Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando,FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
The present courthouse opened in 1977. It was once the site of the office of Gen. Sanford's Florida Land and Colonization Company, Limited, formed in 1880.
A county courthouse is located in the municipality designated by the state legislature as the "county seat". Such a designation brings business and prestige to an area, and individuals who wish to wield political power can more easily do that from the county seat. The first county seat of Mosquito County was New Smyrna, designated in 1824.
Major Cornelius Taylor, a first cousin of then-president Zachary Taylor, staked out a homestead in 1841 at the site of the army's Fort Kingsley, and called it Enterprise. It was located about a mile east of the present city of Enterprise, which includes the set of four smokestacks (the Florida Power George E. Turner Plant) which can be seen by looking northward across Lake Monroe. Because designation as county seat was based chiefly on population, Taylor brought 20 people to the area in 1842 and named his village, the first white settlement south of St. Augustine, after his homestead. The settlers built a grist mill, sawmill, and steamboat. Enterprise was named the county seat in 1843. Taylor left the area for good in 1847.
In 1845, when Mosquito County was renamed Orange, the county seat was moved to Mellonville. Ten years later, Enterprise became the county seat of the newly-created Volusia County. This change triggered renewed interest in moving the seat for Orange County.
The contenders were Fort Reid (Mellonville) where most of the county's business was then transacted, Fort Gatlin (Jernigan, then Orlando), and The Lodge (Apopka). Prominent Judge James G. Speer pushed for Orlando, then a village of less than 200 with no foreseeable growth prospects.
Speer took the position that a U.S. soldier had the privilege to vote wherever he might be on election day. He went to Sumter County and persuaded a number of soldiers to be in Orlando on election day, and promised them a good picnic dinner. They arrived by noon, ate well, and their votes carried the election for Orlando, which was named the county seat in 1856.
In 1875, Gen. Sanford decided that the county seat should be moved to Sanford. He was opposed by Orlando businessman Jacob Summerlin, who offered to build a $10,000 courthouse in Orlando, whether or not the county ever repaid him. The offer persuaded the electors to keep the county seat in Orlando, and Summerlin was repaid over a 10 year period.
Sanford finally became a county seat when Seminole County was created in 1913.
A log building was dedicated here in November of 1924, and was the home of American Legion activities. It was torn down in the late 1990s.
Lake Monroe was called "Valdez" during Florida's occupation by Spain. After Florida was purchased by the U.S., it was given the name of then-president James Monroe. Along with other large lakes in eastern Florida, it is formed by a widening of the St. Johns River, which enters from the east and exits to the west. The St. Johns River is sometimes called the "Nile of America" because it is one of the few that flows generally northward, and has been a major transportation artery.
Looking again to the north twoard Enterprise, you may be able to see the site of what was once the Brock House, Central Florida's first hotel, built by Capt. Jacob Brock in 1852. When he did, the name "Enterprise" became associated with it, although it was physically separate from Cornelius Taylor's settlement. That same year, the steamer "Darlington" began regular passenger service to Enterprise from the north, utilizing the large pier built by Capt. Brock.
Since 1908, the site of the Brock House (later called the Epworth Inn and the Benson Springs Inn) have been the home of the Florida United Methodist Children's Home, with the hotel itelf being razed in the 1930s. When the railroads reached Sanford, the importance of Enterprise drastically declined, and 95% of its population departed.
In 1919, the bulkhead along the south shore stopped here, beginning at Sanford Ave. to the east. This portion of the lakefront, from Park Ave. to the Legion Hut, was first electrically illuminated in April of 1936.
Sanford was the gateway to South Florida. Beginning in the 1880s, people and goods traveling from Jacksonville by steamboat and arriving at the pier could be loaded onto a train which could carry them southward.
At the invitation of Gen. Sanford, Pres. Ulysses S. Grant visited for three days at Sanford's Belair home to the west of here. Grant turned the ceremonial first spade of dirt marking the beginnings of the South Florida Railroad from the St. Johns River to Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf of Mexico. That same year, Joseph Bumby became the railroad's Orlando agent, and used his feed and grain store as the depot for freight and passengers.
The railroad stretched southward to Orlando by 1881. Henry Plant then bought a charter to extend it, and by 1884 it ran continuous to Tampa. There was a stoppage of the trains in 1888, when the county government forbade freight and passengers from entering and spreading the yellow fever epidemic.
The railroad tracks extended over Lake Monroe on the pier which was located here from the 1880s.
The city pier was built in 1924, with a large bandshell at the end of it. On Memorial Day in 1927, Judge Wallace Wright dedicated a World War I memorial fountain. A plaque to honor Sanford's "sons who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War" is on the north side of the base of the present flagpole.
The pier and bandshell were popular places for outdoor concerts and other community events. The pier was also used for docking boats, as when Mrs. Herbert Hoover arrived at the bandshell on the "Sequoia" in March of 1932. The bandshell was torn down in 1962.
On the south side of the flagpole is a 1975 plaque dedicating Memorial Park to "All veterans who have served their country well".
Long before this peninsula was made by man, steamship docks connected Sanford with Palatka, Jacksonville, and the rest of the world. In the 1870s, the DeBary-Baya Line and the Independent Line ran between Jacksonville and Sanford. In January of 1889, the Clyde Steamship Company bought out the DeBary Line and operated here until about 1930, initially on the pier built by Gen. Sanford in 1879.
One famous steamer that used the docks was the "Osceola", which carried 60 passengers plus cargo. It was dismantled in Jacksonville in 1937. A second was the "Frederick DeBary", which brought Pres. Chester A. Arthur to Sanford in April of 1883 for a stop on his way to Kissimmee.
A third was the "City of Sanford", an all-steel, twin-engined freight boat which first arrived from Jacksonville in October of 1931. It carried 270 tons of goods. It sank at the dock in February of 1933, but was soon refloated.
J.B. Calder was the dock agent for 30 years. The city commission ordered the dock razed in 1936.
In the mid-1880s, in addition to the steamboat piers at the ends of Mellonville, Palmetto and Oak Aves., there was also one here. Cotton grown in the Kissimmee River Valley was brought here for shipment to Jacksonville in wagons, which returned southward with food and supplies.
