NEXT WEEK: OUR SUMMER SERIES FINALE
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 Oklahoma, State #46, admitted November
16, 1907; New Mexico, State #47, admitted January 6, 1912; and Arizona, State
#48, admitted on February 14, 1912.
OKLAHOMA
Still a Territory when REED
& Harper Furniture Store, based out of Oklahoma City, opened store number three at Ardmore, OK in 1899, partner
Fred H. REED, an Ohio native, had
previously been a resident of both ALTAMONT
and FOREST CITY in 19th
century central Florida.
Fred’s parents, George
& Sarah REED, left behind their home at Tontogany, OHIO with their 2 children soon after that city’s
catastrophic fire of 1876. A large
part of that Ohio town had burned down, including George REED’s mercantile,
where then teenager Fred H. REED had
worked for his father.
The Reed’s started anew in America’s Paradise: CitrusLAND. The family arrived at
Orange County in 1882, before a
railroad had reached Dr. Kilmer’s remote community of Altamont, at the present
day crossroads of SR 434 and Markham Woods Road. At that time, one had to ride
a rough and tumble 3 mile mule-drawn
buckboard, traveling with mail bags and an occasional passenger, from Longwood depot on South Florida
Railroad’s line.
By 1884, the REED family
had relocated again, to FOREST CITY,
yet another remote Orange County settlement even further from the nearest
depot. Forest City however was a town being developed by a fellow BUCKEYE,
Cleveland retailer, John G. Hower.
Father and son George and Fred H. REED opened a store at
Forest City, where in 1885, it was
said they serve a population of nearly 200.
George Reed became the town’s first Postmaster, appointed to that position
March 19, 1884. Orange Belt Railway arrived at Forest City in 1886, greatly improving access to a host of new West Orange County
towns. But within a year a State-wide Yellow
Fever epidemic cut off CitrusLAND from the rest of world, threatening the
future of the County’s emerging towns.
Forest City on the Orange Belt Railway is one of the West Orange County Ghost Towns featured in CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains
Fred H.
REED
departed central Florida in the epidemic’s aftermath, but his parents decided
to remain at Forest City, until,
that is, the Freeze of 1895. With
their citrus grove in ruin, the Reed’s too packed their bags, joining their
son’s family at Oklahoma City. (Reed’s Forest City grove and residence was
described in 1892 as “overlooking a
pretty lake,” a body of water known today as PEARL LAKE).
Although most all of our Nation’s 1890 Census Records were destroyed by fire, a small number had been
spared, among which was the 1890
Oklahoma Territorial Census. Fred H. Reed, age 33, was among those residing on First Street in Oklahoma City, one
year after the historic ‘Oklahoma Land
Run,’ the homesteading event that opened up Oklahoma Territory to settlements.
The REED family of merchants, having lost an Ohio store to a
tragic fire, a CitrusLAND store to a horrible epidemic and following devastating
freeze, had finally found success as furniture dealers in the Oklahoma
Territory.
NEW
MEXICO
“FLORIDA is so hemmed in
by the sea that it seems a part of it.” One must look long and hard to find
a comment that suggests the Sunshine State’s extensive coastline is a negative,
but an 1885 newspaper article did
just that. The remark came from a man claiming to be a correspondent for American Field Magazine, a publication today
considered as the oldest and most highly respected sports magazine, dating to 1874.
WILLIAM
BACKETT was the individual making this negative appraisal of Florida on
December 20, 1885, writing under the
headline, ‘NEW MEXICO and FLORIDA.’
A self-described naturalist and sportsman, the Backett critique appeared in the
Las Vegas Daily Gazette, Las Vegas, New
Mexico. At the time, Florida had been a state for 40 years. New Mexico was a territory, and would remain so for
another 27 years.
Backett’s BEEF (pardon the pun) is uncertain, although it
appears to have been related to the cattle business: “At first glance you would think the pine woods of Florida were full of
the most luxuriant grasses capable of sustaining innumerable flocks and herds,”
wrote Mr. BACKETT, “and yet cattle will
not touch them except for a month or two in the spring.”
Livestock farming had been an integral part of Florida’s early
history, but by the 1880’s
Floridians were growing tired of free ranging herds.
As early as November, 1880, Orlando’s
Town Council declared it “unlawful for
any swine or hogs to run at large upon the streets of Orlando.” But the Mayor, a son of Florida’s Cattle King, Jacob Summerlin, according to historian W. F. Blackman in 1927, “Vetoed the measure.” Lake
EOLA had long served as a watering hole for free range cattle.
