659 Ohio Place – “”E.J. Bacon House”
659 Ohio Place was built in 1914 and was once the home of the popular mayor, E.J. Bacon. His slogan was “Closer, Cheaper, Dryer, Better”.
When Everett Bacon arrived in Sarasota from Ohio in 1910, Sarasota was a small fishing village community. Seeing that Sarasota had a future, Bacon formed a partnership with J.W. Baxter, who was in the real estate business. He later expanded into the insurance field. He worked in Sarasota until 1917 when he moved to Tampa. He returned to Sarasota in 1920 and re-established his insurance and real estate business. Primarily a businessman, Bacon also had an interest in city and county politics. His first elected office was a two-year term as Sarasota City Councilman in 1915. He later was elected Justice of the Peace for the 7th district of Manatee County. In 1921 when Sarasota County was created, he was elected to the same office for the entire county.
In late 1921, Bacon was elected Mayor of the City of Sarasota. Sarasota wanted to promote itself as the place for tourists to spend the winter. Mayor Bacon began the task of attracting business people who would be willing to invest in the new county. One problem was that Sarasota lacked a first-class hotel in the early 1920s. The most modern hotel at that time was the Belle Haven Inn, which was built in 1886.
Bacon, along with other prominent business people in Sarasota, convinced builder Andrew McAnsh to build a first-class hotel. McAnsh agreed to the project once he got the City of Sarasota to give him free electric power and water and no property taxes for 10 years. By the fall of 1923, the Mira Mar Hotel opened and was the finest in the City of Sarasota.
One of Bacon’s major accomplishments was the building of the City Pier. He had supported the first one that the city built in 1918. In 1921, the bay front was a collection of old wooden piers and fishing shacks. A hurricane in October of that year took most of these piers down. The city decided that one central pier would be ideal for the bay front. They wanted a storm-proof concrete Municipal Pier. A $75,000 bond issue for constructing a 700-foot concrete pier was approved on July 3, 1922.
The bond ordinance stated that the pier use was to be purely recreational. The city was determined that it would not be used for warehouses, fish houses and machine shops as the old pier had been. The construction was delayed by rising costs for materials. The pier was not finished until the winter of 1923-24.
Bacon served five terms as mayor, totaling 10 years. Bacon’s tenure saw Sarasota change from a small town to a growing city. In 1931 Bacon decided not to run again for mayor. He retired to private life and continued with his previous business ventures. He died on October 23, 1958.