RAIL-ROAD MARY and the Town of BITHLO

Plans for an East Orange County metropolis known as BITHLO does not appear to be her idea, but there’s good reason to believe the town’s name was the idea of the one-time, “richest lady in the world!”

Rail-Road Mary of central Florida, as I have dubbed her, was certainly deserving of such a title, as well as the title, First Lady of BITHLO.

BITHLO 1925: THE CENTER OF FLORIDA'S MASTER TRIANGLE

As a named community, BITHLO does not appear to have existed prior to 1915. The earliest known recorded plat of Bithlo was in 1919, although the plat itself suggests some sort of town pre-dated its filing because it added to preexisting streets. William F. Blackman, author of the 1927 History of Orange County, states the town’s origin coincided with the “opening of the railroad.” The first train arrived in BITHLO around the year 1914.

Henry Flagler had announced plans for an ‘Okeechobee Branch’ of his Florida East Coast railroad in 1910, and began accumulating right-of-way agreements soon after. In 1911, Flagler obtained permission to cross land owned by William Vom Scheidt, acreage that later became the site of BITHLO. Recorded agreements filed by Flagler required that a train be running by January 1, 1914 to as far south as WEWAHOTEE, a rail stop south of PACATAW and the second stop south BITHLO.

Flagler’s Okeechobee railroad branch first train arrived at LAKE OKEECHOBEE, its southern terminus, September 14, 1914. It’s reasonable to conclude therefore that the train passed through BITHLO by no later than September of 1914.

But Henry Flagler, the railroad’s founder, had died May 20, 1913, and it was said that he was bedridden since March of 1913. A Sun Sentinel article, dated July 2, 1989, reports on the astonishing events following Henry Flagler’s death. His Widow, according to that article, Mary Kenan Flagler, became the owner of, “Florida East Coast Railroad, four million acres of land, eleven hotels and assets that included Florida Power & Light Company and the Miami Herald newspaper”.

Mary Kenan Flagler’s wealth as of 1914 has been estimated at $6 billion in present day currency. The Widow Mary Flagler lived until July, 1917. Between May, 1913 and her death in 1917, the railroad therefore, the first train arriving at BITHLO, was her train!

Mary’s railroad is now long gone, but Flagler’s Okeechobee Branch train, during its brief existence, allowed for the founding, by an Optic’s Doctor and an Orlando Dentist, to plat the town of BITHLO. A charter was issued in 1922 for the town, and on April 5^th of that same year the BITHLO Post Office opened. Between years 1921 and 1925, the Orlando based partners filed nine additional town plat revisions.

April 2, 1925, a full page advertisement for BITHLO tells of accomplishments for this east Orange County city. There were a total 6 ½ miles of paved streets, and developers were in the process of building a golf course. “More than 3,000” people from across America had already purchased lots in the town proclaimed to be the City with a Vision, serviced by Florida East Coast Railroad, and the new Cheney-Dixie Highway (now Highway 50), that was officially christened, December 31, 1924.

Land sales slowed beginning in 1925, and crashed in 1926. The final spike in Florida’s Great Land Boom coffin occurred after the Great Hurricane of 1926, having winds in excess of 125 mph, the storm killed 115 in Miami, destroyed 13,000 homes, and then travelled inland, causing a tidal wave at Lake Okeechobee that drowned as many as 300 inhabitants. Florida’s Land Bust and Hurricane of ‘26 was followed by the Market Crash of ‘29, and a Great Depression during the 1930’s.

A note, hand scribbled atop a page in Orange County’s 1935 Census, provides a brief yet accurate epitaph of the East Orange County community: “Bithlo Charter Surrendered.”

The Okeechobee Branch of Florida East Coast Railroad, like that of more than a dozen central Florida railroads, opened up a vast wilderness for development. Like the other railroads, this train left behind a remarkable heritage, including an interesting but long forgotten fact. Railroad stops at Bithlo, Pacataw and Wewahotee were established during the reign of Mary (KENAN) Flagler, while in Osceola County, the town of KENANSVILLE likewise owes its name to RAIL-ROAD MARY.   

Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 17, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers, and the feature of this week’s RAILS & TRAILS blog.

WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn by Goodreads on August 27, 2016.

