Thomas B. Manuel

Thomas Brown Manuel, was a Florida community leader, politician, and state official, often referred to as the "Father of the Florida's Turnpike" for his efforts to bring about the first major highway in Florida, and for his contributions generally to economic development in the state.

Early life

He was born November 3, 1898, near Freetown, Jackson County, Indiana, the second child of Sarah Jane and Asbury Hill Manuel. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Grafton Manuel, was the attending physician at his birth. His only sibling, a brother, Herschel Thurman Manuel, was born two years earlier.

Seeking adventure and angered by Pancho Villa's raid on a New Mexico town, at 17, he enlisted in the army, and saw action in the Mexican Expedition of 1916, remaining in the army afterward, he eventually saw action in France during World War I.

Following his discharge from the army, Manuel attended the University of Illinois, earning a degree in animal husbandry, and setting out start a farm in Palm Beach County, Florida, near modern-day Delray Beach. He would ultimately settle further south, in Fort Lauderdale, where he and his wife Margaret would start a family. Daughter Ann was born in 1926. A second child died as an infant. Son and namesake Thomas Brown Manuel, Junior, was born in 1937.

Civic Leadership

To house their growing family, the Manuels bought a house at 543 Victoria Park Road from William Reed, a prominent South Florida pioneer and politician. Reed and Manuel became close friends, with Reed serving as mentor to Manuel, who he admired for his vigorous, pioneering spirit. Reed encouraged Manuel's increasing involvement in the civic affairs of Fort Lauderdale. In time, Manuel would be elected to the Fort Lauderdale City Commission, and would serve a two-years term as mayor beginning in 1937.

Returning to farming and other business interests after his service as mayor, following the Fall of France in 1940, Manuel foresaw the United States' eventual involvement in World War II. He set about positioning himself as well as he could for wartime service, reëntering the military and obtaining a commission later tha year. In time, he would serve with the 77th Infantry Division in the Pacific, seeing combat at Guam, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima.

In 1945, Manuel, who had been promoted to full colonel and would lead troops as they spent 45 consecutive days aboard ship under near-daily kamikaze attack before participating in an amphibious landing on Okinawa, gaining valuable experience in logistics and overseeing construction projects under deadline.

Finally retiring from the army in 1946, Colonel Manuel returned to Fort Lauderdale, and resumed his involvement in public affairs, joining and serving as an officer in local Rotary and Kiwanis organizations, as well as supporting various political causes. He began a "second career" as a banking executive, eventually helping found and serving as a director at five separate banks, including Barnett Bank of Port Everglades (later Barnett Bank of Broward County), part of the Barnett banking enterprise that would eventually become the largest in the state, and be known as "Florida's Bank". Barnett would, in time, become part of NationsBank, which ultimately became Bank of America, the largest bank in the world.

Statewide politics and the turnpike

In 1952, seeking to end rural northern Florida's long dominance of state political affairs, Manuel and other like-minded leaders from the southern part of the state backed Dan McCarty, a young grovesman, fellow World War II veteran, and former speaker of the state house of representatives for governor. McCarty, ran on a platform of reform and economic progress, and was elected easily. Unfortunately, he was felled by a massive heart attack only a few months into his term, before he had much opportunity to accomplish the goals his supporters hoped for.

Dismayed by the political antics of McCarty's successor, Acting Governor Charley Johns, in the 1954 special election, Manuel and others supported LeRoy Collins, a patrician North Floridian of unquestioned integrity who promised to support the economic development throughout the state.

In the early 1950s Manuel had met another south Florida businessman, Charles "Charlie" Costar, who had convinced him of the need for a new road from the state line to south Florida, one that by-passed many of the sleepy beach towns that dot Florida's east coast. Largely due to Costar's lobbying efforts, the state legislature had passed the Florida Turnpike Act in 1953, and then-Governor McCarty signed it into law - one of the few important measures he lived long enough to enact.

During the interregnum of Charley John's acting governorship, the project largely languished. During the 1955 legislative session (the first during newly-elected Governor LeRoy Collins' administration) there was a concerted effort to repeal the Turnpike Act and abolish the entire project, led by North Florida legislators known as the Pork Chop Gang. Having been appointed chairman of the Florida Turnpike Authority (the program's governing agency) in January 1955 by Governor Collins in one of his first official acts, Manuel almost single-handedly turned the situation around, holding forth in his suite in Tallahassee's Floridan Hotel, winning legislators over one by one.

