Frizzell A. C.

 

					Frizzell, Arthur C.
Biographical Summary	Arthur C. Frizzell, "A.C.," was one of Florida’s largest cattle and land barons. In the early part of the 1900, if not the man himself, his name was known by mostly everyone in Southwest Florida. His cattle roamed the open range on his sprawling ranch which extended from Charlotte Harbor to DeSoto County east, north to Sarasota and down the Myakka River. His total land ownership added up to 100,000 acres of what is now Charlotte and Sarasota Counties. The son of a poor Alabama farmer, Frizzell was a self-made man without the benefit of even an eighth grade education. He had dropped out of school, and by the age of 20, worked in steel mill, studying bookkeeping on the side to later land a job as a shipping clerk for a railroad. Shortly after meeting his wife, known as "Miss Pattie," they moved to a small town near Wauchula, Florida, where they worked for the Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railroad. Three years later in about early 1918, they transferred to a station at Murdock, where they earned salaries that totaled only $118 per month. They resided upstairs in the train depot, and lived off the land with Frizzell working a vegetable farm, hunting in the Murdock woods, and raising hogs and cattle on a nearby abandoned farm. All the while they saved, reportedly stashing their money in their mattress, because "Miss Pattie" did not trust banks. In 1920, Frizzell entered his first land venture spending $800 for a four-year turpentine lease on about 760 acres of Murdock land. Soon after he began turpentine operations, he was fired from his railroad job for working in his garden. He subsequently bought the Murdock general store and post office for $600, which included two and a half acres of land. Customers included hundreds of farmers, hunters, loggers, cattlemen, and turpentine workers who lived in the nearby woods. Three months after the store purchase, Frizzell bought more Murdock acreage, the Murdock Hotel, a boarding house next door, and the old frame home where he and "Miss Pattie" would live for 30 years. Over the years, he with his wife, built an empire. They bought and sold real estate, ran their general store, post office, two lumberyards in Punta Gorda, and sawmills in three counties. Their large cattle ranch became "a showplace, a monument to the development of ranches in Florida." owned and operated lumber yards, hardware stores, and car dealerships in both Charlotte County and Lee County. And for more than 40 years the Frizzell’s humanitarian efforts were felt throughout Charlotte County, many who lived in Punta Gorda. They helped family and friends buy homes and start businesses. They provided their employees with a security they would never have known at that time: with homes, a church and school, medical care, financial aid, and Santa on the ranch once a year with gifts for all of the children. They volunteered crews and mules to help build Highway 41. In 1954, Frizzell sold his ranch for $2,300,000. The sale of 78,000 acres was the largest land deal between private parties in the state of Florida. The sale led to the development of Port Charlotte and North Port. Thanks to Cheryl Frizzell, granddaughter of A.C. Frizzel, for contributing this story from her research.