Sanford was referred to by some as the Gate City of South Florida, and Lake Monroe merely an extension of the mouth of New York harbor.
The early boundaries of Sanford were Lake Monroe on the north, Sanford Ave. on the east, 9th St. on the south, and French Ave. on the west. It was founded as a town in 1870, and was incorporated as a city in 1877 when its population hit 100 (20 of whom were eligible voters).
Across Sanford Ave. was Mellonville, which was founded by Daniel Stewart in 1842. To begin his new town, he took advantage of the Armed Occupation Act, under which settlers received 160 acres of land and 6 months' rations in exchange for settling and promising to defend the land for 5 years. Stewart brought in about 160 settlers from Georgia and, although most soon returned to their old homes, the community took hold.
By 1860, the settlement consisted of a wharf, a small warehouse, and a humble dwelling combined. The first doctor arrived in 1867, and the first fruit packing plant opened in 1869. By 1871, Mellonville had grown enough to have one-third of all school children of the entire Orange County (50 of 150 total, with the next largest being Orlando at 30, then Lake Jesup at 15).
Mellonville was officially incorporated on June 27, 1876, and officially dissolved in 1883, becoming a part of Sanford.
Surveyors Richard P. Markes and John A. MacDonald laid out the early streets of Sanford. The two that meet at this intersection were the first to be cleared. In 1877, 1st St. came from the east through Mellonville and dead ended at this point.
In 1926 during the land boom, property at this intersection sold for $2,500 per front foot. At the beginning of World War II, a USO club was established here, later to become the home of the Chamber of Commerce. Across the street was the Arcade Building.
In 1824, Mosquito County (pop. 466) was established from the massive St. Johns County, one of two comprising the entire Florida Territory, which had been formed in 1821.
Mosquito County's population increased to 773 in 1829, but dropped to 70 in 1842, largely because of the Seminole Wars. Because not all residents could vote, there were only 3 qualified voters in the entire county. The 1840 census takers could not find a single resident.
The county's name was changed to Orange in 1845 after statehood was granted, and Volusia County was created from it in 1855. Promoter Forrest Lake lobbied for a new county, and was granted one of 360 square miles by the state legislature. It was named Seminole County and had a population of 7,600, with the remaining portion of Orange County having 12,000.
In April of 1913, a parade of over 30 cars, floats, horseback riders and cyclists, led by grand marshal Forrest Lake, passed through Sanford to celebrate the creation of Seminole County. An old cannon from the Seminole War days at Fort Mellon was wheeled out and unfortunately was overloaded. It exploded and blew apart. The barrel is buried in front of the Chamber of Commerce Building and serves as a flagpole stand.
In 1973, this portion of the park was dedicated by the Central Florida Heart Association and other organizations. Near here was the St. Gertrude grove, planted in 1871 by Gen. Henry Shelton Sanford.
Gen. Sanford was the U.S. minister to Belgium during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. He came to Mellonville in 1870 to fish and hunt, and decided to stay. He purchased 12,548 acres of land from the state, which became the city of Sanford. His accomplishments included the construction of a hotel, a church, a 600' pier into Lake Monroe, and the planting of large citrus groves, chiefly the nearby St. Gertrude and the Belair grove on Crystal Lake about five miles to the west.
In January of 1938, the city commission voted to name the new park after Fort Mellon, which had given rise to Mellonville and, ultimately, Sanford. In February of 1944, Cynthia Ellen Roumillat unveiled this D.A.R. marker.
Gen. Sanford planted many varieties of plants including 30,000 exotic trees from Africa and South America. Many died during the chill winters, but oranges flourished. He and his young manager, James Ingraham, who had moved from Ohio in 1874 to help relieve his wife's tuberculosis, were researches as well as farmers. Plant subjects included 140 types of citrus, including blood and Jaffa oranges in the 1880s, neither of which are still extensively cultivated in Florida.
Although oranges were to be the major crop, with Sanford having about 100,000 trees in 1881, the area supported other agricultural ventures. Growers from Sanford took first prizes at the 1881 state fair in Jacksonville for pineapples, lemons, cabbage, cauliflowers, turnips, and lime, lemon and citron blossoms.
Gen. Sanford inherited his fortune from his Connecticut manufacturer father. He married Gertrude duPuy of Paris, and they had 8 children. His contemporaries described him as pompous and overbearing, and could always be seen in a cutaway and high hat, carrying a gold-knobbed cane.
Sanford's title as "General" was honorary only, since he had not served in the military. The Minnesota Militia had bestowed upon him an honorary commission in 1862, following his presentation to that state of a small battery of three rifled cannons of six-pound caliber.
To clear land for a citrus grove, Sanford initially enlisted 60 local black laborers, but neighboring white settlers protested and turned violent. In 1871, armed vigilantes attacked the workers' camp, killing one and wounding six, and the rest fled. None of the whites applied for the jobs, either before or after the blacks were hired. This was the end of Ku Klux Klan activities in the area until the 1920s.
To recruit loggers and farmers, Sanford sent an agent to Sweden to locate people willing to work hard for low wages in exchange for the opportunity to emigrate. As each earned the cost of the trip, he was presented with a 5-acre grove. Most settled at New Upsala near the Belair Grove. Polish and Italian workers were added later.
Sanford offered to donate land to any denomination that wished to build a church. His Florida Land and Colonization Company offered lots for sale, and in an 1884 promotional pamphlet claimed that during severe cold, Sanford was 10 degrees warmer than it was 100 miles to the north. Acreage was sold to Pres. Ulysses S. Grant and Rhode Island Senator Henry Anthony, adding to Sanford's publicity.
Later, Gen. Sanford went back into the diplomatic service, where he remained until his death in 1891, when he was near bankruptcy. The museum is open to the public and there is no admission charge. Especially interesting are photographs of early Sanford and a re-creation of Gen. Sanford's library.
This resort opened as the Forrest Lake Hotel in January of 1926. The city bought it in December of 1930 for $43,756.18 and sold it to the New York Giants baseball club for a profit. In 1935, it was sold at a tax sale for $1,000. It reopened as the Mayfair Hotel in January of 1938. The following year, it advertised rooms for the summer at $3.00 per week.
