A Special Holiday Edition BLOG
NAMING LAKE EOLA
An Orlando, Florida Icon
By Richard Lee Cronin, Author - First Road to Orlando
Folklore, handed down from one generation to the
next, often takes on a life of its own. Central Florida history is chock full
of such folklore, so the challenge for researchers becomes separating fact from
fiction. Such is the case in seeking the truth as to how Orlando’s iconic Lake Eola got its name.
This Holiday Blog is also Day 6 of our 12 Days of Christmas celebration
Long-time
Orlando resident Kena Fries wrote, in 1938:
“Sandy
Beach was changed to Eola in the early 1870s by Bob Summerlin,
in memory of the beautiful young girl,
his bride to be, who died from typhoid fever two weeks before the appointed
wedding day.” This legend has entertainment value, but an obvious question
comes to mind, is there any truth to this legend?
Kena
Fries wrote of this legend 63 years after the first known use of the name Lake Eola. So, to solve the riddle of
this legend we must begin at the beginning - the 1870s!
Florida
cattleman Jacob Summerlin relocated
his family to Orlando in 1873. He
bought 200 acres adjacent to, and
east of, the original four (4) acre village. Jacob, as well his then teenage
son, Robert L. Summerlin, both attended
an organization meeting at Orlando’s log-cabin Courthouse in June, 1875. The meeting had been called for
the purpose of incorporating the town of Orlando.
Robert
‘Bob’ Summerlin graduated from the University of Georgia in 1875, and was admitted to the Florida
Bar in 1876. There was indeed a ‘Bob
Summerlin’ in the vicinity of Lake Eola during the “early 1870s!” His father Jacob
platted all 200 acres of his land, signing the first land deed May 8, 1875.
The
name ‘Lake Eola’ appears on the 1875 Plat filed by Jacob Summerlin,
suggesting Kena’s legend might indeed have some
bases of truth. Bob Summerlin’s beautiful young bride however did not “die of
typhoid fever.”
Robert
L. Summerlin and Texas B. Parker married
May 30, 1876. The newlyweds settled
down in Orlando, in a lakefront home on, you guessed it, Lake Eola. Their first child, daughter Ruby, was born 1877, and
another daughter, Maude, was born in
1878.
1875 Jacob Summerlin Plat of
Lake Eola
Robert L. Summerlin lakefront
home was on Lot 2
Attorney
Robert L. Summerlin served as Mayor of Orlando in 1880, but then, Robert & Texas divorced in the mid-1880s, and
his ex-wife then returned to her family home in Polk County. She remarried in 1888! Robert L. Summerlin departed
Orlando too. As years passed, the legend of a mysterious girl, the young bride
who died of typhoid fever weeks before marrying Bob Summerlin, a girl named Eola, eventually surfaced.
Local
historians never wrote of the whereabouts of Robert L. Summerlin after he
departed Orlando in the 1880s.
A
New York newspaper however reprinted an 1890
San Francisco story telling of a doctor who had been treating Mexicans for yellow
fever. That doctor, the article reported, “effected cures in 85 per
cent” of patients treated. The story also reported Dr. Angel Bellinzaghi traveled to New York in preparation of a Brazil
trip, and that the doctor was accompanied by, “R. L. Summerlin of San Antonio, Texas.” Was this
Orlando’s R. L. Summerlin?
Orange
County, Florida records include a February 24, 1900 deed signing by Robert L. Summerlin, a document conveying land
to his sister. Robert signed as a single
man, residing at the time in San Antonio,
Texas. Archives also reflect Robert L. Summerlin as being a land agent in 1900, and assisting Dr. Bellinzaghi in
locating land to establish a vaccine
laboratory. In addition, University of Georgia Alumni records place their 1875 graduate, one Robert L. Summerlin,
“a lawyer and one-time Orlando Mayor” as residing in San Antonio, Texas as of 1890.
Born
March 7, 1858 outside of Tampa,
Robert L. Summerlin died at Los Angeles, CA, November 7, 1926. At the time of his death, Robert L. Summerlin appears to have
remarried only once, that in 1901.
