LIVING HISTORY
BACK TO ‘THE COMPOUND’
Next I revisited “the compound,” the one-block area on
Orange Avenue between 10th and 11th Street where Frank
Raulerson built his Mediterranean-revival style house in
1922. Raulerson had hired noted architect William Hatcher to
design his impressive Raulerson Building downtown about
the same time and it’s likely Hatcher designed Raulerson’s
home as well. Many of those details — such as the barrel tile
roof are gone — but the arches remain.
The block, which includes the Raulerson house, the old
Cow Creek corporate office, the house Tommy and Diane
lived in and various other houses, today is owned by the
Brackett Family Limited Partnership.
The partnership was founded by Bob Brackett, who
sparked a renaissance in downtown Fort Pierce by renovating
28
214 Orange Avenue, the old McCrory’s building on South
Second Street and then the Arcade Building on U.S. 1, now
known as Kraus Square. Brackett, who lives in Vero Beach,
also renovated the Theatre Plaza, Pueblo Arcade and Courthouse
Executive Center, Seminole Building and the Seminole
Courtyard in Vero Beach.
After Tommy and Jo Ann lost the compound to foreclosure in
1991, it went through several owners, including Alpha Health
Services, which used it as an inpatient treatment facility.
The Brackett family partnership bought the property from
Alpha Health Services in 2001 for $335,000. Today, the property
has an estimated $1,039,400 market value, according to
St. Lucie County property records.
Since purchasing the property, the Brackett family has
leased it to Counseling and Recovery Center Inc., which runs
the Village of CRC there, a residential center for women with
A modern-day view of ‘the compound,’ now a drug treatment facility. The
historic Raulerson house is in the foreground and the old Cow Creek corporate
office is to the left.
substance abuse issues or recurring mental health disorders.
After checking with the management of CRC to get permission
for a tour, Brackett meets me at the compound one
morning and shows me around. We climb up the stairs to
the old corporate office, where the focal point remains the
big Cow Creek safe — no longer used to store valuables —
that used to be housed in the Raulerson Building and which
Tommy had moved when he built the new corporate office.
Other signs of the old Sloan days are the iron gates in the
shape of the Cow Creek cloverleaf brand, shutters decorated
with the brand and, of course, the giant swimming pool in >>
A limited family partnership founded by Bob Brackett purchased ‘the
compound’ in 2001. Brackett sparked downtown revitalization efforts in
Fort Pierce and Vero.
Before walls were constructed around
‘the compound,’ the Raulerson home
was a popular party venue for the
annual Cattleman’s Day Parade that
marched past the home and featured
the Cow Creek unit.
The wrought iron gates to the old Cow
Creek corporate office uses the ranch’s
cloverleaf brand for decoration.
A pool shaped in the form of a cloverleaf, the Cow Creek brand, still functions
at the compound, now used as a drug treatment facility.