Florida's Leper Colony

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories​
In September, 1919, a colony of lepers was offered to Florida by the government. The intention was to setup the colony on Cedar Key. 

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William Augustus Bowles (1763-1805)

In Levy County, Florida, there are many small and five large islands. The town of Cedar Key is on Way Key, an island three miles from the mainland. 

The Spanish called them "Las Islas Sabinas" (the Cedar Keys), and during the 18th century sailors, pirates and privateers anchored among the keys that were within a short sailing distance of New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola.

One of these was Renato Beluce (1780-1860) born in New Orleans, Spanish Louisiana to Rene Beluche a French immigrant and Rose Delaporte. Rene Beluche was a master wigmaker, who opened a wig-making business in 1777. He used the business and plantation in Chalmette, Louisiana as a front for smuggling operations.

These were the years when the Lafitte brothers, Jean and Pierre ran a smuggling operation on  Barataria Bay on the Louisiana coast. Renato Beluche started to work with them. He was captain of the French privateer L'Intrepide when it was seized by United States officials at New Orleans in 1810, released, and subsequently wrecked off Cat Island. 

Renato Beluche also commanded the privateer Spy which cruised the Gulf of America under a United States letter of marque during the War of 1812. After this he continued to cruise the Gulf of America under commissions from the rebel government at Cartagena in La Popa. 

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Red cedar lumbering at Cedar Key c.1882

He narrowly avoided capture by the United States when they raided Barataria Bay in September, 1814. He was one of the Baratarians who enlisted in the American forces defending New Orleans at the invasion by the British in 1814-15. He commanded one of the 24-pounders in Battery No. 3 at Chalmette.

Cedar Key and the surrounding area probably served as a place to anchor and stay out of sight, or where to load and unload smuggled goods.

Another historic figure tied to Cedar Key was William Augustus Bowles, a merchant, military officer and adventurer. He participated in the American Revolutionary War, and the siege of Pensacola in 1781. He went on to make an alliance with the Muscogee, populated by the Creek, Seminole and Cherokee tribes. He supplied arms to the Indians.

He built a watchtower in the vicinity of Cedar Key in 1801. The edifice was destroyed by Spain in 1802. This was just before the First Seminole War. The British used the Cedar Keys to deliver supplies to the Seminoles.

During the Second Seminole War (1834-1842) the United States Army established Fort No. 4 on the Florida mainland adjacent to the Cedar Keys. Subsequently Seahorse Key would be used as a lighthouse; this was where followers of William Bowles built a watchtower over three decades before. A hospital was constructed on Depot Key, which was the headquarters for the Army in Florida.

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Eagle Pencil Company, Cedar Key

By 1840, Cedar Key was a main shipping port for cedar, cypress, pine, rosin and turpentine. Cedar trees were used by northern manufacturers to produce pencils. Ships also stopped in the harbor to restock their fresh water.

A hurricane with a 27-foot storm surge struck the Cedar Keys on October 4, 1842, destroying Cantonment Morgan and causing much damage on Depot Key. After this the Army abandoned the island.

In 1860, railroad tracks were completed to run through Cedar Key. Not only was cedar wood sent to other part of the United States, but cotton and sugar from Cuba was sent from this port as well.

Hurricanes in 1886 and 1896 terribly damaged home and businesses on the island, however the wood industry continued.

At the turn of the 20th century sponge hooking, fishing and oystering were major industries but by 1909 the oyster beds were depleted. 

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The federal government wanted to establish a leper colony on Cedar Key c.1919

Unexpectedly in 1919, General Blue of the U.S. Public Health Service called on Congressman Frank Clark to advise they had from 200 to 300 persons afflicted with leprosy, and the government was anxious to get them located in a permeant place as soon as possible. The intended location was Cedar Key.

Clark wrote the general that he was quite sure the people would object to the location, and that he advised residents of Gainesville, Bronson and Cedar Key to protest against locating the colony where they proposed.

