expansion of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (now named Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare) and the construction of Tallahassee Junior College (now Tallahassee Community College) and Lively Vocational Technical Center.

1970 to 1980

1970 – The groundwork for establishing the Downtown Improvement Authority began in conjunction with the Central Business District Committee and the Chamber’s Local Government Committee. The goal was to revitalize Tallahassee central city area.

1970 – The Chamber joined the Tri-State Connector Association in an effort to establish an interstate between Tallahassee and Columbia, South Carolina.

1970 – Chamber’s Better Business Division, a year old, processed more than 170 complaints regarding local businesses in an effort to hold Chamber members and local business accountable.

1980 to 1990

1983 – Chamber launches Leadership Tallahassee program. Also served as Tourism Marketing until the endorsement and passage of bed tax in 1986.

1990 to 2000

The Chamber’s strategy shifts from attracting more industries to more focus on local business, in addition to more focus on research at Florida A&M and Florida State universities.

1995 – Chamber Project 2010 officially incorporated as the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee-Leon County.

1996 – Chamber fights to keep Enterprise Florida in Tallahassee to insure representation of economic development opportunities.

1998 – Chamber works two years as a member of the Economic Environmental Consensus Committee that created the initial Blueprint 2000 plan., which leads to business leaders raising money for Blueprint 2000 ballot campaign.

2000 – 2010

2007 – The annual conference takes place outside of Tallahassee.

2010 – 2023

2012 – Chamber convenes business leaders to extend passage of half penny sales tax for capital improvements in Leon County.

2016 – The Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County was dissolved and a new economic development structure is formed.

2021 – Chamber rolls out “Community Scorecard,” an at-a-glance look at a dozen metrics ranging from poverty rate to total violent crime index.

A list of the Chamber's past chairs

Previous Godfrey Smith Award Winner in Bold and Italic. *deceased

• *T.J. Appleyard  (1923-1925)

• *Irvin Yates  (1926)

• *Frank D. Moor  (1927-1928)

• *Lewis M. Lively  (1929)

• *Payne H. Midyette  (1930)

• *Jack W. Simmons  (1931)

• *G.E. Lewis  (1932)

• *J.A. Cawthon  (1933)

• *L.D. Fain  (1934)

• *Frank S. Shaw  (1935)

• *Fred N. Lowry  (1936)

• *Ralph E. Proctor  (1937)

• *Charles S. Ausley  (1938)

• *Rainey Cawthon  (1939)

• *F. Wilson Carraway  (1940)

• *Godfrey Smith  (1941)

• *Benson Skelton  (1941)

• *Phelps W. Long  (1942)

• *John M. Tapers  (1943)

• *Moseley C. Collins  (1944)

• *J. Velma Keen  (1945-46)

• *Al B. Block  (1947)

• *J. Velma Keen  (1948)

• *J. Kenneth Ballinger  (1949)

• *John Y. Humphress  (1950)

• *M. Julian Proctor  (1951)

• Edwin M. Clark  (1952)

• *Ben C. Willis  (1953)

• *Louis Hill  (1954)

• *Ed Steinmeyer  (1955)

• *Blair C. Stone  (1956)

• *W. Judd Chapman  (1957)

• *Fred O. Drake, Jr.  (1958)

• *J. D. Williamson  (1959)

• *R. Spencer Burress  (1960)

• *Ernest Menendez  (1961)

• *H. Jack Yaeger, Jr.  (1962)

• Payne H. Midyette, Jr.  (1963)

• W. Paul Shelley, Jr.  (1964)

• *Frank M. Dennis  (1965)

• Gene Berkowitz  (1966)

• *Robert T. Brinkley  (1967)

• James E. Joanos  (1968)

• *William P. Malloy  (1969)

• C. DuBose Ausley  (1970)

• *Edward K. Walker  (1971)

• Bernie Shiell  (1972)

• *Bill Cartee  (1973)

• *B. Cheever Lewis  (1974)

• *Ryals E. Lee  (1975)

• *James Elliott Messer  (1976-1978)

• *W. Taylor Moore  (1979-1980)

• Roger Smith  (1981)

• Thomas Perrin  (1982)

• J. Brent Pichard  (1983)

• George R. Langford  (1984)

• William L. Sutton  (1985)

• Robert W. West  (1986)

• Bruce Culpepper  (1987)

• Lawton (Bud) Chiles III  (1988)

• John R. Lewis  (1989)

• Ivan Johnson, III  (1990)

• John Perry Thomas  (1991)

• *Ronald C. LaFace  (1992)

• *Frank S. Shaw, Jr.  (1993)

• J. Everitt Drew  (1994)

• William D. Colledge  (1995)

• Doris S. Dunlap  (1996)

• William G. Smith, Jr. (1997)

• Mark T. Mustian (1998)

• Karen B. Moore (1999)

• William F. Butler (2000)

• Henree D. Martin (2001)

• Thomas A. Barron (2002)

• Kim B. Williams (2003)

• J. Jeffrey Wahlen (2004)

• Erin Ennis (2005)

• Bryan Desloge (2006)

• Randall W. Hanna (2007)

• Ron Sachs (2008)

• Glenda Thornton (2009)

• Matt Brown (2010)

• Todd Sperry (2011)

• Bill Moor (2012)

• Winston Howell (2013)

• E. Edward Murray Jr. (2014)

• Rick Moore (2015)

• Kathy Bell (2016)

• Reggie Bouthillier (2017)

• Heidi Otway (2018)

• Mark O’Bryant (2019)

• Beth Corum (2020)

• Jay Smith (2021)

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce celebrates 100 years