A CitrusLAND Happy New Year Blog

 

Mr. Brittain Goes to Washington

1910 Tavares & Gulf Railroad photo above courtesy Florida Memory

A CitrusLAND 2022 Happy New Year Blog

By Richard Lee Cronin

 

Happy New Year!

My New Year’s Resolution for 2022 is to continue writing about intriguing Central Floridians, and so, I might as well get started now by telling of Walter M. Brittain of Washington, DC, a gentleman having connections with Orlando, Lake County, and the Tavares & Gulf Railroad.

Fans of local history and railroad history, I believe, will find Walter Brittain quite fascinating, for he is characteristic of many of this region’s earliest forerunners. An Orlando land developer and Clermont railroad executive, Brittain came south to Florida in the early 1900s with all the right intentions. But like many who came before and after him, Walter Myron Brittain soon vanished. Brittain’s first central Florida job title was Vice President & General Manager of Tavares & Gulf Railroad, but like that of his T&G predecessor, he lived in downtown Orlando – 30 miles east of Clermont, the railroad’s base of operations at that time.

Before detailing Walter’s local involvement, I should first mention why I chose him to headline this ‘Happy New Year’ blog. Walter Brittain and I, it turns out, happen to share a job title. I am honored to begin serving today as Vice President of Education & Public Relations for Central Florida Railroad Historical Society, parent organization of central Florida’s premier museum, the Central Florida Railroad Museum at Winter Garden.

My new position with the museum fits perfectly with what I enjoy doing most – researching and writing about how the earliest days of central Florida’s history corresponds with America’s remarkable history.

One case in point? Walter M. Brittain!

 

I have been researching and preparing for a presentation on January 31^st to the Central Florida Council for Florida House. Long fascinated by the little-known roles District of Columbians had played in the 1870s and 1880s in developing Florida’s Citrus Belt, I decided my talk would be about many of those noteworthy individuals. By the way, were you aware that our State of Florida is the only State to have an Embassy at Washington, DC?

The invite to speak to this outstanding organization, I decided, was a perfect opportunity to talk, for the first time ever, about CitrusLAND, DC. 

 

 Having completed my CitrusLAND, DC presentation, I returned to researching the history of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad. Central Florida History Museum historian Phil Cross had provided me his extensive research on the railroad, notes which included mention of an Order issued to the T&G by the Florida Railroad Commission (FRC). The Order, dated October 17, 1908, reported the following: “W. M. Brittain, vice president and general manager, had appeared before the Commission on behalf of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad. Thereupon, after due consideration, it is declared and adjudged that the physical condition of the line of the railway of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad is not reasonably safe for the passage of trains over it at a reasonable rate of speed, and it is necessary for the safety of persons and property conveyed over the said railroad that the company at once proceed to improve its physical condition”.

Become a member of the CFRR! Email me for details!

 

Now then, back to that FRC Order. The T&G Railroad failed to meet conditions as set out by the 1908 order, but the reason for not complying was likely not due to insubordination by Brittain. The unstable financial situation of the railroad was more likely the cause. Walter M. Brittain was still the Vice President & General Manager in 1910, but by 1912, he and the railroad had parted ways. Brittain, as did most every central Floridian of that time, tried his luck as a land developer.

Charles A. Carpenter, also a resident of Orlando, assumed management of the T&G in 1912.

Walter Myron Brittain, born May 23,1878 at Washington DC, died 12 December 1944 at DC. A graduate of Georgetown University, Walter Brittain first worked for a DC steam railroad, but by 1903 was working at Richmond, VA, employed with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. That same year, the head of the T&G Railroad at Orlando, Florida died, so W. M. Brittain came south to central Florida to fill that vacancy.

While living at Orlando, Walter M. Brittain, in addition to managing the T&G, partnered with well-known Orlandoan Samuel Y. Way. The two developed residential lots at Lake Leora, the body of water described in my book, Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes, as Park Lake today, off East Colonial Drive.

Brittain & Way Real Estate Company was located, in 1912, at 13 S. Orange Avenue. Walter, and wife, Ethel Florence (Thompson), lived at the Brittain & Way development, but their specific parcel has since made way for widening of Colonial Drive.

 

Walter left Central Florida to accept a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh, PA. He eventually returned to Washington, DC, where in 1944, while working as an employee of the Federal Housing Administration, Walter Myron Brittain died at the age of 66.

Brittain’s story as it pertains to central Florida history is not at all unusual. Many a venturesome sole migrated from the North hoping to make a difference, only to find challenges which seemed insurmountable – encounters which then sent them packing.

 

As early as 1873, correspondent Will Wallace Harney of Pine Castle told of the one ingredient each and every newcomer to Central Florida needed most: “Without pluck and courage,” Harney wrote shortly after his own arrival at Orange County, “he cannot live in Florida”. I would argue though that it took more than mere courage for those who came to this land during the first hundred years after Statehood.

One had to be resolute that, no matter how often fate knocked them down, as it did so often, our central Floridian forefathers and foremothers needed the endurance to get back up on their feet and prepare to face the next insurmountable challenge head on.

 Visit my website at www.croninbooks.com for Central Florida history.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!