Builders of America’s 19th century Florida Paradise
arrived from nearly every corner of the world. Amazing dreamers and doers,
these pioneers selected land locations in a wide swath of a Citrus Belt that
stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. A courageous bunch of
guys and gals, they came to Florida from parts of every modern day State as
well.
All 50 States played a role in founding central Florida, and
CitrusLAND is paying tribute to the remarkable individuals from around the U.
S. each Sunday throughout the summer, doing so in the order States were
admitted to our Union of States. This week our spotlight shines on California, State #31, admitted
September 9, 1850; Minnesota, State #32, admitted May 11, 1858; and Oregon, State #33 admitted on February 14, 1859, the last State to join the Union prior to the November 1860 election of President Abraham
Lincoln.
CALIFORNIA
“It is elsewhere shown
that the climate of Florida suits the orange better than does that of California.” So claimed author C. Vickerstaff Hine in his 1891 book; ‘On the Indian River,’ in which he tells of Florida’s rivalry with citrus growers in the 31st State. California
had by then declared itself to be the “great
orange growing State,” even though Florida countered by pointing out it
had 15 counties in its Orange Belt, and one county alone had 10 times the orange farming acreage
than its west coast competitor.
A few prominent Floridians however did relocate to the State
of California. Peter A. Demens invigorated central Florida’s
landscape by organizing, in 1886, a
train that opened up West Orange County and Florida’s then remote Gulf Coast.
But cash flow problems led to the Russian immigrant “escaping” to California to save his life.
Having grown his railroad a bit too fast, Demens, out of money, was reportedly chased out of town
by irate employees when he could make payroll.
Peter A. Demens is featured in my book, CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains
In 1903, Peter A, Demens became a naturalized American citizen at Los Angeles.
Having arrived from Russia in 1881, Peter Demens made his way to Florida and the new Orange
County town of Longwood. He founded P. A. Demens & Co, a construction company
that expanded into the railroad industry. By 1886 Demens laid down track from Lake Monroe toward Oakland, and jump started the new towns
of Sylvan Lake, Island Lake, Glen Ethel, Palm Springs, Forest City, Winter
Garden, San Antonio, and St Petersburg to name but a few. Peter A. Demens died
at Los Angeles in 1919.
Another central Floridian to move west to California was Robert A. Mills. A 1880s land agent,
Mills partnered with Mahlon Gore to
plat a 2,400 acre development he
named Chuluota in East Orange
County, a plat that included Lake Mills.
The great freeze of 1894-95, and
failure of promised railroads to service his new city, led to the failure of
his real estate venture, and Robert A. Mills accepted a manager’s position in
California with a large citrus grower.
Elias & Flora Disney, parents of Walt Disney
Prior to the birth of Walt
Disney his parents, Elias Disney
and Flora Call, met and married in
North Orange County. Elias Disney homesteaded and planted orange trees at Acron, presently a Lake County Ghost Town. Flora Call taught school at Acron, and they
married at her parent’s home in nearby Kismet,
Florida. Disney’s citrus grove was lost in the freeze of 94-95, and eventually
the family settled in California, birthplace of a rival citrus industry and
birthplace of Disney’s entertainment industry.
Two states battled it out in the 19th Century for
title King of Citrus title, challenging each other as well, to this very day,
for a share in the Disney entertainment empire.
MINNESOTA
BAKER
Brothers General Store sat at the crossroads of two 1880s railroads
in the Orange County town of PALM SPRINGS.
Presently in Seminole County, the location is now the crossroads of SR 434
& Markham Woods Road. Frank W. Baker
and William J. Baker opened a store
in 1886 where tracks of Florida
Midland Railway crossed Orange Belt Railway tracks. The Baker brother were born
at St. Paul, Minnesota, the 32nd
State to join our Union of States.
Frank had been born within a year of the Minnesota Territory
being admitted as a State, and within 2 years of the founding of Village of
Orlando far to the south in CitrusLAND. Frank became first a grocer at Indianapolis, where
younger brother William worked for a railroad, but each soon ventured south to
ALTAMONT at a time when the town was trying to re-define itself. Too many were confusing the city with ALTAMONTE. On January 12, 1888,
Frank W. BAKER was named the first Postmaster of the newly named PALM SPRINGS Post Office. Each brother departed Central Florida after the freeze of 1895.
Bishop Henry B. WHIPPLE came to Florida with his wife Cornelia in 1876. Residents of FARIBAULT, Minnesota, these snowbirds began spending
winters at MAITLAND, where in addition to building a winter residence, they
established as well the Church of the Good Shepherd. The church still stands
today.
The Whipple residence (left) and church at Maitland, Florida
Much has been written of Bishop Henry, but not nearly enough
of his wife Cornelia. A devout Christian, Cornelia was the eldest child of one
of our State’s earliest influential Christian families. A sister Sarah was the
first wife of St. Augustine Attorney, Historian, and prominent member of the
Episcopal Church, George R. FAIRBANKS. Fairbanks was the owner of 1,000 acres of Orange
County land in 1850. A brother of Cornelia’s was Reverend Benjamin Wright of
Leon County, Florida.
A Bishop Whipple subdivision was filed in 1888 Orange Couny,
and one street remains today, EUNICE Avenue, off Shader Road at Bay Lake.
Whipple’s plat was filed 2 years before Cornelia (Wright) Whipple died of
injuries sustained in an 1890 train accident, a derailment that occurred while
she was on her way south to CitrusLAND.
OREGON
In 1861, a young Union soldier left his home at Cottage Hill,
ILLINOIS and enlisted in that State's 51st Infantry. As he was leaving home,
his mother handed him a small bible, and instructed him to carry it at all times.
In a fierce 1864 battle, a deadly engagement in which many of the 51st
lost their lives, this particular soldier was captured and imprisoned. His bible was left behind on that deadly Tennessee battlefield.
In 1914, the Morning Oregonian wrote of a Veteran who had a
lost bible returned to him after 50 years. The man had been a 27 year resident of
Metzger, a town south of Portland, in OREGON, the 33rd State to join
our union of 50 States. (See photo above).
SNOWVILLE, Florida, the precursor to ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, had
been established by this very same man, James Edgar SNOW. As a Georgia
prisoner, Snow later told of being “fed a pint
of cornmeal ground up with the cob each day,” and yet after the War, James, as
did so many other Veterans, set their differences aside and relocated to the south,
homesteading in Central Florida.
Lake Adelaide, Altamonte Springs, Florida
Lake ADELAIDE is named for Edgar’s wife, Adelaide (FAVOUR)
Snow. The lake had one of the two SPRINGS that gave the later town its name.
Adelaide passed away at Oregon in 1914, while being cared for by her FLORIDA
born daughter FANNIE, very likely the first child ever born at modern day Altamonte
Springs, Florida.
The mystery and intrigue that I have come to love about
Central Florida history is found in nearly every early settler. These folks
were brave but mysterious individuals. Edgar J. SNOW had negotiated a SNOWVILLE
depot in 1880, a railway stop that is today’s SUNRAIL station at ALTAMONTE
SPRINGS.
Edgar Snow then departed Central Florida, moved to OREGON, and became a railroad employed there for the remainder of his life.
Next week: Kansas, West Virginia and Nevada.
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