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 South Dakota, State #40, admitted
November 2, 1889; Montana, State #41, admitted November
8, 1889; and Washington, State #42, admitted on November 11, 1889.
SOUTH
DAKOTA
“Many nights, usually
near a full moon, smoke signals would rise from the distant hills. Fearing an
attack by Indians, they would take their blankets and guns and retreat to the
ravines behind the house under the cover of darkness.” Curious Central
Floridians might wonder how a Union County Historical Society description of life
in early Dakota Territory fits in with the history of CitrusLAND, but there is
a connection. A story as told by Union County historians is that of their first
homesteader, Mahlon GORE, truly a
brave soul, moved to the wilds of Dakota in 1862.
Central Florida historians also have a story to tell about Mahlon Gore: “He spent the first night with a native that lived near LONGWOOD. In the morning, he was told
to follow the trail through the woods and it would lead to ORLANDO.” A gutsy fellow that Gore, he walked in early 1880
from Lake Monroe to the county seat, arriving at Orlando about six months
before the first train from Sanford pulled into the station.
Failing health, specifically “nervous debility and sleeplessness,” was Gore’s reason for leaving
his Dakota homestead. Full recovery within months of arriving in Florida was
his reason for staying. A true believer in the healthfulness of CitrusLAND, Mahlon
Gore became one of the most active proponents for encouraging others to
relocate here.
Gore purchased Orange County Reporter newspaper soon after
arriving, and years later he served as a three-term Mayor of Orlando. His
writings helped preserve local history.
In 1883, as an
example, Gore published a marketing brochure called ORANGE LAND, a detailed pamphlet sanctioned by Orange County
Commissioners. Targeting those in search of new homeland, and somewhat
exaggerated at times, such as its description of Orange County: “A land that, compared with the cheerless
rigors of a bleak, frozen northern winter, is indeed an Eden on earth,” the
brochure today is an outstanding source for learning many of the pioneers, where
they came from and how they hoped to build a prosperous Central Florida.
A decade passed between Gore’s departure from Dakota and the
territory’s Statehood, yet Dakota citizens never forgot their first homesteader.
Lincoln Daily Star of 1916 reported
the sad news of Gore’s death to Midwesterners: “Sioux Journal proprietor is dead at his home in Orlando, Florida.”
He is remembered to this day in South Dakota history.
Gore’s obituary said this of the man: “His early struggles were those of the pioneer and he forged success
from obstacles that must have seemed almost insurmountable then.”
MONTANA
CUSTER’S
LAST STAND, as I recall learning about the Battle of Little Bighorn, occurred June 25, 1876, in a land now known as MONTANA,
the 41st State to join the Union of States. Part of the Dakota
Territory then, Montana became a State six days after the States of North and
South Dakota were officially organized. Soldiers arrived at the site of the
battle soon after Custer’s army had been wiped out, and among those first to
observe the 1876 tragedy was a noted
photographer, a soon to be celebrated central Florida photographer. And a town
builder!
Eight years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, in Florida’s
faraway Orange County on the 15th of April, 1884, Stanley J. MORROW,
an Ohio native, established a Post Office near Orlando. A town of TROY, located on Morrow’s homestead,
sat lakeside on Lake Holden, a little west of the original
Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road. The Troy railway station was located between
stops at Gatlin and Pine Castle.
Troy, Florida - 3 miles south of Orlando on Lake Holden
South Florida Railroad published a travel brochure in 1887 describing its route as their
train passed through Central Florida, describing the southbound route from
Orlando: “We pass Major Foster’s grove,
the orchards of oranges, lime, lemon, Le Conte pear, closing like a sea at each
side: pass TROY, sitting by the lake
shore, down a spacious avenue, Lake
Holden.”
