Frontierswomen
of Central Florida
Gertrude of Orlando’s Gertrude Walk
A
Women’s History Month Tribute
By
Richard Lee Cronin, CroninBooks.com
27
March 2022
Day 27
CitrusLAND is observing Women’s History Month by
honoring extraordinary Central Florida frontierswomen. And as we celebrate
Women’s History Month throughout March, we are also featuring each day a
History Museum, listing their days and hours of operation.
See
also our featured History Museum in this Post
Ruby #Summerlin
of Orlando and Tavares
Two partners in the 1882
creation of the city of Tavares named four of nearly two-dozen streets in the
new town for their children. Ruby Street in downtown Tavares was one such
street, named for the daughter of Robert L. & Texas B. (Parker) Summerlin.
Ruby Lee Summerlin had been born at Orlando on March 17, 1877.
Ruby Lee (Summerlin) Burrows
Ruby’s father, eldest son
of Jacob Summerlin, was an Attorney and partner in the formation of the town of
Tavares, but when she was 5 years old, the town partnership was dissolved. Ruby’s
mother moved to Bartow with her two daughters. Robert Summerlin departed
Florida, and the future of Tavares was left in the hands of ex-partner,
Alexander St. Clair-Abrams.
St. Clair-Abrams changed only
the name of one town artery in the aftermath of the partners split. Summerlin
Avenue became Park Avenue, then changed again to Rockingham Avenue. The streets
named for the wife and children of Robert Summerlin remained unchanged.
Ruby Street was mentioned
in September 1884 newspapers when the Commissioners of Sumter and Orange
Counties met to select the location of a railroad drawbridge across Dora Canal,
then considered part of the Ocklawaha River. Ruby Street was selected as a
possible crossing point.
“On Saturday last, W. N. Jackson, and
J. P. Poe, Commissioners for Sumter County, and Alexander St. Clair Abrams,
Commissioner for Orange County, met to consider the immediate construction of a
drawbridge across the Ocklawaha River at Tavares, and for which the two
counties have appropriated $500. The Commissioners, after an exchange of views,
proceeded to the run and selected a point at the foot of West Ruby Street
for the location of the bridge.”
Savannah Morning News, September
16, 1884
Ruby Lee Summerlin
married John Tilden Burrows at Polk County, where she continued to reside until
her death, December 18, 1944. Ruby Street still exists today on each side of
Lake County’s Courthouse in downtown Tavares, but the $500 drawbridge crossing
Dora Canal is long gone.
Gertrude #Sweet Newell
of Orlando
Voted “the most beautiful woman in Orange County,” Gertrude
(Sweet) Newell’s Find-A-Grave memorial describes Gertrude’s Walk namesake as a
talented blue-eyed musician. Born at New Orleans, Louisiana on 17 July 1862,
Gertrude followed older brother Charles to Orlando in the 1870s. Another
brother, William, and sister Ida, likewise relocated to Orlando.
Gertrude (Sweet) and Husband Harry
Newell
By 1885, Charles and William, employed as Real Estate
agents, were living with their sister Ida. Gertrude had married in 1883 to music
teacher Harry A. Newell, and the Newell’s settled at 215 East Robinson Street, Gertrude’s
home for the next 44 years.
So, how then did Gertrude’s Walk come about? Gertrude
Street was one of the first named north-south arteries of Robert R. Reid’s 1880
expanded town of Orlando. Charles D. Sweet served as Mayor of Orlando in 1881,
and an east-west road named Sweet Avenue was changed later to Colonial Drive
(Highway 50). Charles reportedly wanted Gertrude Street (named for his sister) as
the main street of Orlando, but South Florida Railroad arrived in late 1880 and
wiped out most of Gertrude Street.
Gertrude Street practically vanished – eventually becoming
a short Gertrude’s Walk alongside Rosie O’Grady’s entertainment complex.
Identified by some history records as the daughter of
Charles D. Sweet, Gertrude can be found in 1870 New Orleans with Sister Ida and
brothers William and Charles D, all listed as children of Charles L. and Ann M.
Sweat (sic). The father, Louisiana’s State Tax Collector, died in 1874.
According to historian E. H. Gore, Mr. Harry A.
Newton, Gertrude’s husband, was both a music teacher in the 1880s and the
organizer of an Orlando Orchestra. Gertrude was band’s pianist.
Gertrude (Sweet) Newell died at Orlando in 1946.
Mary Arabella #Taylor
of Enterprise
Mary Arabella Taylor, “Polly” as her father lovingly referred to his little girl, had been a Florida native who traveled down the St. Johns River with her family when only 12 years old. The year was 1841 when this family arrived at the newly renamed Lake Monroe.
First known as Lake Valdez before being changed to Lake Monroe, U. S. Army troops were still stationed across the lake at Fort Mellon. On the north shore of the lake, Mary’s father, Cornelius Taylor, established a small settlement that he called Enterprise. (Note: for the younger reader I should clarify that this Lake Monroe settlement was not the Starship.)
Mary Polly’s role in preserving central Florida history is a heartbreaking role, for Mary Arabella ‘Polly’ Taylor died of Typhoid Fever when only 14 years old. Her tombstone is now a memorial to the original site of old Enterprise, described by Historian Daniel Gold (1927) as located one (1) mile east of today’s town of Enterprise.
Grave marker of Mary
Polly Taylor, Enterprise, FL
The Taylor family is believed to be the first family to homestead on Lake Monroe. An Enterprise Post Office opened at this location June 2, 1842, three (3) years before Florida became the 27th State. Living in early Mosquito (Orange) County was a difficult challenge for males, and all too often, it was deadly for the frontierswomen.
We should never forget Little Polly Taylor, the little girl’s tombstone marking the original site of central Florida’s first settlement.
[Further reading: Polly’s memory is preserved in
Chapter 3 of CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, by Richard Lee Cronin].
Follow
Author & Historian Richard Lee Cronin
https://www.amazon.com/author/richardcronin
OUR
HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE DAY
ENTERPRISE
MUSEUM
360
Main Street
Enterprise,
FL 32725
Located
in a relocated 1936 schoolhouse, Enterprise Museum preserves the history of
this early Lake Monroe settlement
Open
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10 AM to 2 PM
386-804-6987
Questions?
Comments? Email Rick@CroninBooks.com
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