The Frizzell family is pictured here. A.C. Frizzell was a rancher who sold pasture land in the Murdock area. The area is now Port Charlotte. None of the family members in the photo are identified.

This undated photo shows Arthur Cleveland (A.C.) Frizzell, who came to the area around 1918 as a station agent for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad. Frizzell bought the old Murdock general store and invested in land, buying large acreage parcels during the depression years. In 1954 he sold 70,000 acres to the Florida West Coast Land Company; the land was platted and developed and became the town of Port Charlotte.

This undated photo shows Patti Bloodsworth Standifer Frizzell, the first wife of A.C. Frizzell. A.C. and Patti Frizzell came to this area as station agents and telegraphers for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad in 1918. When A.C. was caught tending his vegetable garden on company time, he was fired. The Frizzells then bought a small general store at Murdock, 20 acres of pine woods, and went into the lumber business. They ended up owning most of what is now Port Charlotte.

This photo showing a drainage canal was taken from U.S. 41, "south of Brantley place." Some of the canals on the Frizzell Ranch had been dredged by John Murdock, in an attempt to drain wetlands and provide irrigation for his Murdock Farms development. This was unsuccessful; in the dry season the water in the canals was too low for easy access.

This aerial photo looking west toward the Gulf of Mexico shows a small portion of the Frizzell timberland. A.C. Frizzell owned well over 100,000 acres, used primarily for cattle grazing as well as lumber and turpentine production. In the 1940s, Frizzell leased more than 30,000 acres to the Sinclair Prairie Co., for oil exploration. He also sold about 20,000 acres to Alfred and William Vanderbilt. In 1954 (the year this photo was taken) Mr. Frizzell sold about 80,000 acres to the Florida West Coast Development Company (headed by the Mackle Brothers). The former Frizzell ranch now contains the communities of Murdock, Port Charlotte, Gulf Cove, Cape Haze, Rotonda and a few other subdivisions.

This photo shows a news clipping with a picture of Pattie Lee Frizzell, adopted daughter of A.C. and Dorothy Frizzell. The baby girl had been found as a few-day-old infant, abandoned in the car of a winter resident attending the Presbyterian Church in Punta Gorda, parked in the shade of the banyan tree on Retta Esplanade. The Frizzells adopted the baby and named her Pattie Lee. A.C. Frizzell died less than a year later and his will was contested by adult heirs who felt the adopted toddler should not inherit any part of the estate. The courts decided otherwise, as indicated by this clipping.

A.C. Frizzell, a cattle and timber rancher in Murdock, used Brahma bulls to crossbreed cattle suited to the south Florida climate. This photo shows one of his prize bulls. In 1954 Mr. Frizzell sold 70, 000 acres to the Florida West Coast Land Company for development. The land was platted and is now the community of Port Charlotte.

This image is an enlarged copy of a photo of one of A.C. Frizzell's prize bulls. A.C. Frizzell, a cattle and timber rancher in Murdock, used Brahma bulls to crossbreed cattle suited to the south Florida climate. In 1954 Mr. Frizzell sold 70,000 acres to the Florida West Coast Land Company for development. The land was platted into several subdivisions, including those that are now the communities of Port Charlotte and Gulf Cove.

This aerial photo shows the north fence line of the Frizzell Ranch. No landmarks are specified.

This photo shows cow pens near the Rocky Creek pasture on the Frizzell Ranch.

This aerial photo taken on a flyover of the Frizzell Ranch shows cultivated fields planted with flower bulbs, including gladiolus.

This aerial photo taken on a flyover of the Frizzell Ranch shows Boar Hammock Slough.