Howard Cheney - Well Respected Grocer on Fruitville Who Lived on 6th

Mr. Howard Cheney was born on December 6, 1894 in Stephens, Georgia. He was the son of Enoch and Martha Cheney. He was educated in public schools in Stephens and later attended Gibson-Mercer College in Bowman, Georgia and the Athens Business College in Athens, Georgia before he became a clerk in a general merchandise store in Stephens. He was a veteran of World War I in which he served in the field artillery. He came to Sarasota from Stephens, Georgia in January, 1926.

Cheney married Mary Howard Cheney on February 24, 1920. Mrs. Cheney was also a native of Stephens, Georgia. She was a graduate of Greensboro College for Women, Greensboro, North Carolina. She came to Sarasota with Mr. Cheney in 1926 and became a leader in the church work of the First Baptist Church and its missionary society and was involved in social work in the city. She was an active member of the Garden Club and the Red Cross.

Howard Cheney was first employed as a salesman at J.L. Wynne's Grocery at 109 E 9th Street. The Cheneys resided with Wynne at 222 Indiana, a continuation of 11th Street. Cheney worked for Wynne until at least 1930 and by about 1936 he had taken over the store. It was by then renamed Cheney's Market. Cheney's brother, Joseph P. Cheney, operated a service station on nearby Central Avenue.

In 1941, he relocated his grocery business, Cheney's Market, to what is today Fruitville Road, at the corner of Orange Avenue. His business was successful and it was necessary to enlarge and remodel the store three times over the years. By the 1940s, Cheneys Market was considered to be Sarasota's longest established independent market. The store would continue in operation until the 1970s. Mr. Cheney was active in both the Rotary Club and the American Legion in Sarasota.

Mary Cheney died in 1946 and Howard Cheney remarried in 1948. His second wife, Edna Howard Cheney, was his first wife's sister. Edna Cheney was also born in Stephens, Georgia and came to Sarasota to live in 1948. Howard Cheney had a son, Howard O. Cheney, Jr., and two daughters, Caroline Cheney Green, and Lucyle Cheney Betz. Lucyle married John "Jack" C. Betz who came to Sarasota when he was three months old. He served as a city commission from 1964 until 1971 and as mayor for three one-year terms. He was appointed by Governor Reubin Askew to serve on Florida's environmental Regulation Commssion and the Board of Business Regulation. He was employed as senior Vice President of Richmond Construction Corp. Betz was also a former movie stuntman and coached swimming and football, as well as taught math at Sarasota High School.

Mr. and Mrs. Cheney continued to live in the house until their deaths. Mr. Cheney passed away in October of 1961 and Mrs. Cheney died in January of 1977. Subsequently, Lucyle Cheney Betz became the owner and her daughter, Buff Betz, and her family lived in the house for a number of years. Other Cheney family descendants lived in the house in later years." The house remained under the ownership of the Betz family, until Jack Betz's death in 1998 and it was sold to the present owner.

Cheney's Market on Fruitville still stands but, within the last ten years, the building was again altered by the demolition of a portion of its main facade. This occurred when Fruitville Road was widened, but the inscription "Cheney's Market" can still be seen scored into the stucco near the roof line.

The Howard Cheney House (pictured above) was locally designated by the City of Sarasota in 1999. To continue reading this article, click here.

Yesterday's Sarasota Calendar

Every day of the year we highlight what took place in Sarasota's history, thanks to Whit Rylee and Tom Payne's extensive research and sense of humor. Frequently check our website's homepage to find out what occured today.

For example, Tomorrow in 1956, the Chamber of Commerce held its first open house to allow Sarasotans to view the new, blue-tile-roofed, facility on U.S. 41. Victor A. Lundy was the architect. Karl Bickel, former President of United Press International, was instrumental in finding the crowning touch, the Japanese turquoise-colored roof tiles used. The 2,000 square foot building later became the home of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau. Today it stands empty. Hopefully the City will find an important use for this classic Sarasota School of Architecture structure.

To learn more about the highly recognized "Pagoda Building", click here. The more you know...

Edith Ringling was a Force Behind the Circus

When, as a teenager, she met Charles Ringling in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Edith Conway had never been to a circus.

By the time she died in 1953, she had become such a fixture at the big top that the press often called her the "Queen" or "Mother" of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

(photo credit: Sarasota County History Center)

With her marriage to Charles in 1890, Edith Ringling became part of the circus. She took tickets when the circus had three elephants and the show was small enough to be performed in a neighborhood. She traveled with the show nearly every year until 1950, except for a period after Charles' death in 1926. By the time a Christian Science Monitor reporter interviewed her in 1932, she was "running the show" for a week in John Ringling North's absence; the show then included 40 elephants, 30 tents, 1,600 people and required 100 railroad cars to move it.

Edith and Charles Ringling, along with Mable and John Ringling, visited Sarasota in 1911 at the behest of business acquaintances. The following year, the two couples purchased adjoining properties along Sarasota Bay. In 1924, work began on Charles Ringlings' Italian Renaissance mansion. Veneered in pink Etowah marble from Georgia, the two-story U-shaped home surrounded a terrace open to the bay.

To learn more about this remarkable woman, click here.