Enter Giveaway Here:

GOODREADS BOOK GIVEAWAY

This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

COMING THIS SEPTEMBER to Rick’s Blog:

Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen

Follow my Goodreads Author Page: Richard Lee Cronin www.Goodreads.com

Want to learn more about CitrusLAND? Visit www.CroninBooks.com.

The ORANGE BELT of Florida's CITRUS BELT

ORANGE BELT Railway personifies the fascinating story of 19^th century central Florida, a vast undeveloped land in 1880 that I have dubbed, CitrusLAND.

During this summer-long series, my RAILS & TRAILS Blog has been featuring more than a dozen independent railroad ventures between the years 1870 and 1890. Today they are all phantom trains, and yet each, during their brief existence, were largely responsible for many a place name central Floridians are familiar with today.

Regardless where you look, be it Bithlo, Chuluoto, Oviedo or Tuscawilla in the east; Astor, Clermont, Eustis, Montverde or Tavares in the far west; or Sanford, Lake Mary, Altamonte and Kissimmee in the central region; a vast majority of present day place names are traceable to enterprising dreamers, courageous individuals who dared to do the unimaginable, build a railroad.

In May of 1880, a soon to be Orange County newspaper editor walked to Orlando from Lake Monroe, a journey taking more than a day. Six months later, that November, passengers aboard the first central Florida train made the same journey in just over two hours. CitrusLAND is truly a testament to the best of American ingenuity.

If I had to choose one specific railroad to embody the amazing story of CitrusLAND, the railroad I would choose would be the Orange Belt Railway.

Florida's Orange Belt Railway

Founded in 1886 by a Russian immigrant, Orange Belt Railway was among the last of all CitrusLAND trains established. Three short years after its inaugural run, the founder, visionary Peter A. DEMENS, was suddenly threatened with lynching and run of town.

Still, the Orange Belt Railway chugged on. The founder’s dream, to open a vast portion of west Orange County, had been shared, albeit somewhat secretively, by others who believed in the Peter Demens venture. Supporters included some of the most prominent bankers, businessmen and railroad builders from the North. But even after Demens left town, those enormously successful Northerners were unable to work their magic here in America’s 19^th century Paradise. Mother Nature wouldn’t allow them!

The American spirit remained alive and well though throughout the 1880s, and that spirit could be seen all along the route of the Orange Belt Railway.

Southwest of Sanford today, residents and golfers alike enjoy a body of water inside the exclusive community of Heathrow called ISLAND LAKE. But the story of this magical lake began long before Heathrow, and its real story had long been forgotten.

Long, long ago, at a time when women rarely ventured into the world of business, a gal named Mary Lambert, an exceptionally courageous Pennsylvania lady, also dared to do the unthinkable in the 3,000 square mile wilderness of central Florida. A single woman, Mary first planted a 200 acre orange grove, large by every standard of her day.

On June 17, 1886, Mary became Postmistress of her Island Lake Post Office. A year later, in 1887, she platted her very own city, a town that included a public lakeside park, accessed via, “Boulevard around the Lake.’ She named her town, ISLAND LAKE.

Island Lake, 1887 Orange County, Florida

Central Florida place names of Sylvan Lake; Paola; Island Lake; Glen Ethel; Altamont spelled without an E; Forest City; Lakeville; Crown Point; Winter Garden; Oakland and Killarney, were once all Orange County towns, cities served by Orange Belt Railway.

Before being run out of town, Peter A. Demens had extended his railroad to the Gulf of Mexico, and there he incorporated a new town, a city he named for a historic Russian city back in his homeland – St. Petersburg, Russia.

All along the 19^th century route of Orange Belt Railway dreamers had become doers. A failed Indianapolis banker, for example, started over at a place he named Hoosier Springs, later to be Sanlando Springs, today a residential community called ‘The Springs’.

Next door to Hoosier Springs was Altamont, spelled without an ‘E’. Founded by a New Yorker, Widow Elizabeth Saunders moved her sick son to this tiny railroad town, and then bought the town. Elizabeth expanded and renamed her town Palm Springs, to eliminate confusion with nearby Altamonte – a town spelled with an E.

An Ohio department store founder also established a city on the Orange Belt Railway line, giving his town the nickname of his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio – Forest City.

Today, much of Orange Belt Railway’s route is a trail system. Most towns along the old railroad are now Ghost Towns, and yet one can still sense, simply by walking the trails today, the spirit of brave souls who dared to a dream into reality.