In 1941, it was described in the American Automobile Association tour book as "very good and attractive". It had 156 rooms with baths and, in 1941, charged $2.50 per day for a single room, $4.00-$4.50 for a double. In 1943, it opened a third floor, expanding to 165 rooms.
In 1960, it was sold to Ben Ball of Miami for over $300,000. Five years later, it was sold to the MacFadden Foundation. Since 1977, it has housed the headquarters of the New Tribes Mission.
In August of 1940, the city donated a $6,500 tract of land here for construction of a W.P.A. hospital to replace the one in the old Fernald-Laughton home. However, the Sanford Memorial Hospital did not open until 1956.
When the new hospital (now HCA Central Florida Regional Hospital) was opened west of downtown, this facility was converted to county offices. Its medical beginnings are still evident in the three sculpted scenes on the outside wall next to the main entrance.
In the mid-1840s, Fort Mellon was the furthest settlement which could be reached by boat on the St. Johns River. A wharf was constructed here in 1837. On the wharf was the Doyle & Brantley store, the only store on the county worthy of mention in the mid-1880s. The Masonic Lodge began here on March 15, 1872, and for a long time met on the second floor of the store.
The bronze tablet was unveiled in May of 1925 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the site of Fort Mellon. The tablet was later moved here from its original location at the northeast corner of 2nd St. and Mellonville Ave.
Fort Mellon was the first permanent settlement in the area, established in December of 1836 as an army camp near the site of a trading post, to protect early settlers from the Indians during the Seminole Wars. It was known as "Camp Monroe" and "Camp Fanning", the latter after its first commander, Col. A.C.W. Fanning. It was established near Lake Monroe at the northern end of the Fort Mellon-Fort Brooke Trail. Fort Brooke later became Tampa.
On the morning of February 8, 1837, the camp was attacked by Seminole warriors, blacks and war chiefs King Philip and Coacoochee (Wildcat). The attackers (estimates range from 200 to 500) caught the soldiers sleeping behind a low log breastwork. During the three-hour battle, a navel steamer in Lake Monroe fired grape-shot and canister which prevented an Indian victory, but there were casualties. Three attackers were killed, with two wounded. Fifteen soldiers were wounded, and the sole fatality was Capt. Charles Mellon. Shortly thereafter, the fort was erected and renamed for Capt. Mellon by order of Col. Fanning.
In June of 1837, many army posts along the St. Johns River were evacuated as a result of unhealthy conditions. Many at the fort were sick, and a Dr. Motte was ordered by the army to go to Fort Mellon to help them. He arrived on June 11, 1837, and six days later orders arrived to dismantle the fort and return to St. Augustine, returning the area to the Seminoles.
In November of 1837, Seminole strength in East Florida was decreasing, and the army commanders saw a chance for a victory. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup planned an offensive which included troop movement down the east coast and re-establishment of Fort Mellon. The new fort was put under the command of Lt. Col. Harney, 2nd Dragoon.
By the end of November, Fort Mellon held about 4,000 men ready to move southward. In December, a group of Cherokee chiefs attempted to persuade the Seminoles to surrender and move west. About 80, including chiefs Micanopy and Cloud, did come to the fort to discuss the matter, and were surprised when Gen. Jesup seized them and had them shipped as prisoners to St. Augustine.
The main column of soldiers moved out on December 17, 1837, toward Fort Christmas. The town of Mellonville later grew near the fort.
Developer Harry Bodwell opened his subdivision in February of 1924. To keep it a quality residential area, its use was limited to single family homes costing not less than $4,500 each. There was also a restriction on who could live there, providing that the homes "shall not be rented, leased or alienated to any person of Ethiopian descent for a period of 99 years thereof". Such a restriction is no longer legally enforceable.
This large building was formerly the home of C.R. Walker. In February of 1936, new club rooms were opened for use of the Sanford Elks. In the front yard is the post on which the Town Clock sat when it was located in the intersection of 1st St. and Park Ave.
Sanford had its exclusively black section, bounded by 2nd St. on the north, Sanford Ave. on the west, Celery Ave. on the south, and Mellonville Ave. on the east. For many years, it operated as a separate town in most respects.
This church was organized in 1913 at 6th St. and Pine Ave. It met from 1913 to 1919 in the home of Pastor Charles H. McDonia. It has been at its present location since 1924.
Many of the early residents of Georgetown were former slaves or their descendants. The parents of Frank Brown, who lived at this location, were slaves brought to this country by a slave ship from Jamaica.
An important part of the lives of Georgetown resident was the church. This church was organized on Mellonville Ave. on June 9, 1888, under a brush arbor, a temporary structure of sticks and palmetto fronds. Early services were held in an old horse stable on Mellonville Ave. In 1890, they moved to 5th St. and Locust Ave., and in the early 1920s moved again to this location.
This sanctuary was opened on June 13, 1926, while Rev. H.W. Williams was the pastor.
Charles Frazier ran a store which served Georgetown, located at 3rd St. and Sanford Ave.
Rev. John Hurston lived here while he was pastor of Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church. His notoriety is largely due to his being the father of Zora Neale Hurston, famous author and folklorist who figures largely into the history of Eatonville.
Rev. Hurston was born in 1861 near Natasula, Alabama, and grew up picking cotton. In his late twenties he left and eventually became the pastor at Zion Hope. He and his wife Lucy had two daughters and six sons. From 1900 to 1905, he served as Moderator of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association.
This church was organized in 1878. The land was bought in 1881 from Gen. and Mrs. Sanford, and the land for the parsonage was bought in 1896 from the Florida Land Colonization Company. After a brush arbor and small wooden cabin, the church built a permanent structure and used it from 1889 to 1906. A new sanctuary was erected in 1906 under the leadership of Rev. Castle Brewer. The present building was dedicated on February 5, 1961. The bell dates from 1890.
This church was organized in 1867 under a brush arbor, and then met at a home on Mellonville Ave. The first permanent church building was erected here in 1880 under the leadership of Rev. S.H. Coleman. The sanctuary was rebuilt in 1890 and 1913, with the last utilizing a Revenna and Bacchus style from Constantinople, with pressed metal roof shingles.
