LIVING HISTORY
erson Grocery Company, which is located on the south side.
Just a few years before the Raulerson building is completed,
Frank Raulerson built his home at 1033 Orange Ave. in 1922. The structure, which
has many of the touches used by architect William Hatcher, still stands today.
24
Frank and Annie Louise build a home at 1033 Orange
Ave., large for the time and, with its barrel-tile roof, arched
porch and Mediterranean influences, appears very likely
designed by Hatcher as well.
Not content to confine himself to the cattle and grocery
business, Raulerson in 1926 heads a syndicate that purchases
the local News-Tribune, recently created from a merger with
the Fort Pierce News and St. Lucie County Tribune. He and the
syndicate run the newspaper until selling it in 1929.
In 1927, Raulerson heads a group that forms the St. Lucie
County Cattleman’s Association consisting of about a dozen
ranchers, becoming its first president in 1930. Also during
this period, he becomes a member of the state Livestock Sanitary
Board, which issues requirements for how cattle are to
be treated in order to stop the spread of diseases such as tick
fever and brucellosis.
Raulerson gives up his seat on the Livestock Sanitary Board
in 1931 when he is elected to the state Senate, where he serves
until 1935, resigning before his second term ends. No explanation
is given for the resignation, although it is announced
with the same news as his reappointment to the Livestock
Sanitary Board — an indication that the proceedings of that
board were more important to him than those of the Florida
Senate. He serves on the sanitary board through at least the
middle of the next decade.
Frank Raulerson’s time on the county commission, the
Livestock Sanitary Board and Florida Senate might have
given him insight to execute his next business play: purchasing
large land tracts on which to graze cattle.
In the first quarter of the 20th century and earlier, land in
interior Florida was not seen as valuable. Before the creation
of drainage districts, which dug canals and built dikes that
made swampland usable for grazing, much of interior South
Florida was either marsh or run over with scrub.
OPEN RANGE’S LAST DAYS
In those days, cattle roamed freely, grazing wherever they
chose without fences. Branding — a process that uses heated
iron seared onto a cow’s hind leg to create a brand — helps
cattlemen identify their animals. Thus, early Florida cattlemen
placed the value on cattle instead of land and a single
steer could command far more money than a single acre. In
Frank Raulerson, left, after a successful bird hunt with dogs. Wife Annie
Louise is second from right and son Alfred is far right. The man second to
left is believed to be a cow skinner named Jim who worked for Raulerson.
Frank Raulerson completed the Raulerson Building in 1924. The Raulerson
Grocery Company was located on the south side of the building.
GREGORY ENNS
A downtown Fort Pierce landmark, the Raulerson Building still stands today
at Avenue A and Second Street.
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