MORROW arrived in Orange County in 1883, and was gone from Orange County prior to that decade’s end,
and yet during the man’s brief presence, Stanley J. Morrow added immensely to
the preservation of Central Florida history. A professional photographer, more
than a hundred of Morrow’s quality black and white photos of the area, each one
dating to the 1880’s, crystalizes a story otherwise known only by the written
word.
Morrow’s lens preserved George A. Custer’s last stand as well
as a large collection of the earliest known black and white central Florida
scenes, pictures of popular modern-day locations we still know as Silver Springs,
Winter Park, Sanford and downtown Orlando.
Soon after Custer’s regiment was killed in present-day Montana,
Stanley J. Morrow traveled with an
Army expedition to the battleground. The Montana Historical Society preserved a
collection of nearly 70 prints taken
by Morrow between 1868 and 1881.
Morrow married Isadora
A. KETCHUM in 1866, sister of Robert A. Ketchum, a Dakota Territory
merchant residing at Yankton, SD,
where Morrow also lived.
During 1881,
Yankton was visited by a swarm of critters, leaving behind a disaster that was
described by local ‘Press and Daily Dakotan’ as follows: “I ascertained at the TROY Farm
that the proprietors do not expect over 18
bushels an acre, and give as a reason the ravages of the grasshoppers.”
This same local newspaper had often quoted news and views from back east,
published under a ‘Troy, New York”
byline.
WASHINGTON
TRIMBLE
Park
is perhaps the most serene respite in all of Central Florida. Hidden far from
the mainstream, Trimble Park Road meanders
through towering ancient oaks fraught with hanging moss, until finally the
pavement reaches a secluded park having a 270
degree scenic vista of not one, but two
historic lakes. As I said, lovely little Trimble Park, with its history ties to
WASHINGTON, the 42nd
State to be admitted into the United States, could well be the most serene
place in all of CitrusLAND.
Established January 21, 1924,
the day Ocklawaha Nurseries, Inc. gifted
10 acres on Lake BEAUCLAIR to Orange County, Trimble Park came with two
conditions. First, the land was to be maintained as a public park, and second, a 50’ wide road had to be constructed to
access the park within two years of the land gift. Trimble Park Road was built
in 1926.
Trimble Park
The park land was deeded to the County by Sadie M. Trimble, President of Ocklawaha Nurseries and the wife of
Seattle, Washington native, Roy J.
TRIMBLE.
Roy Trimble was born July 31, 1890, the same year Orange County surveyors were hard at work
re-surveying all 42 Townships,
efforts that ended with a historic 1890 Orange County detailing every property
owner. Land upon which Trimble Park is today shows on that map as being owned
by Eustis developer John A. MacDonald.
Roy’s parents departed Washington State for Tampa, Florida in 1892, but that same year, Orange County Tax Collector sold certain
parcels for unpaid taxes. A Philadelphia investor, Howard H. Ramsey, bought a large number of the abandoned parcels,
one in particular being the land upon which Trimble Park is now. Another parcel
sold by the county for unpaid taxes was described as Lot 9, Block 6, of Tangerine, Florida. That lot was
acquired by Owen W. CONNOR, founder
of Ocklawaha Nurseries.
Widower Roy J. TRIMBLE, a father of three, married Widow Saddie M (FUTCH) CONNOR, and Roy became manager of the
CONNOR’S Citrus business. “History of Lake County, Florida”, by William F.
Kennedy, describes Ocklawaha Nurseries as having 600 acres of citrus bearing trees divided evenly between Orange and
Lake Counties.
If you haven’t yet been, you owe it to yourself to explore the
Oasis that is Trimble Park, and while there, remember those who preserved this
unique corner of CitrusLAND for generations to come. Our thanks to Roy J. & Sadie M. (FUTCH) TRIMBLE.
Next
Week: Idaho, Wyoming and Utah
AND
IN THE MEANTIME,
JOIN
US FOR A VERY SPECIAL EVENT
Monday,
August 13, 2018 – 7 PM
Central
Florida Railroad Museum, Winter Garden, FL
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