Cowboys
& Lawyers
The
Summer Edition
A
CitrusLAND Blog Series by Richard Lee Cronin
Old
McDonald had a farm, and he had a 19th century law practice too!
A central Florida newspaper correspondent of long, long ago, inspired a prosperous Kentucky publisher to look into Florida’s up and coming
Citrus Belt. The Louisville schoolbook publisher did just that, and he then
began buying up land – lots and lots of land.
During the 1880s the Louisvillian publisher acquired: 21 acres on Lake Virginia alongside Rollins College; a city lot at Clement R.
Tiner’s 1884 town of Pine Castle; another town lot a mile north of Pine
Castle at Stanley J. Morrow’s 1885 town of Troy; and then partnered with a
fellow Kentuckian in the founding of the entire city of Lakeland. Interested in
more than land, he also became a partner in a consortium of Attorneys that were preparing to construct the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad.
It was a time in central Florida’s history when
everyone seemed to be into building railroads. The personal automobile
invention was still decades distant. Most of those who lived in the area at that time journeyed either via horseback or
horse drawn carriage, a tedious undertaking on the sand rutted trails of 19th century central
Florida.
So, in 1880, when two trains finally began operating in Orange County,
it was clearly a time to rejoice. In no time at all plans emerged for a dozen additional railroads, but
the TO&A was thought of by many as unique. The TO&A, you see, was planned as one spoke
in a transportation wheel-like hub that promised to improve life - and fortunes
- for every resident and land speculator in central Florida.
As for the Louisville publisher first mentioned above,
he brought real railroad experience – for he had been one of the original founders of the Louisville
& Nashville Railroad and the Texas Pacific Railroad, high-profile
railroads up north. This fellow from Louisville added prestige as well as cash for the new railroad - a train having plans to serve the darling of all Orange County towns:
TAVARES
Arriving
September, 2020
The Louisville book publisher also influenced others to find
their way to Florida’s Citrus Belt, among whom was Andrew McDonald, a retired
Louisville Attorney.
McDonald Depot,
18 miles northwest of Orlando, was established by Lawyer Andrew
McDonald, wife Jane (Gay) McDonald, and neighbors John & Mary (Sessions)
Wilkins. McDonald Depot on the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad
line was “200 yards from the community of Grasmere”, as the Orange County Gazetteer reported in 1887, midway between towns
Plymouth and Zellwood.
McDonald Depot is at the center of this 1890 map above
Today, Orlando-Apopka Airport on Highway
441 sits across from Wilkins Street, site of the 1880s McDonald Depot.
Andrew & Jane McDonald arrived in Florida in the
early 1880s. Sons Dr. M Gay McDonald and younger brother George N. McDonald, a
real estate agent, settled at the Grasmere community as well. A Grasmere Post Office
opened January 20, 1885, soon after surveyors had selected right-of-way land in
that section for the laying down of track for Tavares, Orlando, and Atlantic Railway.
1885 Plat of McDonald & Wilkins Subdivision showing "Depot"
The family relocated from Louisville, Kentucky – home as well to John P. Morton, the prominent book publisher who assisted
in founding two of our Nation’s most well-known railroads – and who, in 1885,
became a stockholder as well in the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad Company.
Lawyers and legal professionals were by no means the
only central Florida homesteaders, but these professionals did seem to have a
fascination with America’s 19th century Paradise. This Summer Edition of my 2020 Blog series will introduce many more fascinating pioneers - lawyers, judges, and legal professionals - and their remarkable plans for West Orange County - a land YOU know today as Lake County.
My next episode of Cowboys & Attorneys will introduce a York, Maine Attorney and his connection with the Orlando Depot of the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad.
This September: The extraordinary story of
TAVARES
Darling
of Orange County
Birthplace
of Lake County
By
Richard Lee Cronin
P. S. The road in front of John P. Morton's 21 acres at Winter Park is presently known as Holt Avenue, but this road was first known as Kentucky Avenue, as in Louisville, Kentucky.
J. P. Morton parcel on Lake Virginia at Rollins College, Kentucky Avenue is now Holt Avenue
Visit my website at CroninBooks.com