This was one of several Sanford churches designed by self-taught black architect Price W. Spears.
The school building was erected in 1910, and the first classes were held here in 1911. The main building was demolished, but an annex remains at the site. It is presently in use as the First Spanish Church.
This church was organized on May 10, 1895, by Rev. M.W. Evans. Under the second pastor, Rev. C.J. Smith, the present church was erected. The parsonage was built in 1922, with deacon Joe Gardner taking the lead in the carpentry work.
This high school for black children was built in 1917, and was first named the Georgetown School.
This church was organized in May of 1931. Its sanctuary was first used on January 15, 1939, and was rebuilt and dedicated on June 22, 1980. It was an offshoot of St. John's, located only two blocks away.
From 1922 to 1924, this church met at 7th St. and Locust Ave., then moved four blocks south to this location.
This stadium was dedicated in September of 1924, replacing the facility in Holden Park. Its original cost was $35,000, and it seated 1,000. From 1948 to 1962, it was used by the New York Giants baseball club for spring training.
The first fixed standard night baseball game in Sanford was in June of 1937, when Gainesville beat Sanford in Florida State League play. The first portable light night game had been held in 1932 when House of David beat Sanford 19-2.
Dr. Algernon S. Speer arrived here from Georgia with his family and slaves in 1844. At this location in 1845 he planted a grove of orange trees. Speer later owned the first St. Johns River steamer, the "Hancock", which ran between Palatka and Fort Mellon. He purchased a second steamer, and was joined by Capt. Brock's "Darlington", coming from Jacksonville. The D.A.R. placed a commemorative marker here in 1941.
Deane was a retired Congregational minister, who built this home here in 1875.
Here was located Fort Reid, named after Robert Raymond Reid, the fourth territorial governor, which served as a commissary and soldiers camp for Fort Mellon. In 1875, land developers called their subdivision "Fort Reed", and that was also the name given to the railroad station located near here. Some literature also refers to the fort or the community as "Fort Read".
A.J. Vaughn is considered by many to be the area's first white settler. He had enlisted for duty at Fort Mellon in December of 1837, and later homesteaded at Fort Reed.
Also known as the Jarvis Farm, this Victorian Revival home was built in 1904-08. It has a full basement, rough-cut cypress siding, and an engaged hexagonal turret.
This church building opened here in May of 1927 for the First Christian Church. The educational building to the north was completed on November 18, 1979. Later, it was the home of the Faith Fellowship Church.
A new $245,000 Seminole High School opened here in 1927, replacing the prior one located at 9th St. and Palmetto Ave. Later, this became Sanford Middle School.
Dr. Seth French, a U.S. Army surgeon in the Civil War, came to Sanford by boat at the urging of his friend, Gen. Sanford. Legend states that when French stepped off the boat in 1872, he used his sword to clear a path to the highest ground he could find. That path was later improved as a road and is now named French Ave. French served as Florida's first Commissioner of Immigration and, in 1879, as a state senator.
The house Dr. French built in 1872 stood on this plot, which includes the school and the Farmer's Market, until it burned in 1954.
In June of 1934, the city donated 20 acres of what had been Dr. French's property to the State of Florida for a proposed $75,000 Farmers' Market. It was dedicated in December of that year. The market was destroyed by a fire in April of 1957, and was soon rebuilt. The market was the idea of Nathan Mayo, Commissioner of Agriculture from 1923 to 1960.
In preparation for possible attack, the city installed its first air-raid siren under the water tank in February of 1942. It stood until about 2000.
West of this point was the two-story brick Atlantic Coast Line passenger station, Sanford's third train station, which was built for a cost of $70,000 and opened on January 14, 1913. It served until 1952, and was torn down in the 1960s.
In the area later occupied by Scotty's and other businesses, and behind them, was the railroad roundhouse, shops and hospital. Notice all the tracks headed toward that site.
Just north of the railroad roundhouse was the ball field at Holden Park. In the early 1900s, crowds of nearly 1500 enjoyed Florida State League baseball games. Some of the more heated contests were had with the team from Orlando.
In June of 1911, a memorable incident involved Orlando catcher William "Billy" Beardall, the son of one of Gen. Sanford's engineers. During an argument, Beardall hit home plat umpire Roy Chittenden over the head with his catcher's mask, and was arrested. He appealed in the Mayor's Court, presided over by Mayor G.W. Spencer, who also happened to be the president of the ball club. Beardall was exonerated, and later served as mayor of Orlando from 1940 to 1952.
This church was organized in 1890 by Rev. J.R. Pritchard and eight people who felt the need to band together in worship, and met in a brush arbor in Goldsboro, west of Sanford. Mrs. Norma Deforest, the wife of a wealthy land developer, donated land for a church at the corner of 13th St. and Sheppard Ave. The congregation included many farm and domestic workers.
The church was rebuilt in 1928. Under the leadership of Rev. Harry D. Rucker, the church was relocated to the site on August 3, 1986.
The main central building was erected in 1902 (dedicated April 19, 1902) as Sanford High School, the first high school in Orange County (prior to establishment of Seminole County), and is the fourth oldest school building in continuous use in Florida. From 1908 until 1984, it served as the Sanford Grammar School.
The main building consists of a two-story rectangular brick facade with a three-story tower topped by an open belfry. The Romanesque Revival style includes decorative corbeling, string and belt-courses, and recessed round arched entryways. Wilbur Talley was the architect.
Additions to the east and west of the main building were erected in 1916. Note the earthquake bolts used high on the additions to keep the walls from falling.
The building houses a hands-on museum for Seminole County students, including a pioneer log cabin, Timucuan Indian village, a historical photograph collection, and a 1902 classroom. It is open to the public.
When All Souls, Sanford's oldest wooden church, dedicated March 17, 1887, burned to the ground in January of 1932, Rev. J.J. McInerney was able to save only the cornerstone and the baptismal, marriage and birth records. The new church building, costing $5,000, was dedicated in July of 1937.
Across the street at 902 S. Oak Ave. is the home owned by All Souls, built in 1890.