Backett’s harsh review added: “It is a curious historical fact, which speaks volumes on the point in
question, that a century or so ago large cattle were brought into Florida to be
raised there. But they dwindled and degenerated in size from generation to
generation, until they became the puny race one sees there at present time.”
My search for William Backett had turned up little, so I asked
American Field if they could assist.
My thanks to American Field’s travel department for searching their files. In
those days, I was told, pseudonyms were sometimes used by writers. No record of
a Backett could be located. And so the identity of William BACKETT remains a
mystery.
ARIZONA
Separation of Church and State was not his thing, but as Arizona Territory Chief Justice
in 1874, Judge DUNNE had sworn he’d do just that. It wasn’t long before his
religious beliefs began to interfere with his job though, so in 1881, the devout Catholic departed Arizona
Territory to relocate to central Florida.
The ARIZONA Citizen Newspaper of September 25, 1875: “Honorable Edmund F. DUNNE,
Chief Justice of ARIZONA, since his entrance into this Territory, evidenced an
irrepressible propensity to enlist as a partisan in every pending religious,
political and personal controversy; that he has bitterly assailed the common
school system of the whole country as well as our own.” So the Judge did
seem to have a problem with separating church and state.
Nominated in 1874,
Edmund Francis Dunne was removed from his job as Chief Justice of the Arizona
Territory in 1875. “No American citizen,” Dunne said in his
address before the Territorial Legislature in February, 1875, “who has any fairness
of mind, or sense of right, cannot feel that the system of public schools as
now worked in our country is a monstrous wrong to our Catholic population.”
Edmund and his brother John had followed their father west, hoping
to strike it rich in the California gold rush. But by 1863, Edmund Dunne had settled at Nevada, where in 1864 he
served as a delegate at the State’s Constitution Convention. A family legend
says Edmund had, “lost his way in the Arizona desert while prospecting for
silver, and that he prayed to his patron saint for rescue, vowing in return to
give the name of SAN ANTONIO to the settlement
he contemplated establishing in Florida.”
Apparently rescued, Edmund with his brother John found their
way to Central Florida, where they began accumulating land throughout Florida,
including parcels near present day Sea
World. They acquired land at Hamilton DISSTON’S towns of KISSIMMEE and St CLOUD as well.
Edmund’s bought land as well at an 1880 stage coach stop 35
miles north of TAMPA, a settlement
he soon founded, and, keeping to his promise, named it SAN ANTONIO.
Edmund donated 40 of
his acres for HOLY NAME ACADEMY on Clear Lake, a lake at his town of San
Antonio he renamed LAKE JOVITA. A
mythical figure today, Saint JOVITA is said to have lived in 120 AD, and along with brother
Faustinus, were zealous preachers. Legend explains they were tortured and
beheaded because of their religious beliefs – so perhaps Judge Dunne believed he was a modern day JOVITA.
Holy Name Academy, Lake Jovita, San Antonio, Florida
In addition to the Arizona judge, Florida’s citrus belt, Port Richey in particular, caught the
eye of a governor from that state as well. A Hernando County farmer named Aaron M. RICHEY homesteaded 80 acres alongside the ex-Governor of
Arizona, Anson P. K. SAFFORD. In
1884, RICHEY & SAFFORD laid out
a coastal town they named Port RICHEY.
That same year, the Steamboat ‘Governor
SAFFORD’, owned by Florida Railway
& Navigation Company, began hauling freight between Port RICHEY and Cedar Key. In addition to operating a
schooner, Aaron Ritchey planted orange trees, and his were said to “as large as many of the trees in other parts
of the State.”
Anson P. Safford, Arizona Territorial Governor and Founder of Tarpon Springs, Florida (1882)
After serving as Arizona Governor, Safford had occasionally
journeyed to New York and Philadelphia, and while visiting Philadelphia he
learned of the 4 million acre
Florida land acquisition by Capitalist Hamilton
Disston. Safford then came to Florida as a land Agent for Disston.
Next week – Part 18, the finale of our 50 States of Central
Florida summer series.
Your central Florida history bookstore: www.CroninBooks.com
Visit my Amazon.com Author Page at link below
Next week – Part 18, the FINALE: 50 States of Central Florida
A summer 2018 series by CroninBooks.com
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