It was a well known fact that the department had been quietly looking for a location, and special agents had visited different portions of the state gathering data.

An appropriation in the amount of $250,000 was set aside for the purchase of land, equipment and necessary buildings for the leprosarium. It was estimated that it would cast $1.5 million dollar per year to maintain the colony.

Unsurprisingly residents of the area protested vigorously.

They changed the plan and said the colony would be located on islands about 8 miles from Cedar Key. They were North Key, Seahorse Key and Sake Key, and there would be little if any danger from infection.  It would not be as dangerous as infection from tuberculosis which was a major public health challenge.

Only the year before the Flu Epidemic of 1918 had raged around the world.

Governor Catts urged every citizen to protest by petition to their congressmen and senators against the location of such an institution to be placed anywhere in the state of Florida.

Besides fear of infection for the local citizens, many feared it would hurt the tourist industry. No one would want to eat citrus fruits from a leprous state.

At that time there were 14 lepers reported in the state of Florida — one in Hillsborough, one in Seminole, two in Dade and ten at Key West. The state board of health had ruled that "all lepers are to remain upon their home premises and were not to travel the public thoroughfares or to occupy public vehicles."

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Handbook for treatment of leprosy c.1919

By October 7, 1919, Dr. Ralph N. Greene, State Health Officer accompanied by Governor Catts were getting ready to leave for Washington to protest against the leprosarium. This had come after it was known that a government expert was enroute to Cedar Key to make topographical survey of the island 8 miles off the coast.

On the eve before they were supposed to leave they received a telegram from Washington, dated October 10, 1919 that read: "No leper colony will be established in Florida. There has never been any need for anyone coming here. Duncan U. Fletcher."

When the governor was criticized for calling the trip off, he decided to go a few days later. The citizens of Florida were in an uproar, since it was stated that only if there was protest from Floridians would the plans be cancelled.

The original intention was to establish the leper colony in California when the appropriation was made, but there was so much objection that it was allowed to drop for 3 years. Then efforts were made to locate it in Arkansas with the same objections raised. Then the federal government had looked to Cedar Key.

Strangely several county medical associations across the state die not oppose the leprosarium since, according to them it would not be contagious if located on an island. They opined that leprosy was contagious only after prolonged and intimate contact. It was not as contagious as syphilis and tuberculosis, and was not considered to be such a menace as these two diseases. However when one contracted leprosy there was no cure.

​President Hoover established the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge in 1929 by naming three of the islands as a breeding ground for colonial birds.

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2nd Street, Cedar Key c.1988

During these years there was a leper colony already established at Carville established by the state of Louisiana.

There had been cases of leprosy reported in Louisiana as early as the 18th century. While the Spanish controlled Louisiana, Spanish physicians and surgeons noted that many of the Africans brought to Louisiana during the slave trade were afflicted with leprosy.

The large number of leprosy cases at Charity Hospital were never disclosed to the general public until 1888. The public was further alarmed when it became known lepers were being cared for in a "pest house" near Bayou St. John in New Orleans. This led to laws where lepers were to be institutionalized.

In 1894, seven leprosy patients from New Orleans were taken by barge to an abandoned sugar plantation known as Indian Camp. It had been built in 1859 by Robert Camp and had fallen into disrepair. This site was located along the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge. 

In 1896, four nuns from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul started to provide care. The order would continue in this role for the next 109 years. This same year the state government established the Louisiana Leper Home at Carville. The federal government took control of it in 1921. No doubt the failure at establishing a federal leprosarium at Cedar Key contributed to this.

To protect the families from the stigma of being related to a leper, the patients were encouraged to change their surnames. During the years it operated over 5,000 patients were admitted, with about 1,000 buried in the on-site cemetery.

The site was returned to the state of Louisiana in 1999, and the National Hansen's Disease Museum was established on the grounds, now occupied by the Louisiana National Guard.

India has the highest number of new leprosy cases globally, with approximately 107,851 new cases reported in 2023, accounting for nearly 59% of all new cases worldwide.

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