Letter: Albert Lewis marker dedication

Letter: Albert Lewis marker dedication

Sheila Bacon Greenleaf
St Augustine, FL

Dear editor:

Friends and neighbors in the South Dixie Highway community will soon gather to dedicate one of St Augustine’s newest historical markers.

Albert Lewis, a winter resident and lumber baron from Pennsylvania considered St Augustine as his second home and bestowed his philanthropist ideals on our city. In addition to his generosity to many local projects, he beautified and improved many streets and avenues.

Lewis served as President of the Good Roads League, whose goal was to promote better roads within the State. Many roads in the area still bear his name.

In 1904, Albert Lewis built a brick trough on South Dixie Highway that would service animals coming in and out of the City. This trough is believed to be one of only two remaining troughs in the City from the Flagler Era.

The dedication will be on Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., at 92 South Dixie Highway, the former site of the San Juan Trailer Park, just south of SR-207.

The erection of this marker represents extensive research and outstanding support from businesses and Friends of South Dixie Highway. I am excited about this project and hope that you will be able to join us for this marker dedication which documents this trough as an integral part of the rich history of St Augustine and St Johns County.