MOUNT DORA: The First Mount Dorans - Part TWO

 

The first Mount Dorans – Part 2

 

City Hall, inspired by the historic ‘Guller House’

Perhaps he went next door to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor, but however John met Annie, the two married in 1882. John Donnelly and Annie Stone became neighbors the month she sold ten acres of her 1878 homestead in June of 1881. Annie’s homestead became Mount Dora, and 13^th Avenue of today was the north boundary line of her property. John P. Donnelly bought the land on the north side of 13^th Avenue, closing on that purchase June 4, 1881.

Unlike Annie’s choice property, Donnelly’s land did not have Lake Dora frontage. His land did however border the Hawley property to the east, namesake of Mount Dora’s original north-south Hawley Street. In 1882, Hawley Street became the east line of the newly established town of Mount Dora. The street name changed to Tremain soon after the death of pioneer Ross C. Tremain (1841-1912).

As late as 1920, Sanborn Insurance Company surveys referenced “Hawley Street”, but then, the Mount Dora City Directory of 1924 listed the resident at the “southwest corner of 5^th Avenue and Tremain” as Albert & Amy Waltz (see below exhibit). In survey lingo, this could also be called the “Northeast corner of Section 31” – where our westbound 5^th Avenue walk begins.

Mount Dora 1926 City Directory

Albert J. Waltz was described in 1924 as Chamber of Commerce President and Mount Dora Mayor. Waltz, “a valued citizen” said Mount Dora Topic when reporting his death in 1954, had been a prominent citizen throughout his four decades as a Mount Doran. A home builder prior to leaving Medina, Ohio, the Waltz family came to Mount Dora in 1911. His obituary described him as a builder who had “constructed many of the city’s residences and business buildings and established the Mount Dora Builders Supply company.” His A. J. Waltz Company, in 1926, was awarded the job to expand the historic Lakeside Inn – Florida’s oldest continuous operating hotel today. Albert was also a charter member of the Mount Dora Historical Society.

To the west of the Waltz residence, at the corner of 5^th & Baker, stood the original Methodist Church of Mount Dora (see 1895 photo below, courtesy the Methodist website). Organized in 1882 with twelve members, the members first worshiped at the schoolhouse according to a history of the Mount Dora Methodists published in 1940. The church building as shown was begun in 1883, but construction was slow, and the membership finally dedicated the new organ in 1888. The church was reportedly completed finally in 1896, and in 1912, the year the Albert Waltz moved in next door, electric lights were added in the church building. (Albert was also said to be active in the Methodist Church).

Sanborn Insurance Company survey of 1920 at right above 

August 1940 saw the final church service at 5^th and Baker, and subject to requirements of the property buyer, demolition began the following day. Sunoco Gas Station, opened in 1941, was run first by E. C. Frost prior to being acquired later in 1941 by James E. Avery.

America became involved in the World War that year, and within a few years, a young Naval Petty Officer attached with the First Marines landed on Guadalcanal. “He is a survivor of three torpedoed vessels and was also wounded while on Guadalcanal,” reported Mount Dora Topic of September 20, 1945. Twice he received a Presidential citation before returning to the States for medical care. “He liked Mount Dora when he passed through the town from hospital to hospital and stopped overnight at cabins.” After being all around the world, Petty Officer Jerry Morgan chose Mount Dora to live, and in September 1945, acquired the Sunoco Station at the corner of 5^th and Baker.

Today, Sun Bank occupies land where once stood Jerry Morgan’s Sunoco Station. The bank also sits on land where once stood the home of Mount Dora Mayor, Albert J. Waltz.

Sanborn Insurance 1912 survey of Mount Dora Town Block 60 and 61

Block 60 is currently Donnelly Park in downtown Mount Dora

Mayor Waltz would have had a short commute since City Hall sat across 5^th Avenue from his residence. Remembered historically as the Guller House, Mount Dora City Hall occupied one of the first homes ever built in John & Annie Donnelly’s town of Mount Dora.

Henry Guller (1847-1919) had been an 1880 neighbor of Annie Stone and John Donnelly. In fact, the Donnelly’s sale to Henry Guller occurred so early in the organization of the city that the parcel was not described by a lot number. Filed at Orange County, the parcel was instead described as the: “SE ¼ of the SE ¼ of the SE ¼ of SE ¼ of Section 30”, less a right of way allowance on each of the four sides for public roads. The Guller House today is known simply as located in “Block 61” (Note 1912 survey of Guller House with "Windmill" in Block 61 above).

Like that of the old Methodist Church of 1940, City Hall, aka Guller House, was also demolished.  A new City Hall, “similar in style and appeal,” wrote Jacqueline Bowman in 1964, was dedicated April 13, 1964. The new City Hall incorporated into its design the original Guller House columns.

Mount Dora City Hall, Then and Now

  

Today, Mount Dora City Hall continues to grace the entire north side of 5th Avenue, or Block 61, across from Block 1, but City Hall faces Baker Street, in a block long used as a gathering spot for Mount Dorans. Thousands had gathered here, reported the Mount Dora Topic of November 7, 1929, the prior Saturday evening – there to enjoy the first annual Mount Dora Halloween Frolic. “The Parade began,” said the newspaper, “on Baker Street in front of City Hall.”

Cited as “the most unique and comical entry” in the Halloween Parade was a 1914 vintage Ford “carrying two tin-can tourists from the frozen North to the glorious sunshine in Florida.”

Reality of the stock market crash of only a few days prior had yet to register among those who attended the Baker Street festivities, and Baker Street is also where we will gather next, in Part Three of, The first Mount Dorans.

This series was created from research generated while writing my book, Tavares: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake County. Chapter 26 of my book is MOUNT DORA: The Eastern Gateway. 

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 Lake County, established May 27, 1887, was carved from portions of Orange and Sumter counties. The Legislature had defined borders but allowed the 2,200 plus registered voters to decide where to place the county seat. Four elections and a courthouse battle later, Tavares, on August 10, 1888, finally became the official seat. The selection process lasted 440 days from start to finish.

TAVARES: Darling of Orange County, Birthplace of Lake county, is a history of how Florida's Great Lake region transitioned from a wilderness into a vibrant Citrus Belt district. Amazing pioneers dared to dream big - dared to imagine such places as Leesburg, Lady Lake, Mount Dora, Montverde, Eldorado, Eustis, Umatilla, Astor, Clermont, Yalaha and Tavares, to name a few. A section on each place name will be found in this book.

RATED 5 STARS from Four Amazon verified readers, this is a story of triumph over tragedy; of homesteaders becoming town builders; of steamboats and railroads forging a new homeland, and of remarkable men and women who made it happen. There is even a touch of mystery and intrigue.

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