Built in 1905, this Queen Anne style home has an ornamental shingle pattern on the gables and a cylindrical turret.
In February of 1884, a group met at the Sanford Town Hall, then located on Palmetto Ave. north of Commercial St., and organized themselves into a Regular Baptist Church. Under the leadership of W.N. Chaudin, Executive Secretary of the Florida State Board of Missions, they called themselves the Sanford Baptist Church.
The original wooden frame church building on 6th St. near Park Ave., seating 240 in its 32' x 50' space, served until 1914, when a new red brick building was opened next door at the corner.
The memorial education building on the north side of the sanctuary was added in 1948, and a new brick building was later constructed on the northwest corner of the block.
Prior to the move in 1918 to the building on 1st St., this was the Sanford Post Office, designed by Elton J. Moughton.
In 1855, mail service between Mellonville and Orlando took three days, round trip. Early transportation was over sandy, deeply rutted roads.
In 1876, a new public road opened between Sanford and Orlando, and Joseph Bumby obtained the mail contract over it. He hauled freight and passengers with a team of horses northward in the morning, changed teams in Sanford at noon, and returned to Orlando later in the day. A round trip on the "Bumby Express" took 12 hours. This was the first regularly scheduled public transportation in Central Florida.
In 1913, a 25-mile brick road to Orlando opened. It was nine feet wide. Air mail service in and out of Sanford commenced in March of 1929.
In 1919, shortly after the death of local hardware store owner George H. Fernald, this home was donated by his widow as a hospital in memory of her mother and husband. It was the only hospital in Sanford until the Sanford Memorial Hospital opened in 1956. Presently the Florida Hotel rooming house, it was built in 1910 in the Colonial Revival style with a French tile roof.
This Queen Anne style home was built in 1894 for James Cochran Higgins, superintendent of the South Florida Railroad. It now serves as a bed and breakfast.
Initially, this congregation had a church built in 1875 on Sanford Ave. In 1883, it merged with Earnest Chapel of Mellonville. McKinley Hall on the north side was added in 1949.
This park and pavilion were dedicated in 1977, on Sanford's 100th birthday as a city.
Bishop John Freeman Young accompanied Rev. F.R. Holeman to Mellonville in 1871. Holeman had been appointed by Freeman as a missionary for the area. Gen. Sanford deeded land for a church and rectory of Holy Cross Church, and Holeman moved his base from Palatka to Sanford. The church building, designed by Richard Upjohn, was completed in 1873.
The tall spire of the church was a Sanford landmark in the 1870s. In 1874, a passenger on the "Starlight" on a trip from downriver to Enterprise (at the time the boat did not dock on the south side of the lake) wrote an account of what she saw along the way. Of Sanford, she wrote that the only landmark she could see was the Episcopal Church.
An early generous supporter of the church was Frederic H. Rand, a Longwood settler who helped found and build the Episcopal Church there, and who served as treasurer of the Episcopal Missionary District of Southern Florida Diocese from 1893 to 1923.
The church was destroyed by a hurricane on August 28, 1880, and Bishop Young appealed for aid. It was provided, and a new church was built in 1882 along modified Upjohn designs. In 1914, the first parish house was dedicated. Both it and the main building were destroyed on November 27, 1923, when low water pressure was blamed for the fire department's inability to extinguish a blaze. The third church building was erected in 1925.
The church bought a rectory on Palmetto Ave. in the 1920s from the estate of Gen. Sanford. Originally, it had been deeded by Sanford to a black congregation (New Salem Primitive Baptist Church) which erected Sanford's first black church church there in the 1870s. In the 1920s, the black church moved to another location on Locust Ave. with Holy Cross' help, and the land reverted to Sanford's estate.
The church was founded in May of 1882, and this sanctuary opened in September of 1916. The buildings were substantially remodeled and enlarged in 1972. An earlier Presbyterian church had existed in Fort Reed, beginning in 1870.
S.O. Chase and J.C. Chase founded Chase & Co. in 1884, and built their first packing houses in Miami in 1897. A new office opened here in May of 1920.
On December 26, 1894, a freeze damaged the area's citrus groves. They began to recover during a warm and wet January which promoted new shoots, but a second freeze hit on February 7, 1895, practically wiping them out. The 24 degree temperature was the coldest known in Florida to that point. The freeze was so intense that the sap froze inside the trunks, many of which split open, sounding like gunshots, and crashed to the ground. The population quickly dropped from 5000 to 2000 as the groves were abandoned.
I.H. Terwilliger stayed after the freezes and is reputed to have planted the first celery grown in Sanford in 1896. J.N. Whitner and B.F. Whitner Sr. planted 3/4 acre in 1897 with celery imported from Kalamazoo, Michigan. By 1898, celery was a very important crop in this area.
Through its marketing, the Chase family earned Sanford the name of the "Celery City" by the early 1900s. It ceased using that nickname in 1974, when its importance essentially disappeared.
This flat-roofed brick building with a parapet opened in 1879, housing H.B. Lord Jewelry and Optical. It has been the home of jewelry stores nearly all of its existence. The ceramic tile, stucco and metal exterior masks the original wooden storefront, but the original pressed tin ceiling still exists.
The location of the Seminole Hotel, later renamed the Florida Hotel, is now a bank parking lot. In the 1880s, W.T. Cotter, an architect and builder, had his office here.
On June 15, 1910, across the street on the northeast corner, the present Florentine Palazzo building opened as the Imperial Theater. A suspended canopy along the front, with a mansard roof, was added in 1925. It was a popular place for entertainment of all types. A speech here by famed lawyer William Jennings Bryan in February of 1916 attracted a large crowd.
An early barn-like opera house was located at the southeast corner of this intersection, and was later replaced by the recently remodeled building. It was constructed by Jacksonville contractor R.J. Gallespie in 1923.
An early name of this entertainment center was Milane Theater, taking its name from the pair who started it, Frank Miller and Edward Lane. It hosted the San Carlo Opera Company, the first professional opera performance in Sanford, on December 29, 1926. This was the site of the showing of "Tenderloin", the first sound movie in the city, on October 19, 1928. In the 1920s, another tenant in the building was Water's Pure Sugar Candies, which advertised "Not better than the best, but better than the rest".
