03/09/2024
First hotel in San Antonio: “CHARLES BARTHLE (1852-1936) owned and operated the St. Charles Hotel in San Antonio. He was born in Wertenburg, Germany. He came to the U. S. at age 9 and lived in Ohio for ten years. In 1874 he married Mary Ehlert (1858-1945) in Wisconsin. The family moved to Florida in 1888, according to his obituary, which also stated that Charles had lived in San Antonio for 51 years. The 1945 obituary of Mrs. Barthle states that "about 15 years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barthle moved to San Antonio.” In a 1988 St. Petersburg Times interview Rosemary Gude recalled that her grandfather, Charles Barthle, was one of the three Barthle brothers who arrived in the area in 1883 as homesteaders. She said that the brothers had emigrated to Minnesota a couple of years earlier from the Black Forest area of Germany. She said that after a freeze destroyed his fledgling citrus grove, her grandfather gave up his homestead and moved into the nearby village of San Antonio and built the St. Charles Hotel. The 1945 obituary of Mrs. Barthle states that the hotel was established “30 years ago.” The hotel was run by members of the Barthle family until the mid-1930s. In 1988 it was the St. Charles Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor. A son of Charles, Joseph Albert Barthle (b. July 10, 1885, Walperton, N. D.; d., Dec. 18, 1970) of San Antonio, was chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County.”
