Waldo Emmerson Sexton

Waldo Emmerson Sexton (23 March 1885 – 28 December 1967) was an entrepreneur whose enterprises have attracted visitors to Vero Beach, Florida, since the 1930s and remain of value to the community, industry, tourists, artists, historians and horticulturalists. He was named to the list of Great Floridians by the Florida Department of State for his agricultural contributions.

Biography

Early life Waldo E. Sexton was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, to Isaac Sexton and Sarah Ann Buckingham. He was the youngest male out of the couple's five children.

After initially attending Indiana University (in Bloomington, Indiana) for medicine, Sexton decided becoming a physician was not for him after his first attempt at performing an autopsy on a cadaver. During college, Sexton sold aluminum cooking utensils and later collected commission off of the sales of the men he recruited, including his first cousin Walter Buckingham in 1909. The company was working on excavating the drainage system that drained the wetlands of the area and created prime agricultural land. Sexton was charged with the company's Cleveland, Ohio based office and organized numerous prospect trips via rail car from Cincinnati, Ohio to the area. That same year, he and business partner Arthur G. McKee purchased 80 acres of hammock land along the Indian River Lagoon that would eventually become the McKee Jungle Garden. The land was initially purchased in an attempt to save the area from development into residential or citrus groves as well as to explore their own collection of rare flora and fauna and test the commercial validity of various plants including ramie and rubber trees.

He started the Oslo Packing Company with his first cousin

Tourism and architecture Sexton's first venture in tourist attractions was the McKee Jungle Gardens, developed on purchased for planting citrus groves with his business partner, Arthur G. McKee. They decided the landscape was too beautiful to plow under. Operating from 1931 to 1976, the Gardens attracted crowds of 100,000 a year in its prime. In 1932 a reviewer who had toured tropical botanical gardens around the world, including, Peradeniya in Ceylon said he approached his visit "with that secret doubt we conceal before our friends' local enthusiasm. This doubt, however, was quickly resolved." The collection of rare tropical plants framed by native Florida oaks and palms "set an example for conservation and intelligent use of indigenous growth." Landscape architect William Lyman Phillips designed "the exquisite series of waterways and landscapes, including the Cathedral of Palms, 300 royal palms set on a grid.

In addition to thousands of orchids and lilies, the Mckee Jungle Gardens featured monkeys, alligators, bathing beauties and " the wacky buildings and collections of Waldo E. Sexton, the folk architect and Florida nurseryman. The Gardens closed in 1976 but reopened on 18 of the original acres as the McKee Botanical Garden in 2001 and is on United States National Register of Historic Places.

Sexton continued creating unusual structures that became local landmarks and attractions. His penchant for wood, wrought iron, tile and collectibles, can still be viewed at his later enterprises in Vero Beach, including the Driftwood Inn and Restaurant, the Ocean Grill, and the Patio restaurant. Although he bought from many sources and sometimes sight unseen by the truckload through contacts, recognizable pieces from Addison Mizner designed Spanish style mansions in Palm Beach continue to attract new visitors. A 2007 article in the Palm Beach News said "...Mizner would no doubt immediately acknowledge the life's work of his kindred spirit and friend, Waldo Sexton, the man who saved what might have been lost forever and who shared his respect for the past and prescience of history's enduring commercial value."

One journalist described the businessman and artist who created such unusual attractions: "Sexton was a man who was not afraid to render an opinion and who never hesitated to embroider a story. He loved martinis and women, bells and thing from the sea, and he possessed a compelling urge to create. Some people called him an irresponsible screwball, an untruth he shrewdly did not deny, knowing that the world loves an eccentric."

Legacy and honors Sexton Plaza in Vero Beach, Florida, is named for him. Honored for outstanding citizenship in Indian River County with "Waldo Sexton Day" in Vero Beach on 1958.