Central Florida History Challenge - Part Two

Question #2:

It is common knowledge that Royal M. PULSIFER, Publisher in 1880 of the Boston Herald, provided the cash necessary to construct South Florida Railroad from Sanford into downtown Orlando. Pulsifer also invested in central Florida real estate after his train began operating, buying property at three newly established Orange County towns. What was the FIRST town where Royal M. Pulsifer bought land?

WINTER PARK

KISSIMMEE

TAVARES

ORLANDO

MAITLAND

  

Royal Macintosh Pulsifer purchased land at three of the five towns listed in our central Florida history quiz. The first, I suspect, will surprised you, for it was NOT located anywhere near the railroad line his newspaper had financed in 1880. Best known to central Florida history fans as owner of lakefront property on Lake Osceola, this Winter Park parcel was NOT Pulsifer’s first Orange County land acquisition.

Royal M. Pulsifer (1843-1888)

As far as Maitland and Orlando, there is no record Royal M. Pulsifer ever owned land at either place, but the Bostonian did purchase one entire city block at Kissimmee on May 3, 1884. This investment property, his third central Florida land purchase, was acquired from South Florida Railroad in the name of “R. M. Pulsifer Company of Boston, Massachusetts”. His second land purchase was in Winter Park.

Fact is, eight months prior to Royal M. Pulsifer buying his Winter Park parcel from Chapman & Chase on October 21, 1882, the Boston Herald Publisher acquired, on February 18, 1882, a total of six city lots at a new Orange County startup town called Tavares. These town lots fronted on Pulsifer Avenue, across the street from a proposed ‘River Park”.

Portion of 1882 Tavares Plat from Tavares: Darling of Orange County,

Birthplace of Lake County. Pulsifer Avenue is second from right above.

Town lots owned by R. M. Pulsifer are indicated by the star.

Royal M. Pulsifer had been among the first individuals to purchase lots at the new West Orange County 19^th century town of Tavares. And perhaps coincidental, three months after the Boston Herald partner invested at Tavares, the Weekly Floridian newspaper of Tallahassee, on May 16, 1882, published a “Prospectus” for a newly created Tavares Herald, in which it was stated the first edition of the newspaper would be printed May 18, 1882.

The Tavares Herald start up followed by only a few months the purchase of land by the Boston Herald Publisher! But Pulsifer was not named the Publisher of the new Florida paper.

Today, portions of Pulsifer Avenue still exist, although River Park is a distant memory. Both the avenue and park however remain as intriguing hints into the origins of one extra-special place dubbed by this author as, “Tavares: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County.”

Both the Publisher and Editor of the Boston Herald, Royal M. Pulsifer and Edwin B. Haskell, made a huge impact on the development of central Florida as it is known today. The railroad these two individuals financed in 1880, after decades of planning by others, finally fortified a central corridor concept that remains a ‘Main Street’ of present day Orange County. Amtrak, Sunrail, and even Interstate 4, follow closely the path first known as Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Road, a sand rutted dirt military trail of the 1840s. This very same worn military path then became the First Road to Orlando in the 1850s.

Three short months after Royal M. Pulsifer bought at Tavares, a visiting newspaper reporter, in town for the “Grand Celebration” of the Dora Canal completion, commented: “Tavares seems actually to have sprung full-grown from the womb of the wilderness”. The town’s early success sprang from its unique concept, an idea which caught the eye of many an influential Orange County resident – and even a few highly influential New Englanders.

The “full-grown” city, a creation of two Attorneys from Orlando, without doubt benefited from its brief association with a Massachusetts newspaperman - and railroad financier – Royal M. Pulsifer. His association with Tavares however can only be described in terms of months. He bought town lots at Tavares within months of the town’s founding, and within months of the first publication of the Tavares Herald. And Pulsifer’s October 19, 1888 tragic death followed the declaration of Tavares as the official Lake County seat by a few months as well.

Formed from portions of Orange and Sumter counties May 27, 1887, the citizens of a new Lake County were assigned the task of selecting a location for their county seat. Four visits to the polls were required before a victory could be declared, but that bittersweet victory was then followed by a courtroom battle – a process that all together lasted 440 days – and finally ended in a victory for Tavares by a decision handed down on August 10, 1888.

Although visual proof of his contribution to the formation of Tavares is today merely a street name, Royal M. Pulsifer, in that respect is not alone. Not at all! Avenues Disston, Ingraham, Bloxham, New Hampshire, Rockingham, Texas, Sinclair, and St. Clair-Abrams - among others - each have a fascinating story longing to be told – histories that are now finally told.

Buy it today at Amazon by clicking on book cover  

TAVARES: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County, tells of how Florida’s “Great Lake Region” transitioned from a remote 19^th century wilderness into a vibrant Citrus Belt region. Amazing pioneers dared to dream big – dared to imagine creating such places as Leesburg, Lady Lake, Mount Dora, Montverde, Eldorado, Eustis, Umatilla, Astor, Clermont, Yalaha, Bloomfield and Tavares - to name but a few of 40 plus want-to-be communities.

A story of triumph over tragedy; of homesteaders daring to become town builders; of steamboats and railroads forging a new homeland, and of the remarkable men and women who made it happen, Tavares: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County, even has a bit of mystery and intrigue. After all, the lady of Lady Lake had a name, and so too did the mysteries women of Mount Dora!

A NEW book by the author of the award winning

BEYOND GATLIN: A History of South Orange County

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Contact me via email: Rick@CroninBooks.com