The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-04-16
WOODALL OF
INDUSTRIAL index
Is Taken with Palatka and
Notes some of Our
improvements.

The following is from the Indus
trial Index, published at Columbus,
Ca, one of the prominent trade pa
pers of the south, and which recently
published special Florida number
that reflects great credit on the pub
|lication and is certain to prove OF
.. material benefit to Florida. The ar
ticle is from the pen Of w. G. Wood
all managing editor and one of the
owners of the magazine. Mr.. Wood
. all visited Palatka while in the State
gathering data for the Florida Num-
ber. He says:
During the trip back from the
West Coast, it was my privilege to
spend a few hours in Palatka, and
while it was a short visit it was a
very interesting one. Palatka has a
very live commercial organization
, and very energetic secretary. Mo-
, ses Folsom is the man who has put
Palatka back on the map. Mr.. Fol-
som is veteran publicity expert and
drifted into board of trade work quite
naturally. For years he was in
charge of the publicity work of the
Hill railroad system, and everyone
familiar with the character of James
j. Hill realizes that he has only first
class talent for this particular job.
Back in those days the Associated
Press carried a good deal of matter
, that was, indirectly, of much adver-
) tising value to the Hill system. The
A. P. division manager would grum-
BILE in good-natured manner about
, the way Mr.. Folsom was putting
them over" on him, but had to admit
that the matter supplied had such
news val1e that it could not be omit
ed, even if it did incidently advertise
Mr.. Hill and his plans. With all
this experience, it was not surpris-
ing that Mr.. Folsom has succeeded
in perfectly legitimate way in hav-
ing hundreds of pages printed about
Palatka in the last two years. 1t
may not be amiss in this connection
that he is one of the livest of The
. Industrial IndeX's Florida cores
, pondents.
W. W. Tilghman, manager of the
} Ford Motor Co., was kind enough
to offer to show me Palatka and did
the job in a very thorough manner.
. Mr.. Tilghman was in somewhat de-
; pressed spirits to begin with, doubt
; less due to the fact that of the 40
automobiles sold in his county in a
certain recent period only 33 were
Fords, but soon regained his usual
Jolly mood. The trip in, through,
/ around and about Palatka was made
, in a Ford "skeeter" or scooter" the
exact official designation of said ma
, chine not being known to said depo-
! nent, and as the boys would say, it
/ was some journey. l believe that |
could prepare reasonably accurate
map of the place from memory, as
Mr.. Tilghman in his patriotism ne
elected no street or avenue or
, thoroughfare. After we had passed
the Davis tank works about three
; times, each time approaching Eit from
a digerent angle, began to feel very
much at home, the landscape becom-
ling more and more familiar. Ever
and anon Mr. Tilghman would call
attention to various blocks of houses
either in course of erection or that
had just been completed, and desig-
mated various and sundry lots upon
which edifces of varying character
and cost were to be erected in the i'm
mediate future. Even after allow
ing for tracking and cross-firing
and approaching the same residences
from the rear after having first,
few minutes before, obtained an eX-
cellent front view, one could see that
there has been remarkable amount
of blilding in Palatka during the
past year or two. AS a matter Of
fact the proportion of new structures
was rather extraordinary and fully
substantiated the claims that have
been made relative to, Palatka's
marked progress in recent years.
By and by Mr.. Tilghman turned
his trusty gasoline-driven st4ed to-
ward the suburbs and after a few
breathless turns we had reached an
elevated tract just outside the city
limits. One would hardly expect to
find hills in this section of Florida,
land yet here was an elevation of 80
feet, with the beautiful st. Johns
River in one of its many turns al
most tapping its base. A fine view
of the city is had from this location.
IMr Tilghman admitted that this
would be an ideal location for su-
burban homes, owing to the elevation,
fine view and the fact that the tract
lis just a mile from the courthouse;
and added that this thought had oc-
Cured to himself and associates
when they bought it. 1t is planned
to develop the land into a high-grade
residential suburb
We surveyed the Promised Land
from the road for while and then
Mr.. Tilghman thought that it would
be nice for US to get a closer, more
intimate view, so he pointed his Ford
that way, threw open the throttle
and gave his machine a word of en-
couragement, and the next moment It
had aecended the bank and diyed
right into the midst of this choice lot
of real estate. At first the car SEEM
ed to prefer the stumps and bushes,
over which it glided to fine effect, but
afterwards grew partial to plowed
ground. The point is that it took us
safely through all our perils,. never
baking and spilling neither one of
the passengers. Riding along the
public highway, even at a pretty live