MAITLAND Neighbors & South Florida Railroad

Virginia native Bolling BAKER of MAITLAND was an 1879 neighbor of Dr. Clement C. HASKELL of Massachusetts. An Attorney, Confederate Veteran Baker and the doctor, a Union Veteran, shared two things in common. Both men owned land in a Florida town that was by then 8 years old, and yet each had to endure an arduous 16 mile land trek from the port at Lake Monroe to their homestead alongside Lake Maitland.

“The natural and customary gateway to Orange County,” stated Orange Land of 1883, “is the St. Johns River steamers to Sanford on Lake Monroe.” Steamers on the river had been the customary means of travel for 40 years. The problem for travelers was not the river though, rather how to continue their journey after arriving at Lake Monroe.

Maitland’s Bolling BAKER had been trying to improve land travel, but by 1879, his retired warriors group had yet to find the cash needed to build a railroad. Enter Baker’s neighbor, Dr. Clement C. HASKELL, a brother of newspaperman Edwin B. HASKELL, one of the owners of the celebrated Boston Herald.

Edwin B. HASKELL

Edwin HASKELL was acquainted with central Florida. A sister, Arabella (HASKELL) Bent, had married Charles A. BENT, and after moving to CitrusLAND, they planted an orange grove that was to become known as BENT”S Grove, you know it today as LAKE MARY. Edwin Haskell held a mortgage on Bent’s Grove dating back to 1874. During 1879, Edwin also became involved with his brother’s Maitland home.

Orange County’s population had yet to reach 7,000 by 1880. The county’s landmass at that time included all of present day Orange, Osceola and Seminole – and then some. But New Englanders were taking notice of this “EDEN on earth, a land of sunshine and health, lacking in the cheerless rigors of a bleak, frozen northern winter.” Central Florida offered a haven from harsh northern winters.

    

Improved transportation in central Florida became critical for continued expansion, and at that time, a railroad offered the best solution. Various plans to build a railroad had not gone well. George C. Brantley’s, ‘Tuskawilla to Orlando’ train faltered soon after his 1878 death while in New York City. Joseph J. Finegan and friends, desiring to build rail service between Mellonville and Orlando, had gotten nowhere.

Bostonians came to the rescue, financing South Florida Railroad. Track installation began during February of 1880, days after two Maitland neighbors agreed to transfer franchise rights. That deal however was subject to one “express condition,” service to Maitland had to be completed within four months. “So vigorously was the work prosecuted, that by June 1, 1880,” said the 1883 Orange Land, “the road was in operation to LONGWOOD, July 1st to MAITLAND, and December 1st to ORLANDO.”

The final agreement hammered out by Baker and Haskell forever changed the landscape of central Florida. Why? Baker’s group planned a railroad following the alignment of the original forts trail, the 'First Road to Orlando', that dirt path serving the County Seat for nearly 40 years.

The original forts trail did pass through Maitland, but the alignment north of Maitland shifted to the west. Haskell’s group ran their railroad toward Henry S. Sanford’s, ‘Belair Grove’, then continued toward Bent’s Grove, location of Haskell’s sister land; then on to Longwood, owned by the Civil Engineer from Boston, Edward W. Henck.

The train’s new alignment destined Mellonville, Fort Reid and Tuskawilla to Ghost Town status, and opened up an entirely new winter-haven for Northerners, along the alignment of Boston Herald’s historic South Florida Railroad. The first train ran between Sanford and Orlando November 11, 1880, and within two years, Thomas C. Simpson was in town to acquire 1,200 acres for a group of Boston investors. Land he acquired included a tiny village and depot between Longwood and Maitland called Snowville, land soon to be renamed Altamonte, and renamed again, Altamonte Springs.

At today’s busy intersection of Maitland Ave and SR 436, location of the once elegant hotel named The Altamonte, was a 25 acre ‘Hotel Park.’ The park connected Lake Adelaide and Lake Orienta, and surrounded the hotel. A few home sites fronted that park, with one such residential site, Lot 445, being sold May 16, 1887. Celia (HILL) Haskell purchased the one acre site the very year her husband, Edwin Bradbury Haskell, retired as Editor-in-chief of the Boston Herald.

Edwin & Celia Haskell owned Lot 445 until 1906, when they sold that parcel, “along with the house and enclosure,” according to the deed, to Bostonian George Frost, Altamonte’s second generation developer. Heirs of George Frost sold this acre lot in 1909, “including house and furnishings.”

Residence at Lot 445, Altamonte Springs, FL

Altamonte Springs became part of Seminole County in 1913. County records today lists the “actual or effective” date of construction as 1920. But a home existed on this exact site in 1906 according to deeds, and quite likely as early as 1887. Perhaps one day a researcher will provide compelling evidence regarding the house sitting on Lot 445 today. Is the home 96 years old or perhaps 129 years old?

Beyond the structure itself, of special interest to history was the 1887 owner of this land. Edwin Bradbury Haskell, Editor-In-Chief of the Boston Herald, was also an investor in land at Sanford, Lake Mary, Altamonte Springs, and Maitland – 4 of the first 7 stops on the South Florida Railroad line.    

“Although individuals have located here and there, all over the county,” Orange Land of 1883, “the great majority have made their homes in the lovely strip of country but a few miles wide that extends either side of the South Florida Railroad from Sanford, on the south side of Lake Monroe, the natural gateway of the county, to Orlando, the county seat, and a few miles beyond.”

South Florida Railroad not only reshaped central Florida’s landscape, this first train to Orlando made it possible for Orange County to prosper throughout the 1880s. Boston’s Edwin Haskell and partners understood the importance of their railroad to the barren Orange County wilderness. Visionaries, they were indeed the forefathers a new central Florida era – the golden age of CitrusLAND.

South Florida Railroad rolled into Orlando the first time on November 11, 1880. Forty years had passed since the first surveyors had followed the old forts trail south from an old military pier on Lake Monroe. Throughout the course of these 40 years, pioneers wanting to settle the Orange County wilderness traversed an old dirt trail, trekking 22 miles down a lonely path to reach the Orange County seat.

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 6, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains’ a Novel based on actual Central Florida 19^th century residents, and one tragic 1895 event that forever changed CitrusLAND.

Kindle Unlimited members read the book FREE, but all summer long, Central Florida Railroad Museum at Winter Garden, in association the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have all priced this book at a summer discounted price of $15.00. Explore central Florida’s network of RAILS & TRAILS.

Richard Lee Cronin Author Page is now up and running at www.Goodreads.com. From now until July 28, you can register for the Goodreads FREE giveaway of 10 CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains Books. 

Want to know more about any of my books? Visit www.CroninBooks.com.