Early in the 1900s, the land that is now Temple Terrace was acquired by Mrs. Bertha Palmer, a renowned businesswoman and socialite from Chicago. After the death of her husband, she set her sites on the beauty Florida held and set up her main residence in Sarasota. She originally purchased the land that is now Temple Terrace as grounds for a hunting preserve. Mrs. Palmer died in 1918, and her land was purchased by Burks Hamner, Vance Helm, Maude Fowler, and D. Collins Gillette. Two development corporations were formed to develop the golf course and residential areas. Temple Terraces Inc. developed the largest orange grove in the world in the 1920s, totaling 5,000 acres. (HSP)
