the entrepreneur (vi)

Walt Disney World opened the gates to The Magic Kingdom in 1971. Sea World Orlando opened in 1973. Dan could feel the migration of families of four or five in air-conditioned cars, moving smooth along the Interstate 95. If they stopped in St. Augustine, they stopped for half a day, still able to get to Orlando by dark. They stopped to see the fort and to walk around a little. But museums seemed to be a commitment of a little cash and a little time and these families were in a hurry to spend money on something a bit more sophisticated. It was time to get out and avoid being the last kooky attraction left standing. On the first day of May, 1974, The Old City Hall Museum closed without fanfare never to reopen.

Dan sold property to a company from Miami with Japanese backing and plans to gut the building and divide up the space for upscale shops. No more museum, no more attraction; just The Old City Hall Arcade Mall.

The Old City Hall Museum had become a landmark in the community, and people were surprised that it was closing, but not surprised that Dan left without a word, without an interview for the paper, no goodbyes or even parting shots. He just paid his bills, took his money, and left, some say to live in the islands.

the entrepreneur (v)

Through all the success, Dan remained “odd,” being removed from the usual business circles of church, civic club, country club, and clan. He was at the Great Door of The Old City Hall Museum every day it was open, which was every day except Christmas and Easter. He was the last one to leave, everyday, walking the three blocks to his home. He left for lunch at 11:30am, stopped at the bank to make deposits, then the post office, then home for lunch. He had a housekeeper and a handyman that cared for his home which had been steadily restored over the years.

In 1965, St. Augustine celebrated its 400th birthday and Dan his 50th. He used this coincidence to announce the opening of a new exhibit at The Old City Hall Museum. A full page ad in the Sunday’s “Record” described the new display as a “Museum of Ancient Mystery and Misery, Deceit and Misfortune.”

The ad copy was strong. “Since the day Cain raised his hand against Able, mankind has sought ways to deceive and corrupt the world by bringing the horrors of disastrous misfortunes onto each other. This educational and honest exhibit revels history’s most vile misfits and the unspeakable adversities they once brought on their fellow human beings.”

The Chamber of Commerce protested and with the the Association of Attractions of St. Augustine started legal action against Dan. The “Record” would take no more adverting from The Old City Hall Museum that mentioned the exhibit, and ran an editorial calling it “...disgusting and near pornographic. In a city where history is so important, this is not the message we want to perpetrate. This is not the history we should portray.”

The City Commission appointed three former mayors to visit the exhibit with a history professor from the University of Florida to determine the historical accuracy. Their report said that the some artifacts may have been most likely what they were to be, everything was more or less authentic, and nearly all was unrelated to the city’s history. The panel added that the exhibit “...portrayed the city in a negative light, as if authenticity is not important. It continues the image of St. Augustine when it was cluttered with roadside attractions, and not genuine historical attractions.”

After eight years and court battles that went to the Florida State Supreme Court, Dan had won every fight, but now he wanted to fight no more.

the entrepreneur (iv)

When the city relocated into its new municipal building in 1899, it was a sign of civic success. Gone was the dusty old wooden building dating from Florida’s territorial days and in its place stood a brick center of power, solid, square. In it was all the officers and departments of the city, but a half century later government had outgrown the city hall and relocated again. The city considered itself lucky to find a buyer.

St. Augustine City Hall before it became The Old City Hall Museum

At first Dan lived in the old fireman’s bunk room because it had all the required facilities, but later moved a couple of blocks west into a neglected Victorian house. The old building offered a court room, a jail, a fire station, an auditorium and lots of small rooms that were former offices. In 1954, just five years after opening, The Old City Hall Museum, was the most popular attraction in the city except for the fort. Part of the reason was because there was so, so much stuff in his museum.

The courtroom was now the High Judge’s Chamber and the jail the Inquisition Museum. The auditorium had a map of the Atlantic Ocean from the English Channel to the Gulf of Mexico with St. Augustine centered as the most significant place in the world in 1565. Hourly, the lights would dim and small colored lights--yellow for Spain, blue for the England, red for the France and all pirates--would illustrate the trade routes and the various unsuccessful attacks on the city.

The former offices of clerks and typists were filled with an array of collections Dan had purchased from other museums or, mostly, estate sales of hoarders. There were sea shells and rocks, cigar box tops and hair combs, knives and playing cards, fountain pins and broaches and cuff links, rattles from rattle snakes and hundreds of sharks’ teeth. With each collection went a story about the collector and the struggle The Old City Hall Museum went through to secure the rights to display this one-of-a-kind-in-the-world-collection.

the entrepreneur (iii)

The day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dan gave his notice to Philip Davidson. He would remain through New Year’s, but then he was joining the Navy. Figured he could at least be cooking in a kitchen and not out in a tent.

He stayed in the service through V-J Day and was discharged in Jacksonville the week after Thanksgiving, nearly four years to the day he’d given his notice at The Alvarez House. He took a bus to St. Augustine, and found that he was one of the fortunate ones--his job was waiting for him. Tourism was picking up steadily after the war, and St. Augustine was a magnet to young families.


Even with a good steady job, Dan was restless. He had a hard time fitting in, some would say. He worked hard, had become the manager of The Alvarez House, but had no family; spent what time he was not at work in his apartment at the rear of the guest house or sitting in the Plaza reading. No one knew much about him, and while the town was shocked when he up and bought the condemned old city hall for $80,000 cash, the community was not so surprised when he quit his job, moved into the old building, and announced the city would have a new attraction.

the entrepreneur (ii)

Dan stayed in the CCC for the maximum time allowed, two years. During that time he worked in four camps around Florida as a cook. He figured that was the best way to be assured of a meal.

In the last days of 1936, he was “booted out,” as they called it when a recruit reached the end of his service. He traveled back to Rocky Creek to retrieve his savings of nearly $350 and visit the graves of his parents. He then returned to Florida by train along the Southern Railroad through Macon then down along the coast and into Jacksonville. Hiring was just starting for the winter season and he quickly found work at the Washington Hotel as a breakfast cook. After the winter season, he continued to follow the railroad south working over the next few years in hotels in Daytona, Palm Beach and Miami.

The Alcazar House, St. Augustine



New Year’s Day, 1940, Dan was working at a private brunch for Philip and Fina Davidson, owners of the Miami Beach’s Palms Court Hotel where he worked. Davidson asked Dan if he’d like to work at a guest house they’d bought in St. Augustine, called The Alvarez House. The idea of working in a small place and not a hotel, being well paid, having his own kitchen, and being out of the Miami heat in the summer was appealing, so he went.

the entrepreneur (i)

Dan MacArthur walked the three miles from Rocky Creek to Eufaula, and then took a train to Tallahassee to meet up with other recruits assigned to Gore’s Landing. The Civilian Conservation Camp was near nothing. Closest town of any size was Ocala and that was 30 miles through the woods. But three meals a day, hard work with a purpose, a place to sleep out of the weather; these were all things Dan didn’t have. Life had to be better that what his first 19 years had been.

In addition to the security, he’d get $25 a month, $5 of which he got to keep and the rest sent to his family, except he had no family. When he joined the CCC, Dan asked Deacon Hamilton if he would take the family portion, use half for the three country churches the circuit riding preacher served, and save half until he left the CCC. Most of Dan’s family was buried at two of those churches, so he figured it was as if he was giving the money to his Ma and Pa.