By Marcy Shortuse & the Boca Grande History Center
There is no doubt that Banyan Street is
one of the most memorable sites on
Gasparilla Island. The giant, gnarled roots
and branches that sprawl across the top of
the street create shade during any time of
day, and you can feel the temperature drop
when you walk or drive along the middle
length between Park Avenue and Gilchrist
Avenue. It’s as if the “old sisters,” as some
call the massive trees, grant the blessing
of tranquility and respite to those who visit
them and travel under their canopy.
While the majority of historical documents
you fi nd about the massive trees on Banyan
Street describe their lives as beginning by
the hand of Peter Bradley, president of the
American Agricultural Chemical Company,
who allegedly told his employees to plant
the fi rst seeds, there is one document that
refutes that. It can be found in the Library
of Congress, in the pages of a piece called
“Historic American Landscapes Survey.” It
reads, “More research is needed to reveal
who planted this allée of banyan trees or
when they were planted … The Boca Grande
Land Company built half a dozen homes
along 2nd Street (later renamed Banyan
Street for the trees).
One home was built for Louis M. Fouts,
who was the manager of the railroad and
vice president of the real estate company.
According to the Boca Grande Historical
Society this block of trees was planted in
1915 as a part of Boca Grande’s fi rst street
planting effort. According to James Ingram,
however, an early settler planted the double
row of banyan trees.”
While Ingram was a known Gasparilla
Island historian held in high regard, to this
day, the consensus is that Bradley had the
trees planted.
80 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE • November/December • 2021
Photos submitted
Maybe someday that mystery will be
solved, as there are more and more pieces
of documentation regarding Boca Grande
turning up when people clean out their attics
or come across entries in old diaries and
prose.
The occupants of the houses on Banyan
Street over the years are unique as well.
From the railroad managers to investment
bankers, race car drivers and baseball
moguls, there is much to learn about the
occupants of Banyan Street.
The following is an article reprinted from
the Boca Grande History Center that ran in
the Boca Beacon in 2019. This piece is about
John Riley, a man who played a big part
in the railroad and the Boca Grande Land
Company in the early 1900s.
John Riley came to the island in 1908 to
work for the Boca Grande Land Company,
part of the American Agricultural and
Chemical Company. His job was to develop
and sell island real estate. John and his wife
Mary Gross Riley were both from Georgia
and had fi ve daughters – Joan (known as
Johnnie), Elizabeth (known as Ikey), Marie,
Laura and Ella (known as Helen).
Ella’s daughter, Helen Betty, along with
her husband Walter “Pete” Hawkins, shared
memories with the Boca Beacon in 1989.
Later, in 2012, Helen gave an oral history to
the Historical Society. In both, she shared
memories of her family and growing up on
the island.
Helen Betty’s mother Ella married Arthur
Johnson, a merchant marine, and left
the island in 1924. Helen Betty was born
two years later in Chicago. Helen Betty
remembers coming to live on the island
when she was in the third grade. Dad, Arthur
Johnson, was a captain with the Lykes Bros
History:
The Rileys, the railroad and Banyan Street