Standing on the corner of busy Markham Woods Road & SR 434, imagine a young Virginia lad named Arthur Smyth, working alongside his cousin and partner, Allen MacDowell Smyth, a native of Nottinghamshire, England. Envision two cousins, boxing oranges there in the middle of this present day busy intersection, where in 1886, two independent railroads crossed, here in Palm Springs town center. The Smyth cousins had one of three packing houses at these railroad crossroads.

After the fruit picking season ended, the two Smyth Cousins then boarded a train, with their oranges, heading off to peddle produce not only in the North, but also by crossing the Atlantic aboard steamships, selling Florida citrus in Strasburg, Germany; Paris, France; and London, England. The cousins then returned to central Florida, preparing for yet another picking and packing season.

Oranges and railroads played huge roles in shaping the central Florida you know today. 

Promoted as America’s Paradise of the 19^th century, its story, this region’s heritage, lies beneath our feet every time we utilizes central Florida’s exceptional trail systems.

Of all Orange County towns on the line founded by Peter A. Demens in the 19^th century, only ONE still has a historic railroad depot standing alongside today’s phantom track. That town is Winter Garden, home actually to two railroad depots, both of which are museums today, part of the renowned Winter Garden Heritage Foundation.

The museums of Winter Garden should be on everyone’s must-see list of places to visit.

Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 17, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers, and the feature of this week’s RAILS & TRAILS blog.

WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn by Goodreads on August 27, 2016.

This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

COMING THIS SEPTEMBER to Rick’s Blog:

Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen

Follow my Goodreads Author Page: Richard Lee Cronin www.Goodreads.com

Want to learn more about CitrusLAND? Visit www.CroninBooks.com. 

TAVARES FIRE SPREADS, and a Tug & Grunt Railroad folds!

A FLORIDA TOWN NEARLY WIPED OUT BY FIRE: Last week’s installment of this 2016 Summer Series told of litigation resulting from an April 9, 1888 fire, a lawsuit that exposed historical facts about three (3) TAVARES trains, each operated by a consortium known as Peninsular Land, Transportation & Mfg. Co.

Now an exceptional Winter Garden railroad museum, this building once received passengers and freight for the Tavares & Gulf Railroad.

The 1888 fire started when a spark from a train’s engine destroyed a locomotive owned by Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railroad. The damaged locomotive however was but a tiny part of a tragedy that struck Tavares that April 1888 morning.

“Jacksonville, April 10, 1888: Sparks from a railroad engine set fire to a saloon at TAVARES, and the entire building was quickly in flames. A strong west wind prevailed and the fire spread rapidly, and building after building succumbed. By noon every business block but two was in ashes. Among those burned were the PENINSULAR HOTEL, two other hotels, the Tavares Bank, Post Office and DEPOT. No fire apparatus was in the place, nor any means to fight the flames, and the dry buildings burned like so much tinder. Twenty firms were burned out, and the loss will be fully $180,000.” Fort Worth, Texas Gazette, April 11, 1888.

Tavares, central Florida’s land based railroad hub, still reeling from Florida’s horrific nightmare of 1887, was completely destroyed by the fire of 1888. Largely uninsured, a dream city first envisioned by Alexander St. Clair Abrams, would never fully recover.

Abrams was a resident of Orlando as well as a Lake Eustis landowner at the birth of central Florida’s railroad boom. While Boston investors began laying down track to run from the port town of Sanford to the county seat at Orlando, dreamers such as Alexander St. Clair Abrams had gone to work planning their very own trains. One of three planned by Abrams began as the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad.

Florida’s third largest body of water, Lake Apopka, was centrally located between Orlando and Tavares, and the Abrams group plan was to run two of their three railroads along both the east and west shore of that lake.

The Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad intended to connect their land based hub at Tavares with Titusville, on the Atlantic coast. A plan for a second train, originally named Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad, was to link Tavares with the Gulf of Mexico.

Fondly nicknamed Tug & Grunt in later years, the Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad was organized October 10, 1881, and seems to have been cursed from its outset. During its early years, towns of ASTATULA, WEST APOPKA (later FERNDALE), MONTVERDE, MOHAWK, and MINNEOLA were each established along the west shore of Lake Apopka. Planned to enter CLERMONT, the train was to continue westbound to the Gulf of Mexico.