Tom Mix entertained here with his horse, Tony. Unfortunately, someone cut off Tony's mane and Tom left on a sour note, threatening to sue the city.
The theater was sold in 1933 to Frank and Stella Evans of Lake Mary, who renamed it the Ritz Theater. It hit hard economic times in the 1960s, closed in 1978, and remained vacant until 1984. From then until 1988, it was the Showtime Cantina, which then closed and remained vacant until the mid-1990s. After substantial renovation, it reopened as the Helen Stairs Theatre on May 6, 2000.
First Federal Savings and Loan Association first opened here in 1940. It assisted potential homeowners by offering low-interest mortgage loans. Homes cost considerably less during that period than they do today. In 1939, for example, J.B. Cash's home at 3rd St. and Jessamine Ave. was destroyed by a fire that did $1,700 of damage.
First Federal moved in 1961 to 312 W. 1st St.
W.A. Miller built the Bye Lo Hotel here in 1912, with the city's first swimming pool. It was later known as the Wilton Hotel, and was acquired in 1919 by the W.K. Murrell family, which changed the name to the Montezuma Hotel.
It was renovated in 1922, then bought by W.H. Schmidt in 1936. It was advertised as "The Coolest Hotel in Sanford". The hotel was badly damaged by fire on September 2, 1994, and was torn down in November of that year.
In the 1880s, this site serviced the transportation needs of a large portion of Sanford.
Located here was the seat of local government during part of the 1880s.
Col. A.M. Thrasher, president of the Sanford Ice and Cold Storage Company, built this in 1887. Its original tenants were a saloon and sporting goods store. It is done in the Romanesque Revival style with typical crude and shallow brickwork. It was later the home of 3D's Restaurant.
This building was constructed in 1890-95 and served as a blacksmith and wagon shop. From 1910 to 1914, E.E. Brady ran a livery, feed and sales barn here. It housed the county jail from 1916 to 1959, and later was the county health department. It once had a shed roof across the front, and the stucco was added to mask deterioration.
The heavy metal jail door is on display at the Seminole County Historical Museum.
This Beaux-Arts Classical building was erected as a three-story building shortly after the 1887 fire. In 1928, it was reduced to two stories. From 1890 to 1974, it housed the city's fire house, and for a time was also the city hall, police station and jail.
Local lore says that the county's only legal hanging took place behind this building in 1923. The Sanford Zoo began here, when a monkey named Jack was donated to the fire station.
This group of stores was built in 1887-1888 in the Romanesque Revival style, using brick and pressed metal. This was built by Capt. J.O. Northesag for J.N. Bishop immediately after the great 1887 fire.
This has been the site of numerous businesses, including a milliner, jeweler, men's clothing store and confectionary. One of the earliest tenants was A.E. Philips' South Florida Drug Store. During the early part of the 20th century, the city hall was located here. Later, Benjamin's Department Store was a tenant.
On September 22, 1887, a fire began in a bakery store and engulfed the buildings on 1st St. from Sanford to Magnolia Aves. It jumped across the street and burned two blocks on the other side. Despite the destruction of the business district, Sanford still hosted the South Florida Fair later that year, attended by Mrs. Grover Cleveland.
A substantial business block was developed here in the 1880s, built by W.A. Miller.
This block of stores was erected in 1886, and was nearly gutted by the 1887 fire. It is built in the Romanesque Revival style with keystones and rusticated arches above the second-story windows. Around 1920, Robert's Grocery was located here. Beginning in the 1950s, brothers Herman and Arthur Jacobson operated a department store here.
This building opened on August 1, 1918, having been built in the Classical Revival style by Agernon Blair of Montgomery, Alabama. This served as the post office until a new one opened two blocks away in 1962 (since closed), and since 1975 has been a part of the Sanford branch of the Seminole County Library.
This large building has housed numerous Sanford businesses. In January of 1923, the LuBeth, Sanford's first cafeteria, opened. In the 1920s, Laney's Drug Store here sold the "coolest drinks in town". The first area Piggly-Wiggly grocery store opened here on January 27, 1923. A portion of the building was renovated by Frank Lossing and occupied by a J.C. Penney Company store from 1928 to 1943. After 1950, it was the home of Ro-Jay, a woman's fashion store operated by Herman and Rose Edith Jacobson.
The building was designed by W.B. Talley and built by R.J. Gallespie for the Sanford Investment Co., of which John Meisch was the president. It is constructed of a reinforced concrete frame faced with tapestry brick, ornamental stone and stucco.
This Beaux-Arts Classical row of stores and businesses was built between 1905 and 1910. The Peoples Bank Building opened here on August 30, 1906. Contractor W.G. Hammond built it of pressed white sand brick and stucco in an L-shape.
The Peoples Bank Block was completed in 1910 on a lot that had been vacant since the 1887 fire.
A magnificent hotel was built here by Gen. Sanford in 1875 and had an international reputation. It extended all the way from 1st St. to Commercial St. It was the center of the city's social and political life. Rates for a room in 1884 ranged from $15 to $20 per week.
The 1887 fire came very close to the Sanford House, and it was feared that sparks would add it to the destruction. What saved it were wet blankets which were draped from the roof and windows. It was torn down in May of 1920.
This clock was attached to the northeast corner of First National Bank when it was located in the Lyman Bank Building. When the bank moved across the street to the present location of First Union, the clock was put into a basement.
In 1931, produce dealer A.H. Moses donated the clock to the city, which placed it atop a pole on a massive concrete base in the middle of the intersection of 1st St. and Park Ave., and topped it with a traffic signal. The clock broke, and in January of 1936 when a $200 repair estimate was received, the city commission instead ordered cardboard covers to hide the clock faces. It was taken down in 1941 when cars were bigger and faster, and the clock and base constituted a traffic hazard. The pole was moved to the front yard of the Elks Club.
In the 1980s, the clock was once again retrieved from storage as part of the downtown renovation program. The Elks Club returned the clock, and it was refurbished by Mr. Moses' granddaughter, Stella Oritt, and her husband. It was dedicated at this spot on July 9, 1985, with the stipulation that it remain on Magnolia Ave., the street where Stella had lived as a child.
