Everyone’s familiar with at least one famous father.
Television and American culture have introduced famous fathers to the world: Andy Griffith, who starred in “The Andy Griffith Show” as a single father to son Opie. Herman Munster of “The Munsters,” as the quirky, but well-meaning dad who went off to work every day to support his family. Mike Brady who helped unite “The Brady Bunch” into America’s favorite blended family. Gomez Addams, patriarch of the odd and inexplicably wealthy “Addams Family,” among others.
Each of these characters showcases a different type of father, from the somewhat typical father of the nuclear family to a single dad trying to do the best he can for his young son.
These are the values that Father’s Day was created to celebrate.
The first celebration strictly for fathers occurred in 1908 as a memorial for 362 fallen coal mine workers in West Virginia. In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd petitioned residents of Spokane, Washington, to help her create a Mother’s Day equivalent for fathers. Dodd was one of six children raised by her widowed father. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Washington state July 19, 1910. President Richard Nixon officially recognized Father’s Day as a national holiday in 1972.
Around the same time the idea of Father’s Day was beginning to gain ground, a few famous fathers were helping to give rise to Anna Maria Island as it is today.
Previously used by native Americans as hunting and fishing grounds, the island received its first permanent resident in 1892 in the form of George Emerson Bean, whose first homestead included much of what is now called Bean Point in the city of Anna Maria. His son, George, was the island’s first land developer and worked closely with another founding father of the island, John Roser.
Roser, a German confectioner, moved to Anna Maria with wife Caroline and son Charles in 1911. After Caroline died in 1912, Roser built the first church on the island, Roser Chapel, in her memory. Charles Roser also is known as the creator of Fig Newtons.
In 1911, while roads and other construction were still being planned for the blossoming island community, the Anna Maria City Pier at the end of Pine Avenue was built to facilitate steamers coming from the mainland to bring people and supplies to the island. The first bridge to the island, a wooden Cortez Bridge, was built in 1921. The Historic Bridge Street Pier marks the western end of that first bridge, around which the city of Bradenton Beach sprung up.
While Bean was homesteading Anna Maria, Samuel Cobb and wife Annie Gilman Cobb moved to the island and homesteaded about 160 acres of land in 1896 in what is now Holmes Beach. The family hosted the first post office on the island in their home and their daughter, Anna Maria Cobb Riles, was the first child known to be born on the island.
Holmes Beach was named for Jack Holmes, the developer who ventured to the island after World War II and structured the community.
Father’s Day is a holiday designed to honor the contributions of all types of fathers, whether they raised children or communities. Over the years, many fathers and families have helped to shape Anna Maria Island and its three cities into the community it is today.
Father’s Day is celebrated Sunday, June 21.