ORANGE BELT Railway personifies the fascinating story of 19th
century central Florida, a vast undeveloped land in 1880 that I have dubbed, CitrusLAND.
During this summer-long series, my RAILS & TRAILS Blog has
been featuring more than a dozen independent
railroad ventures between the years 1870 and 1890. Today they are all phantom
trains, and yet each, during their brief existence, were largely responsible
for many a place name central Floridians
are familiar with today.
Regardless where you look, be it Bithlo, Chuluoto, Oviedo or
Tuscawilla in the east; Astor, Clermont, Eustis, Montverde or Tavares in the
far west; or Sanford, Lake Mary, Altamonte and Kissimmee in the central region;
a vast majority of present day place names are traceable to enterprising
dreamers, courageous individuals who dared to do the unimaginable, build a railroad.
In May of 1880, a soon to be Orange County newspaper editor
walked to Orlando from Lake Monroe, a journey taking more than a day. Six
months later, that November, passengers aboard the first central Florida train
made the same journey in just over two hours. CitrusLAND is truly a testament to
the best of American ingenuity.
If I had to choose one specific railroad to embody the
amazing story of CitrusLAND, the railroad I would choose would be the Orange Belt Railway.
Florida's Orange
Belt Railway
Founded in 1886 by a Russian immigrant, Orange Belt Railway
was among the last of all CitrusLAND trains established. Three short years
after its inaugural run, the founder, visionary Peter A. DEMENS, was suddenly threatened with lynching and run of
town.
Still, the Orange Belt Railway chugged on. The founder’s
dream, to open a vast portion of west Orange County, had been shared, albeit somewhat
secretively, by others who believed in the Peter Demens venture. Supporters
included some of the most prominent bankers, businessmen and railroad builders
from the North. But even after Demens left town, those enormously successful
Northerners were unable to work their magic here in America’s 19th
century Paradise. Mother Nature wouldn’t
allow them!
The American spirit remained alive and well though throughout
the 1880s, and that spirit could be seen all along the route of the Orange Belt
Railway.
Southwest of Sanford today, residents and golfers alike enjoy
a body of water inside the exclusive community of Heathrow called ISLAND LAKE.
But the story of this magical lake began long before Heathrow, and its real
story had long been forgotten.
Long, long ago, at a time when women rarely ventured into the
world of business, a gal named Mary Lambert, an exceptionally courageous
Pennsylvania lady, also dared to do the unthinkable
in the 3,000 square mile wilderness of central Florida. A single woman, Mary
first planted a 200 acre
orange grove, large by every standard of her day.
On June 17, 1886, Mary became Postmistress of her Island Lake Post
Office. A year later, in 1887, she platted her very own city, a town that
included a public lakeside park, accessed via, “Boulevard around the Lake.’ She named her town, ISLAND LAKE.
Island
Lake, 1887 Orange County, Florida
Central Florida place names of Sylvan Lake; Paola; Island
Lake; Glen Ethel; Altamont spelled without an E; Forest City; Lakeville; Crown
Point; Winter Garden; Oakland and Killarney, were once all Orange
County towns, cities served by Orange Belt Railway.
Before being run out of town, Peter A. Demens had extended his
railroad to the Gulf of Mexico, and there he incorporated a new town, a city he
named for a historic Russian city back in his homeland – St. Petersburg, Russia.
All along the 19th century route of Orange Belt
Railway dreamers had become doers. A failed Indianapolis banker, for example,
started over at a place he named Hoosier
Springs, later to be Sanlando Springs, today a residential community called
‘The Springs’.
Next door to Hoosier Springs was Altamont, spelled without an ‘E’. Founded by a New Yorker, Widow Elizabeth Saunders moved her sick son
to this tiny railroad town, and then bought
the town. Elizabeth expanded and renamed her town Palm Springs, to eliminate confusion with nearby Altamonte – a town spelled with
an E.
An Ohio department store founder also established a city on
the Orange Belt Railway line, giving his town the nickname of his hometown of
Cleveland, Ohio – Forest City.
Today, much of Orange Belt Railway’s route is a trail system.
Most towns along the old railroad are now Ghost Towns, and yet one can still
sense, simply by walking the trails today, the spirit of brave souls who dared
to a dream into reality.
Standing on the corner of busy Markham Woods Road & SR
434, imagine a young Virginia lad named Arthur Smyth, working alongside his cousin and
partner, Allen
MacDowell Smyth, a native of Nottinghamshire,
England. Envision two cousins, boxing oranges there in the middle of this present
day busy intersection, where in 1886, two independent railroads crossed, here in Palm Springs
town center. The Smyth cousins had one of three packing houses at these
railroad crossroads.
After the fruit picking season ended, the two Smyth Cousins
then boarded a train, with their oranges, heading off to peddle produce not
only in the North, but also by crossing the Atlantic aboard steamships, selling
Florida citrus in Strasburg, Germany; Paris, France; and London, England. The
cousins then returned to central Florida, preparing for yet another picking and
packing season.
Oranges and railroads played huge roles in shaping the central
Florida you know today.
Promoted as America’s
Paradise of the 19th century, its story, this region’s heritage,
lies beneath our feet every time we utilizes central Florida’s exceptional
trail systems.
Of all Orange County towns on the line founded by Peter A.
Demens in the 19th century, only ONE still has a historic railroad depot standing alongside today’s
phantom track. That town is Winter
Garden, home actually to two railroad depots, both of which
are museums today, part of the renowned Winter
Garden Heritage Foundation.
The museums of Winter Garden should be on everyone’s must-see
list of places to visit.
Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST
TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 17, 2016. This summer series is
sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom
Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers,
and the feature of this week’s RAILS & TRAILS blog.
WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS &
PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn by Goodreads on August 27,
2016.
This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic
Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails
& Trails special price of $15.00.
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER to Rick’s Blog:
Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen
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