The first edition of the Sanford Herald newspaper was printed in August of 1908, and this building was completed in 1910. Another newspaper, the Sanford Journal, had previously served this area. The Sanford Signal newspaper began in 1924.
In 1933, the Sanford Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, chartered on March 7, 1889, moved into the building from its previous location on Cypress Ave.
Construction is of rusticated concrete block and has the appearance of a small 16th century Florentine palazzo.
The first tenant when this building opened in 1917 was Hill Hardware. It is basically unaltered since its original construction.
These two red brick buildings were erected in 1910 by George Venable, and were designed by W.B. Talley of Jacksonville. Their style is generally referred to as 20th Century Commercial.
The Yowell Building opened as a dry goods store, has corner piers, and was the first air conditioned building in Sanford, in May of 1938. The Garner-Woodruff is distinguished by quoins and rusticated cornices above the windows.
Built for Henry L. DeForest in 1887 before the fire, it was the only one within the burned area to survive it. Perhaps it is because it was the first one made of brick.
It is built in the Beaux-Arts Clasic style with a rectangular floor plan, flat roof and parapet. The stucco covering was added later.
An early occupant was Forrest Lake's Seminole Bank, which closed in August of 1927. Lake was subsequently convicted of embezzlement.
This walkway, running between 1st and Commercial Sts., is named after Fredric H. Rand. He served as manager for Gen. Sanford's company, a general passenger agent for the South Florida Railroad, major of Sanford, and in 1887 vice president of Florida National Bank.
This building was built shortly after the 1887 fire. The Beaux-Arts Classic style, typical of the 1880s, includes metal segmented pediments over the upstairs windows.
This commercial building was built in 1889 in the Romanesque Revival style, with stucco added in the 1950s. DeForest came from Connecticut at age 18 at the suggestion of his distant cousin, Gen. Sanford. The Alden Ice Cream Shop opened here in November of 1940. Long before that, it was occupied by A. Siman's crockery and glassware business. It currently houses the Second Image store and then Miss Libby's Antique Emporium.
This was built for Drs. L.A. Brumley and Samuel Puleston by George A. Fuller, who also built the Lincoln Memorial, the Flatiron Building, and New York's Biltmore Hotel. It is made of Greendale rug-faced brick.
When this building opened on May 5, 1923, its first business was the Roumillat and Anderson Drug Store, which became Walgreen's in 1941. The building was bought by the county in the late 1970s, and is now occupied by the Seminole County State Attorney.
In 1923, Sanford had 12 miles of paved streets and 22 miles of sidewalks. It also acquired this six-story "skyscraper". First National Bank opened here on October 4, 1923. It moved here from across the street at the southwest corner of this intersection.
The building cost $225,000 to build in 1923, using the plans of New York architects Mowbray and Uffinger, and builder George A. Fuller Co. A victim of the Depression, First National Bank closed in July of 1929. The building was sold in 1933 for $43,500. Depositors received only 60% of what they had put in as of the bank's closing, and had to wait until the middle of 1936 to get their final installment on that amount.
Rollins College is in Winter Park, and is an essential part of the history and growth of that city. Nevertheless, despite the buildings and students being miles to the south, Rollins College has connections with Sanford.
On April 28, 1885, Rev. E.P. Hooker, Rev. J.A. Tomlinson, Hon. F.W. Lyman and Rev. S.D. Smith met in the Lyman Bank Building on this corner. The result was the incorporation of the college.
Rollins and Sanford had another early relationship, altough not an academic one. Beginning in 1924, the college was the first home of WDBO, the first radio station in Central Florida and, for a long time, the only one that could be picked up on radios in Sanford. In the pre-television days, broadcast entertainment and information for Sanford residents, including special programming produced for Sanford, came from the Winter Park school that began here.
Erected in 1883, this was the first brick building in Sanford, and is the oldest building of any kind still standing in the downtown commercial district. It is built in the Neo-Classical style with white marble over a brick foundation, now partially masked by stucco. Architect Gerald Gross originally had the building painted Monticello rose and Somerville red, with white awnings with pink trim.
Its first tenant was the Lyman Bank, organized in 1883. The bank reorganized as the First National Bank of Sanford in 1908, and the building was remodeled to move the main entrance from the building's northeast corner to its north side. First National Bank moved out in 1923, and in 1939 Florida State Bank opened here.
In the early 1900s, this was the location of the Bell Hotel and the Bell Cafe. Prior to that, the Sanford Journal had its office here.
In November of 1915, the Allen Theater opened and showed silent moving pictures. It was later called The Lyric, then the Hippodrome, and then the Princess Theater. In 1936, the stores from the theater to Oak Ave. were razed.
Hill's Hardware began here in 1877. Col. W.J. Hill came to Florida in 1873, and camped with the Seminole Indians in 1876. He is reputed to have killed, with three other individuals, over 1000 alligators and 3000 plumed birds along the Kissimmee River.
Oak Ave. was formerly called Railroad Way. This L-shaped block of businesses was built in about 1887 for Henry B. Plant, initially to serve as the railroad company's offices. In 1919, B.L. Perkins opened a men's clothing store here. He advertised that he "catered to the young fellows".
In 1920, the second floor was converted to the Welaka Apartments. "Welaka" was the Timucuan name for the St. Johns River, meaning "chain of lakes". An onion-shaped dome sat on the building's southwest corner tower, until it was blown down in a storm in the late 1950s.
The second Sanford railroad depot was located here, adjacent to the Pico Building. It was built shortly after the 1886 fire.
This building, built in 1887, was built by H.M. Papworth. The Romanesque Revival building was originally designed as a hotel to accommodate rail and steamship passengers. Over the years, it has housed a hotel, restaurant and stores. The Takach family had a food catering business there for over 50 years, beginning in 1887. The building was restored in 1967. "Pico" stands for Plat Investment Company.
It was designed with a Turkish style with an onion-shaped dome on the remaining tower by William T. Cotter of Sanford. It resembles the Tampa Bay Hotel, another of Henry Plant's enterprises.