By the end of the 1955 legislative session, due almost entirely to Manuel's unstinting efforts, the bill to kill the Turnpike had been defeated 36-4, the original law had actually been amended to extend the planned route of the new road by another 110 miles from Fort Pierce to Miami, and a $70 million dollar bond issue had been authorized to finance the first stage of construction.

Father of the turnpike

Colonel Manuel served as chairman of the Turnpike Authority from 1955 to 1961.

During his tenure, the first phase of construction began on July 4, 1955. However, by late 1956, owing to the Federal government's announced plans for a comprehensive interstate network of highways which would become the Interstate Highway System, and which was to include a route down Florida's east coast, designated I-95, which largely duplicated the Turnpike's originally-contemplated "Coastal Route" from Jacksonville to Fort Pierce, all work on the Turnpike stopped, and plans for further construction were shelved.

Ironically, construction had begun at what was expected to be the southern terminus of what was officially known as the Sunshine State Parkway, rather than near the (northern) state line, meaning the only portion to be completed before the hiatus was the 110 mile stretch between Fort Pierce and Miami - the extension Manuel had proposed and won approval for during the 1955 legislative session. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held January 25, 1957.

Throughout the greater part of his service on the Turnpike Authority, Chairman Manuel was forced to contend with vigorous opposition from diverse segments of the political world, including those who felt it was a waste of tax dollars, rural interests unenthusiastic about devoting resources to a project seen as largely benefiting urban areas, tourism-based interests in the coastal towns of the counties between St. Augustine and Fort Lauderdale, railroad lines, and others. Nonetheless, he managed to coble together sufficient support to keep the Turnpike alive during those years when the project he and Charlie Costar had championed seemed unlikely to ever be completed as it had been envisioned.

From time to time, Chairman Manuel even managed to move things forward, if incrementally. Despite his initial disinclination to go forward with additional construction on the Turnpike, Governor Collins acknowledged the need for an extension of the Sunshine State Parkway that would connect Fort Pierce (and the under-construction I-95) with Orlando (and the proposed I-4 and I-75). The extension was approved in May, 1959.

Later, near the end of his service on the Authority, another extension, adding 156 miles and connecting Orlando and Wildwood, would be approved. Days before both he and Manuel would leave office, Governor Collins authorized the sale of an additional $80 million dollars in bonds to finance construction to Wildwood. That section would be dedicated July 24, 1964, and would mark the completion of the "Main Line" portion of the Parkway running from Miami to Wildwood.

During his time as chairman, Colonel Manuel deliberately took an active role in the management of the Turnpike, frequently driving to various destinations, visiting construction sites, and inspecting land parcels under consideration for acquisition, talking to road construction workers and managers and motorists. On one notable occasion, witnessing an accident, he quickly pulled to the side of the road and dove into a canal, dragging the wrecked cars occupants from the murky water in what, sadly, turned out to be futile efforts to save their lives.

Later life and continued service

Leaving the chairmanship and the Turnpike Authority in 1961, Colonel Manuel resumed his banking interests, relocating to Plantation, Florida, a Fort Lauderdale suburb with a slower pace than the "big city". A plaque memorializing Manuel's service to the State of Florida, and his successes as chairman of the Turnpike Authority marks the approach to the Thomas B. Manuel Bridge, which carries the Turnpike over the Caloosahatchee Waterway, near Port Salerno, in east central Martin County. The plaque, near Mile Marker 130, officially recognizes Colonel Manuel as the "Father of the Turnpike".

Following his wife's death in 1981, he began to spend less and less time working, eventually settling into full retirement. Still, years later, well into his retirement, Colonel Manuel continued to maintain an active interest in the affairs of the Turnpike, following developments affecting the system closely, often attending hearings and meetings, and frequently speaking publicly on issues pertaining to the Turnpike, as would be expected of someone referred to as "Mister Turnpike".

Death

At age 88, While attending a public hearing in Coconut Creek, and speaking vigorously against proposed toll increases, Colonel Manuel suffered a heart attack, collapsed, and was rushed to a hospital. He died soon thereafter, on August 13, 1987. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale, joining his wife, who preceded him, passing in 1981.