Thursday, February 28, 2019

Laura Gibbs of Cranes Roost


Women’s History Month
Post #1 Friday March 1, 2019

Laura Jane (Delano) Gibbs (1837-1925) of Cranes Roost

Cranes Roost is today a popular Altamonte Springs park, but neither the lake nor park land were part of the original 19th century town of Altamonte, a city renamed later as Altamonte Springs. A history marker on the park’s path attempts to provide a glimpse into how the Seminole County community of Altamonte Springs came to be, but missing from the version of history offered is a key figure in the story of this region, the original homesteader, a 19th century woman who played a vital role during the earliest days of both Altamont and its sister city, Altamonte Springs.


1890 Crane Roost Lake (left above) and Lake Adelaide at far right.

Laura Jane (Delano) Gibbs owned 158 acres as of 1877, land that included the western half of present day Cranes Roost Lake. Back then, there was no Altamonte or Altamonte Springs off to the east, but there was an Altamont Post Office about a mile north of the lake where Laura Gibbs established “Gibbs Homestead.” The Altamont post office had opened December 30, 1874 on Dr. Washington Kilmer’s homestead.
  
The Laura Gibbs Homestead was known as “Gibbs Grove” in 1877, long before “Boston Capitalists,” as the park’s historical marker tells us, “chartered Altamonte Land, Hotel and Navigation Company in 1882.” On the 1890 map above, ‘Hotel’ calls out the site, in the lower right corner, of the historic Altamonte Hotel. Built by those “Boston Capitalist” in 1882, the hotel overlooked two lakes, Adelaide shown above (north) the ‘Hotel’, and Lake Orienta at left or west of the Hotel.

The Altamonte area had become a popular resort area by the 1880s, but Laura J. Gibbs had by that time been a landowner for years.


1877 Nov 7: “Property known as the Gibbs Grove, situated in Altamont”

Laura and her “Gibbs Grove” did indeed precede the “Boston Capitalists of 1882,” and there’s ample reason to suggest she played a lead role in attempting to develop the area. A resident of Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Laura J. Gibbs, on the 7th day of November, 1877, sold ten of her 158 acres. The deed given to the buyer, part of which is shown above, described the property as: “Gibbs Grove, situated in Altamont, Orange County, Florida.”

Laura was subdividing her land so as to sell lots nearly three years before owners of the Boston Herald newspaper decided to finance Orange County’s first railroad. Her first lot sale was made to three investors from Bangor, Maine. Yet another small parcel was sold to a gentleman from New Brunswick, Canada in 1880.

Born at Baltimore, Maryland on the 11th of November, 1836, Laura Jane Delano was the fourth child of Henry D. Delano (1798-1888), a “Master Mariner,” and his second wife, Laura (Allen) Delano (1803-1886). Laura Jane was raised not far from Plymouth Rock, and married at age 20, to another Massachusetts native, Oliver C. Gibbs.

By 1870, Oliver & Laura Gibbs were living at Newton, MA, outside Boston, where Oliver was a self-employed merchant. Oliver continued as a merchant until his death, March 14, 1875, a pivotal time in the history of Altamonte Springs. Over the summer of 1875, three individuals were appointed by the Judge of Probate to appraise the estate of Oliver C. Gibbs. The three selected were Josiah B. Chase; Stiles Frost; and the older brother of Stiles, George Frost.

Laura J. Gibbs had been a widow two years when she sold her first parcel in November of 1877. She employed George E. Wilson of Altamonte to handle local sales while she remained back home at Newton, Massachusetts. George Wilson, Canadian by birth, ran a general store at Altamonte that had been established by his deceased father.

‘Merchant’ seems to be one thing shared by the men in Laura’s life during the 1870s. Her deceased husband had been a merchant, as were the Frost brothers, two of three chosen appraisers of Oliver Gibbs’ estate. Her Florida land agent was also a merchant. At least one of the three Gibbs’ estate appraisers, so it appears, learned a thing or two about Florida land as well.

George Frost of Newton, MA, by 1883, was dealing in Orange County acreage in close proximity to the Gibbs Grove. The parcel he sold was to the Altamonte Land, Hotel & Navigation Company.

George E. Wilson, in addition to running a general store and selling Gibbs Grove lots as an agent for Laura Jane Gibbs, also bought and sold parcels in the early 1880s in and around Altamonte Land, Hotel & Navigation. George Wilson even served a stint in 1883 as Postmaster of the Snowville Post Office, which became Altamonte Post Office on December 2, 1884. Wilson even sold a parcel to George Frost, land adjacent to Snow’s Station depot, where Altamonte Station is today.

George Frost and George Wilson were each buying and selling acreage at the 1880s land development project known today as the City of Altamonte Springs.
Seven years prior, both Frost and Wilson had been employed by Laura Jane (Delano) Gibbs, of Newton, MA, homesteader of a lake and land that is today, Cranes Roost Park.


1966 Office Park ‘Now Leasing’ Sign at “Crane’s Roost”

Altamonte Springs was by no means an instant success. The Boston Capitalists were not successful, and the development quickly changed hands. Among new investors in the old project was a familiar face, George Frost. He tried reviving Altamonte, but crop failures during the Great Freeze of 1894-95 devastated central Florida. Developers in 1925 once again attempted to revive the failed 1880s Altamonte, only this time under a new name; ‘Sanlando: The Suburb Beautiful.’ Florida’s land bust, the stock market crash, and the Great Depression doomed Altamonte once again.  

That same year a plat of “Sanlando: The Suburb Beautiful” was recorded, Laura Jean (Delano) Gibbs died at Newton, MA. A remarkable lady who had established Gibbs Grove on the banks of Cranes Roost Lake nearly 50 years earlier, by then already a long-forgotten central Florida frontierswoman, died August 12, 1925 at the age of 89.

The 1930 census counted 73 families as residents of the City of Altamonte Springs.

Today, a much larger Altamonte Springs is a vibrant community having only traces of a history dating to the 19th century. Boston Avenue dates to 1880s Altamonte Springs, but runs south today off SR 436, rather than the original named road, Massachusetts. A few original street names exist, but what hasn’t changed since the earliest days of this place called Altamonte are the lake names. Lakes Adelaide; Cranes Roost; Florida; Orienta and yes, even Prairie Lake, all were named bodies of water in the 19th century.

Prairie Lake? Well, it was named by none other than George Frost of Newton, MA.

Now then, about that name, CRANES ROOST. A billboard photo shown earlier depicts a majestic Crane bird flying in for a landing on Lake Cranes Roost, but was Cranes Roost named for the bird? Laura J. Gibbs 1877 land sale of ten (10), as mentioned, was to three gentlemen from Bangor, Maine.

The three men from Maine were: Charles F. Bragg, Henry A. Williams, and Franklin W. Crain. An 1882 document spells the name of the third man as Franklin W. Crane. Henry Williams sold his interest to the other two, and 1890 land documents show that Bragg & Cram owned the land. A consistent fact about researching central Florida’s fascinating history is this, anytime you resolve one mystery, you will likely uncover another!  

ORLANDO LAKES: Homesteaders & Namesakes, is an encyclopedia of 303 historic central Florida lakes and my latest book on central Florida history. From Eustis to Kissimmee, all roads long ago led to Orlando, and so hence my title, Orlando Lakes!

Now available at Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Amazon.com. I invite you to check out ORLANDO LAKES: Homesteaders & Namesakes. You can do so simply by clicking on the convenient link below:



NEXT FRIDAY: The Extraordinary Sarah of Fort Reid
CitrusLANDFL is celebrating central Florida’s amazing women during
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Want to know more?
CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains
  

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