This was the site of Seminole County's first courthouse, with the county commissioners leasing the Welbourne Building beginning in 1913. The building also housed Forrest Lake's Seminole Bank and Trust Company. In the 1920s, it was topped by a tower and multi-faced clock, and reopened as the Valdez Hotel.
In September of 1913, the Seminole Bank and Trust Co. opened here. The Valdez Hotel opened in 1920. In the hotel bar operated by Wurt Warner, clothier Felix Frank bought the first legal beer in the county after repeal of prohibition, at 9 a.m. on May 8, 1933. It cost him 35 cents.
In the 1920s, the Valdez claimed to have the "coolest rooms in the state". Smith's Barber Shop next to the hotel promoted itself as "Homelike. For Mother, Father, Sister, Brother."
Across Commercial St. to the south, the Rev. Lyman Phelps Block was developed in the 1880s. Those buildings have since been removed.
This building was dedicated in 1924. The lodge had previously met at the Doyle Wharf. The building has also been occupied by the John Sauls Agency and attorneys.
This building, the most recent in a series of town and city halls for Sanford, opened in 1977. Watson and Company were the architects. It replaced a 1925 building locted in what is now the parking lot a few feet to the south of this spot. This was once the site of the Paramore Livery Stable.
This is the approximate location of Sanford's first railroad station, built in about 1880.
A Guide to Florida, by Harrison Rhodes and Mary Wolfe Dumont (Dodd, Mead and Company 1912)
A History of Florida, by Caroline Mays Brevard, (American Book Company 1919)
A History of the First Baptist Church, Sanford, Florida: 1884-1984, by Grace Marie Stinecipher (Gateway Press 1984)
A History of the First United Methodist Church of Winter Park, by W. Breathitt Gray, Jr. (Ferris Printing Co. 1972)
A Sightseeing Tour of Seminole County Historic Sites, (Seminole County Historical Commission 1991)
A Winter in Florida, by Ledyard Bell (Wood & Holbrook 1869)
Awesome Almanac: Florida, by Cima Star (B & B Publishings, Inc. 1994)
Boone's Florida Historical Markers & Sites, by Floyd Edward Boone (Rainbow Books 1988)
Discover Florida: A Guide to Unique Sites and Sights, by Robert Tolf (Manatee Books 1982)
Early Days of Seminole County, Florida, by Arthur E. Franke, Jr. (Seminole County Historical Commission 1988)
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)
Florida from Indian Trail to Space Age, by Dr. Charlton W. Tebeau and Ruby Leach Carson (The Southern Publishing Company 1965)
Florida: Historic, Dramatic, Contemporary, by J.E. Dovell (Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. 1923)
Florida History Through Its Places, by Morton D. Winsburg (Florida State University 1987)
Florida Jewish Heritage Trail, by Rachel B. Heimovics and Marcia Zervitz (Florida Department of State 2000)
Florida Portrait: A Pictorial History of Florida, by Jerrell Shofner (Pineapple Press, Inc. 1990)
Florida: The Long Frontier, by Marjorie Stoneman Douglas (Harper & Row 1967)
Florida's Early Pioneers: Struggling With the Wilderness, by Howard Werry (Wilmot Publishing Company 1987)
Florida's Fabled Inns, by Louis K. Frisbie (Imperial Publishing Company 1980)
Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State, by Gene M. Burnett (Pineapple Press, Inc. 1991)
Georgetown: The History of a Black Neighborhood, by Altermese Smith Bentley (1989)
Ghost Towns & Side Roads of Florida, by James R. Warnke (Roving Photographers & Assoc., Inc. 1978)
Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, (University of Florida Press 1989)
History of Development in Orange and Seminole Counties, (Orange-Seminole Joint Planning Commission 1966)
History of Florida, by Caroline Mays Brevard (The Florida State Historical Society 1924)
History of Florida (vol. 1), by Henry Gardner Cutler (The Lewis Publishing Company 1923)
History of Orange County, Florida, by William Fremont Blackman (The E.O. Painter Printing Co. 1927)
History of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association, by Altermese Smith Bentley (The Mickler House 1988)
Holy Cross Church: The First Hundred Years, by Albert A. Fitts and A.B. Peterson, Jr. (1974)
Into Tropical Florida; or, A Round Trip Upon the St. Johns River, by DeBary-Baya Merchants' Line (Saint Johns-Oklawaha Rivers Trading Company 1981 reprint of 1884 pamphlet)
Lake Mary's Beginnings, by Margaret Sprout Green (The Mickler House 1986)
Old Tales and Trails of Florida, by Myrtle Hilliard Crow (Byron Kennedy and Company 1987)
Orange County: The Source, (Office of the Orange County Chairman 1993)
Orlando: A Centennial History (volume I), by Eve Bacon (The Mickler House 1975)
Orlando: A Century Plus, by Baynard H. Kendrick (Sentinel Star Company 1976)
Orlando: The City Beautiful, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Continental Heritage Press 1984)
Oviedo: Biography of a Town, by Richard Adicks and Donna M. Neely (Executive Press 1979)
Pictorial History of Florida, by Richard J. Bowe (1970)
Places in the Sun: The History and Romance of Florida Place-Names, by Bertha E. Bloodworth and Alton C. Morris (The University Presses of Florida 1978)
The Rivers of Florida, by Del Marth and Marty Marth (Pineapple Press 1990)
Sanford and the World War II Years: 1936-1945, by Peter Schaal (1975)
Sanford As I Knew It: 1912-1935, by Peter Schaal (1970)
Sanford Now and Then, by Katherine Bishop (Greater Sanford Chamber of Commerce 1977)
The Seminole War: Prelude to Victory, 1823-1838, by William R. Ervin (W.& S. Publishing 1983)
Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida, by Mark Derr (William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1989)
Steamboating on the St. Johns, by Edward A. Mueller (Kellersberger Fund 1984)
The Story of Florida, by W.T. Cash (The American Historical Society, Inc. 1938)
Wish You Were Here: A Grand Tour of Early Florida Via Old Post Cards, by Hampton Dunn (Byron Kennedy and Company 1981)