Moving the Historic House on Goldstein Street a Yard or even a Few Inches at a Time

Fritz Quednau moved to Punta Gorda from Germany in the late 1800s and opened a cigar factory on Marion Avenue – the town’s first. He and his wife had three sons, one of whom, Fred, was born in 1892 in a modest cottage at 220 Goldstein Street. When young Fred was four years old, his father died and his mother had to go out and work to feed her family. Among those she worked for was Mrs. Issac Trabue, the founder of Punta Gorda.

Young Fred and his brothers left school at an early age to work on the run boats, which carried goods south as far south as the Smallwood Trading Post. At 17, Captain Fred Quednau was the youngest captain to sail the waters around Charlotte Harbor. After a long courtship, he married Belle McBean (he and Belle were the second couple to be married in the new Charlotte County). Belle often joined Fred on his sailing trips, along with their daughter Henryetta “Tosie”.

After Fred gave up his sailing, he ran a restaurant on Marian Avenue and later became Sheriff of Charlotte County. Tosie grew up here, and frequently played in the halls of the old Punta Gorda Hotel. She married Jack Hindman, with whom she had two children. Tosie Quednau Hindman was Supervisor of Elections for over twenty years and well-known and respected in Punta Gorda. She died in 2009 in the house on Goldstein Street where her father, Fred, was born.

The house is a true Cracker ‍house with one huge middle room and smaller rooms off to the side. Its layout and history makes it ideal for the goal the Punta Gorda Historical Society has lined up for it — to move it to the History Park on Shreve and make it into a new youth museum.

The Hindman’s two sons have agreed to give the Historical Society an opportunity to save the historical building. The issue is a tight time table -- the house has to be moved before the eagles return to their nest in the Park about October 1. According to Louie Desquin of the Historical Society, who is heading up the project along with Gussie Baker and other members of the Society, “If we don’t raise the money and get the ‍house moved by then, it will be sold and likely torn down.”

The goal is to raise $150,000 to move and then renovate the house, some of which has already been raised through donations and the Florida Cracker Dinner a few weeks back.

So Louie is asking the community to help move the house a few inches, a foot or yards at a time by donating $25 to move it 6 inches, $50 to move it a foot, or $100 to move it a yard. Many long-time Punta Gordans remember the old youth museum on Retta Esplanade and envision that this new museum will serve and benefit the current youth of the community much in a way the old museum benefited them – it will give them a place to learn more about the history of the area and participate in art and other classes.

For more information on donating to this project, contact the Punta Gorda Historical Society. 

Sources:

Angie Larkin, "In Old Punta Gorda" for information on the Quednaus.