Connecting
dots in Lake Eola’s naming certainly
includes a dot for Robert L. ‘Bob’ Summerlin, but we’ve yet to mention the name
EOLA, or the alleged bride-to-be. To
resolve that mystery we must return to other early records of Orlando, and
specifically to an organization meeting of Orlando’s Presbyterian Church. Held on the 18th of March, 1876, the congregation of this new
church consisted of 11 members, including;
“Mrs. Jacob Summerlin, “formerly of Flemington, Georgia.”
Flemington
was a small town southwest of Savannah, located in Liberty County. The Summerlin’s were all native Floridians, but
Jacob relocated his family following the Civil War. The reason for moving to
Georgia was said to be to allow the children to get a better education. After
returning to Florida, and while designing his Addition to Orlando in 1875, Jacob even named one street in
his new plat Liberty Street. (See bottom of plat above).
In
the 1870 Liberty County, GA census,
family #13 was the ‘Summerlin’ clan.
Children included: George, Robert,
Samuel and Alice, and each noted as “attending
school.” Nearby, family #6 was a
Widow, Sarah A. Way, along with her
eldest daughter, Florence, age 23, a
School Teacher. Sarah’s other children, each listed as attending school as
well, were; EULA, Ellen and Joseph
Way.
Born
July 22, 1854 at Liberty County,
Georgia, Eulalie Way never married.
She died at age 42, October 13, 1896, and was buried in the State and
County of her birth. At age 6, her
parents gave her name as Eulalie,
but in subsequent years, the young girl went by her nickname, EULA.
In
1870, then 16 year old Eula Way was attending school at
Liberty, taught by her sister. Classmates included Robert ‘Bob’ Summerlin, then only 12 years old. Bob Summerlin graduated from law school in 1875, and
he followed his family south to Orlando that same year. Did young Bob leave
behind his childhood sweetheart?
After
the Summerlin family departed Orlando in the 1880s, Samuel Y. Way arrived in Orlando. A bachelor, he married the
daughter of another celebrated Orlando pioneer, James DeLaney. Samuel became active in land development, platting
in 1902, an extension of Ivanhoe and
Highland Avenues, north of Colonial Drive.
Samuel
Y. Way also served as Mayor of Orlando in 1940,
two years after author Kena Fries
published her book, a book that included telling how Lake Eola was named. One year old in 1870, Samuel’s older brother, Richard Way, was attending school at
Liberty County, along with his cousin, Eulalie
Way.
Eulalie was a popular name at the time of Eula’s birth in 1854, and the reason for its popularity was an Edgar Allan Poe
poem, released 9 years earlier in 1845. The poem was “Eulalie”, and it has been said the poem
was written about Poe’s wife. Married in 1836,
one line of Poe’s poem: “I dwelt alone,
in a world of moan, till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride”.
Fragments
of historical facts often assimilate into mysterious legends. In the case of Robert L. Summerlin, and the naming of Lake Eola, pieces of the legend appear
to be true, although facts became muddled. Eulalie,
the beautiful young girl who first captured a young boy’s heart, became forever
memorialized as Bob’s father laid out home sites far away in Orlando. “Dad,”
one can almost hear Bob saying, “Could we name the lake EULA?” One must also wonder though, if Robert ever revealed to his
wife Texas as to the source of that name?
Central
Florida maps of yesteryear verify that early surveyors were detailed mappers,
but terrible spellers. Fort REID versus Fort REED, Robert R. Reed vs Robert R.
REID, & Lake Jesup vs Lake
Jessup, are but a few examples of early place names misspelled on plats and
maps. Still, I’ll let you decide, was Orlando’s Lake Eola meant to be Lake
Eula?
This Special Christmas Blog is brought
to you by:
FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO
CroninBooks.com
Available
at Bookmark
it Orlando and Winter Garden
Heritage Foundation
Amazon.Com or
read each book FREE at the KINDLE Store!
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