Even the sidewalks were wooden, as were the overhangs that protected shoppers from the elements. Rural residents came to Arcadia each weekend. They bought groceries, got haircuts, picked up a new shirt or two—but mostly, they talked. Arcadia was a meeting place.
Then came Thanksgiving Day, 1905.

Something still not known happened in a downtown stable and fire was seen coming from its windows as evening fell. Bucket brigades were quickly formed, but a wicked wind fanned the flames until they leaped wooden building to wooden building. Before long, efforts to control the fire were abandoned.

Arcadia, sidewalks and all, burned to the ground.

The day after Thanksgiving, the entire downtown—several square blocks—lay in blackened ruins.
Soon after, city leaders convened a meeting and decreed that rebuilding would be done with block and stone only. No wooden buildings. Walk down Oak Street, the main street in downtown Arcadia today, and atop most buildings can be seen a placement block reading "1906."

The entire town was rebuilt that year. It has changed little since.

Today, downtown Arcadia is famed for its antique stores. There are at least 20, and the number changes constantly. The town and its stores are a step back in time. Browsing triggers memories among shoppers that they feel compelled to share.

"My momma had one of these! She used it all the time. We threw it out after she died. Now look at this price."

A must-visit downtown is the Opera House. Once this was a place of pure entertainment—stage and screen. Now it's more like a museum where you can buy the contents. Many dealers share the building, reached after a steep climb up stairs leading off Oak Street.

After that, walk a half-block down Polk Avenue to the Hot Fudge Shoppe. All the ice cream is made on the premises. Not expensive, either.

While the antique district attracts outside visitors, downtown Arcadia offers little or nothing for the locals. And many now suggest that downtown Arcadia must diversify its shops if it is to survive.

You’d think Arcadia’s most valuable assets would be along the Peace River, which runs through the town. In most towns with rivers, riverfront property is the most desirable. Not here. South of State Road 70, along the river in Arcadia, lies an unsightly industrial wasteland of railroad cars and junked buses. Railroad tracks parallel the river. It's such a waste—a festering sore where beauty belongs. You just know some future developer will buy it all, throw the trash out and erect high-rise condominiums there.

Right now, however, the development interest is along Kings Highway from Port Charlotte and State Road 31 from Fort Myers. A Cape Coral developer has also put together sizable acreage along U.S. 17 from Punta Gorda.

The biggest buyer, however, is billionaire Brad Kelley, who made his fortune by starting a cigarette company in 1991. One of his brands, USA Gold, became the nation's fifth-best-selling cigarette and Kelley parlayed his startup investment into a billion-dollar sale of the company in its 10th year.

He began buying enormous chunks of land in southeastern DeSoto County, as well as in Texas and New Mexico. On these properties, he told the press, he would let endangered animals roam free. So that seems the fate of eastern DeSoto. Endangered animals are replacing canker-infected citrus trees.

Kelley lives in Kentucky and his purchases—totaling well over $40 million—have been made through a Venice attorney.

Developer interest has made rich folks of formerly good old boys and girls. County Commissioner Terry Welles, for instance, is a descendant of a long-time DeSoto family. Not long ago, he sold some pasture along U.S. 17 for a reported $27 million. Welles said the actual figure was nobody's business but his, then went out and took helicopter piloting lessons before buying his own helicopter to travel from a residence in the North Georgia mountains to DeSoto.

A big rodeo fan, he's told friends he'll fly down for every Arcadia rodeo event.

The oldest name in DeSoto County, however, has to be Turner. Long ago, Grandpa Turner bought "worthless scrub" land as far as the eye could see. He ran cattle on it, sold some timber, grew some citrus. Today, the Turner name appears most frequently on DeSoto properties, and the Turner family has branched out to include real estate sales among their businesses. Their combined fortune is beyond estimate.

Other big DeSoto businesses right now include fill dirt dug for coastal county use and sod farms to provide lots of green grass for those new coastal homes "starting in the low $400s." Huge trucks make driving on almost any highway in DeSoto an adventure.

But all has not been gold lately in DeSoto County. Problems began with the second major disaster to strike the area in a century. The first was fire; the second was wind.

Hurricane Charley blew into the county from the southwest, having first wreaked havoc in Charlotte County. It caught DeSoto largely by surprise. Most residents said afterwards that they were sure the ferocious hurricane was headed for Tampa Bay. But at the last minute, it turned.