Eliza Webb- Guptil

Eliza Webb-Guptil, purchased the land at 558 South Osprey on March 20,1920.  She was the daughter of John G. Webb, an important early pioneer of the Osprey area.  At the time of the purchase her husband Frank Guptil, who was also an early settler of the Osprey area, was deceased.

John Webb, originally moved to Sarasota south of Osprey, which was known as Webb’s Point.  After several years of rough pioneer life, the Webbs established Webb’s Winter Resort (in Osprey) and advertised it in several Northern papers.  The Webbs are credited with attracting many people to the area who would later return to make Sarasota their home.

In 1879, Eliza married Captain Frank Guptil, a sailor and boat builder who have moved to the area several years before.  Captain Guptil built a home at Webb’s Point that he and Eliza would live in until Mrs. Paler purchased Webb’s Point.  The Guptils then moved to Siesta Key where they built a bungalow.  Frank Guptil passed away on August 24, 1912.

Both Eliza and her sister, Anne Griffith (who was also widowed), shared the house on Osprey Ave.  The sisters remained in the house until their deaths — Anne in 1943 and Eliza in 1944.

The home continued to be occupied by the descendants of the Webb family, with Mrs. Walter J. Bryan residing there through 1959.