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.
[3] Sexton later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and began working as a traveling salesman for an agricultural tillage equipment supplier, where he met Pittsburgh native and attorney Charles "Charlie" H McKee who was financing the company.
His work as a deep tillage machine salesman brought him to the area that would eventually be known as Vero Beach, Florida, in 1914 to perform a demonstration on a local farm.
[3] Due to a late arriving expense check from his company, he stayed a few extra days at the Sleepy Eye Lodge which gave him time to get to know the area.
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.
[11] 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.
[13] 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.
[12] Without an architect or plans, Sexton built and decorated the Hall of Giants and the Spanish Kitchen with cypress milled in Florida, salvaged materials and his bell collection.
[15] 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.