LIVING HISTORY
AN ORIGINAL
8
SNOWBIRD
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Sen. Matthew Quay, who was suspected of using public funds for his own
profit, was often vilified by political cartoonists in major newspapers.
Gilded Age political boss left mark on
his adopted Treasure Coast home
BY JEAN ELLEN WILSON
The telegram from the White House addressed
to Honorable M.S. Quay at St. Lucie, Fla. was
delivered on Feb. 3, 1904. It read: “Telegram
received. Matter has been arranged exactly as
you desire it. Theodore Roosevelt.”
What manner of man residing in the tiny village of St.
Lucie on the banks of the Indian River in frontier Florida
enjoyed such favor from the president of the United States?
He was Matthew Stanley Quay, also known as Boss
Quay, a Gilded Age headline maker. A Republican senator
from Pennsylvania, he was the original snowbird on the
Treasure Coast.
The area’s history would have been different had it not
been for Matt Quay. He discovered a paradise that caused
others to come and become part of what the area is today.
A goodly number of U.S. senators as well as many Pennsylvania
officials discovered the Indian River area when
they accepted his hospitality.
For example, state Sen. James P. McNichols assisted the
Catholic church in its development in St. Lucie County.
The church was named in honor of his first wife, Anastasia,
as McNichols was able to influence the settlement of
some pioneering Catholic families in the area, including
the Forget and Guettler families.
Rep. William Vare was another Pennsylvanian who
came in Quay’s wake. He was one of the consortium that >>