In 1884, Colonel Isaac Trabue declared his 30 acres along the Charlotte Harbor to be the Town of Trabue. He then negotiated with the Florida Southern Railway to end their rail expansion along Florida’s Gulf Coast near his property so he could build a luxury hotel. The first train arrived in 1886, the town was renamed Punta Gorda in 1887 and the hotel opened in 1888. This mural of the founding father was first painted by Richard Currier in 1997 and was restored in 2009. Off camera to his left is a portrait of Henry Plant who built the railroad.
