PINE CASTLE Home for the Holidays Part 1: ANNO

Attorney William Reuben ANNO

PINE CASTLE: Home for the Holidays, Part 1

 

Anno Avenue at Oak Ridge Road, Pine Castle, Florida

The historical significance of ANNO Avenue in the overall development of central Florida is far from obvious to an occasional observer today. A side street connecting Oak Ridge and Lancaster Roads, the half-mile long Anno Avenue remains as one of but a few original Town of Pine Castle streets laid out nearly 136 years ago. But in a historical sense, the name Anno should conjure up thoughts of one of many Pine Castle pioneers - early settlers who also became major influencers in both the design and creation of Florida’s amazing 19^th century “Citrus-Belt”.

William Reuben Anno is the Avenue’s namesake, and a portion of this road is located on Anno’s original homestead, 160 acres reaching north from Lancaster Road to Lake Mary Jess Road (See red rectangle on map below). William & Sarah (Nute) Anno built their residence at the northwest end of their land, where the X is shown on the map below, on the shoreline of Pine Castle's Lake Mary.

 160 acres Anno Homestead (red rectangle #1 - Anno 1880s residence marked with X)

An Attorney by trade, W. R. Anno became active in development of central Florida even prior to his subdividing half of his homestead to expand Pine Castle in 1884. A January 1883 article about rapid growth in and around Orlando mentioned that the reporter interviewed “Colonel W. R. Anno, President of the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad. In that interview, Anno said he owned 800 orange trees and 600 guava trees.

Railroad President Anno also described plans for the railroad, including a planned terminus at Titusville on the east coast. Two months later, on March 5, 1883, Anno was mentioned as an organizer of the railroad, along with two other important Citrus-Belt pioneers having ties to Pine Castle. (Chapter 28, The Atlantic Gateway of my most recent book: Tavares: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County, includes a section called "The Pine Castle Boys", in which two other organizers of the Tavares railroad were said to be John P. Morton and Nathaniel Poyntz - both Kentuckians who had close connections with the Pine Castle settlement - more on Poyntz in Part 5 of this Series).

The Tavares railroad only made it as far east as Orlando, and even then, the first train did not arrive at the county seat until July 2, 1885. By then, Anno had established a law practice in downtown Orlando while also selling town lots at Pine Castle (Plats of 1884 Pine Castle, recorded by Clement R. Tiner and William R. Anno, are Exhibit 51 in my book, Beyond Gatlin, A History of South Orange County).

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Two Pine Castle streets laid out in the Anno addition to Pine Castle were named for daughters Maud and Blanche, but in 1955, County Commissioners changed both. Maud became Dumont, and Blanche became Jason Street. At the same time, Commissioners changed West Avenue to Anno Avenue.

A travelogue describing the South Florida Railroad route in 1887 said this of the Anno residence at Pine Castle: “The railroad line, between lake shore and orange grove, aligns the shore, and at Jessamine passes W. R. Anno's handsome home and grounds, enclosed between two large basins of Conway and Jessamine, having a natural fish pond (assumed to be Lake Mary) on its southern orchard.”

Beyond Gatlin: A History of South Orange County

Proud recipient of the 2017 Pine Castle Historical Society 'Book Award'

Born Christmas Day of 1844 at Mercer County, Illinois, Attorney W. R. Anno arrived in central Florida in 1878, selected 160 acres for a family homestead, and planted orange trees as most other neighbors of that time were doing. He then became an active participant in transforming Orange County’s remote wilderness into a 19^th century American Paradise.

Although born in Illinois, William was raised at Mason County, Kentucky, relocating there after the death of his mother when he was only three years old. William married Sarah Louise (Nute) at Mason before first relocating to Jacksonville in 1870 and then to Pine Castle in 1878. (Beyond Gatlin, Chapter 23, addresses Pine Castle's "1887 Secret", a secret concerning the death of the "father of Mrs. W. R. Anno".

Following back to back freezes in 1894-95, William, Sarah and daughter Blanche moved further south, to Miami, Florida, where Attorney William R. Anno died on March 3, 1904. His remains are buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando.

Maude Anno remained in central Florida with her husband, Sanford pioneer Forrest Lake. In 1925, Maude & Forrest Lake sold many of the long-dormant Pine Castle town lots to the first in a series of land speculators. In 1954, town lots first laid out in 1884 by W. R. Anno, then passed to Interstate Development Company, a Kroh Brothers firm from Kansas, just as Orange County Commissioners began changing many of the county’s street names – including Anno Avenue.    

Join us next week for Mrs. Milton’s Christmas Tea Party, and meanwhile, why not do a little holiday shopping.

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BEYOND GATLIN: A History of South Orange County

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