The Great Railroad Center of TAVARES

Two (2) trains served all of Central Florida during Christmas 1880, two (2) more than had served this very same region one year earlier.

Two hotels met travelers  during the 1880s at the ASTOR town pier on the St, Johns River.

Snowbirds desiring to flock to 1880 Orange County, still arriving via steamboats, could dock at one of five piers, each located at a want-to-be towns, but four of the five ports would quickly fizzle out, and are today but distant memories – a/k/a, Ghost Towns!

Of the two ports having railroads, ASTOR, the first pier south of Lake George on the St. Johns River, offered service to FORT MASON, on the north shore of Lake Eustis. This was the rail line of St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railroad (See Part Two). Further south along the St. Johns River, a pier at SANFORD, in Lake Monroe, offered service to ORLANDO aboard the South Florida Railroad (See Part Four).

Months prior to track being laid by South Florida Railroad ever reached ORLANDO though, others began planning additional railroads. Two railroads of 1880 multiplied into more than a dozen railroads by the end of that decade. Most had failed by 1890, but much of today’s layout of central Florida grew out of the RAILROAD DECADE of 1880-1890.

South Florida Railroad originated at Sanford, and by June 1, 1880, about 10 miles of track had been completed south to LONGWOOD. Another 12 miles of wilderness lay ahead, and before a train could arrive at its planned destination at Orlando, that track still had to be laid.

On June 2, 1880 however, Orlando Attorneys Robert L. SUMMERLIN and Alexander St. Clair ABRAMS purchased a large lakeside parcel located 40 miles northwest of Orlando. A month later, these same attorneys acquired two acres at Orlando. Planning then began to connect these two parcels with a Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad.

ABRAMS was a big dreamer! In fact, his plans were so big, one train couldn’t possibly fulfill his ideas for central Florida – by then America’s 19^th Century Paradise!

PENINSULAR Land, Transportation & Manufacturing Company was organized by Abrams. Headquartered in his new town of TAVARES, Peninsular would be Abram’s marketing organization for the selling of town lots, growing of oranges, building and operating railroads, and then some. By 1883, Tavares began promoting itself as the, "Great Railroad Center of South Florida".

The St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railroad had, by 1883, been extended to TAVARES, and at that time was promising connection, via the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad, to Orlando. The route to Orlando, and three other rail lines, were reportedly all under construction in 1883, promoting connecting such destinations as Lake Monroe, the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, as well as points between. At Tavares, passengers and freight would then connect with railroad service to the north, completely eliminating the need for steamboats on the St. Johns River. (Plans didn't work out quite as planned).

Orange Land, Orange County’s Official 1883 publication, described Tavares: “It supplies settlements and villages of Mount Dora, Tangerine, Sorrento, Zellwood, Carleton, West Apopka, Oakland, Starke Lake, and Minneola, and will, within the next three years, be the greatest shipping point in all this region of Florida."

"As a winter resort, Tavares is one of the most inviting in South Florida," continued Orange Land's description, "the hunting and fishing are unequalled. Here is the Peninsular Hotel, the best hotel in the Lake Region.”

The Peninsular Hotel at Tavares was built by town founder Alexander St. Clair Abrams.  

Tavares became part of Lake County in 1887, and it can be said plans for the town didn’t quite work out as Alexander St. Clair Abrams hoped, but his grand scheme did open up a vast central Florida wilderness to development.

Plymouth, Apopka, Piedmont and many west Orange County communities benefited from the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad, even though the 1880s railroad never did make it to the Atlantic coast.

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 13, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains’ a Novel based on true-life Central Florida 19^th century residents, and a factual 1895 historical event that forever changed their lives and all of CitrusLAND.

All summer long, Central Florida Railroad Museum in historic Winter Garden, in association the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have all priced Ghost Towns at a summer discounted price of $15.00. Take time this summer and explore central Florida’s remarkable network of RAILS & TRAILS.

COMING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com is an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details at http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html and my Goodreads Author Page.

Richard Lee Cronin Author Page is up and running at www.Goodreads.com, so if you want to know more about any of my books? Please visit www.CroninBooks.com.

Meet you back here next Wednesday!