Now referred to as FERNDALE, this one-time WEST APOPKA Ghost Town on served by the Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad.

The TA&G advanced south from Tavares very slowly, and by the time it reached Clermont, existing track belonging to a competitor skirted the shoreline of Lake Minneola. Having been denied permission to cross their competitor’s track, the train was denied access to Clermont, and ended its westward push toward the Gulf of Mexico at this point.

Between Montverde and Mohawk, WAITS JUNCTION was established, allowing the TA&G to change its course, and head east into Orange County. The change in direction set sights on the up and coming Osceola County town of KISSIMMEE CITY.

By 1887, as stories of Florida’s Yellow Fever Epidemic began spreading in the North, the Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad was planning a route to pass through KILLARNEY, OAKLAND, and the brand new town of CRESTON, before proceeding to Kissimmee.

Yellow Fever cast a dark cloud over Florida, and resulted in many newly founded Citrus Belt towns becoming Ghost Towns. One railroad after another began to fail. The fever scare still afflicted the State’s economy on the day the locomotive spark ignited a fire that burned most all of TAVARES to the ground.

By 1890, while in receivership, the failed Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad was purchased by a 79 year old New Yorker, Peter A. H. JACKSON. Sons Henry and Stephen managed the railroad, extending track from OAKLAND into WINTER GARDEN, and changing its name to Tavares & Gulf Railroad.

Track was eventually extended to OCOEE, and the Tavares & Gulf Railroad continued operating well into the 20^th century, although all too often jumping track.

Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 10, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers, and one historic 1894-95 devastating event that forever changed the Orange Belt.

WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn by Goodreads on August 27, 2016.

This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

COMING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com - an entirely NEW Mystery, an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details: http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html OR follow my Goodreads Author Page: Richard Lee Cronin www.Goodreads.com

Care to know more about CitrusLAND? Visit www.CroninBooks.com. 

FIRE aboard Sanford & Lake Eustis Railroad

While departing TAVARES bound for SANFORD, a fire destroyed a ‘JT&KW’ engine pulling rail cars branded ‘Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway. The 1888 fire soon setoff far more than a blaze, as in addition to destroying an engine, a blame game ensued.

Litigation arising out of the April 9, 1888 fire led to depositions and court appeals, archives having an unexpected positive outcome – HISTORY!

WIN 1 OF 10 FREE Autographed BOOKS

CitrusLAND: GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS

(See Details Below)

Now a phantom train, surveying for ‘Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway’ had begun in 1885. The train’s path included present day ghost towns PAOLA and MARKHAM, but provided service as well as for present day Lake County communities of SORRENTO and MOUNT DORA. Each of these place names were 19^th century depots on an Orange County train, running east-west between towns Sanford and Tavares.

The Road to MARKHAM

A Seminole TRAIL today; one-time RAIL route of S&LE

The 1888 fire litigation cited four early railroads: (1) Sanford & Lake Eustis; (2) Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad; (3) Peninsular Land, etc., Co.; and the Plaintiff, (4) Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railroad.

Peninsular Land, Transportation & Mfg. Co. was a TAVARES-based consortium led by Louisiana native, Alexander St. Clair ABRAMS. The Abrams organization had been very specific of its intentions to build hotels, construct railroads, and grow oranges in and around their town of Tavares. Peninsular was the parent company of: Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad (See Part 5); Tavares, Apopka & Gulf Railroad (See Part 9 next week); and the subject of this week’s Blog, the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway.

Sanford and Tavares were competing by the mid-1880s for the coveted title of Gateway to central Florida, cities then part of Orange County. Sanford was promoting itself as the Gateway to Orange County, where trains connected with steamboats traveling the St. Johns River. Tavares likewise marketed itself as a gateway hub, where local railroads connected with mainline railroads traveling to all points north.

Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway planned to connect the two strategic hubs. But by 1887, another land based railroad began working its way south from Jacksonville. This new player in the railroad industry set its sights on a stop at the port town of Sanford.

Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West pre-dated Flagler’s east coast train, and as its name implies, the railroad envisioned a train running the length of Florida. To expand on its system, JT&KW chose to lease the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway, paying a 2 1/2% royalty to the Abrams group on all passenger and freight revenues.

This idea of leasing an existing train, as opposed to building their own line, introduced a new concept to the central Florida railroad industry.

JT&KW Railroad lost their lawsuit, but facts reported in that suit document for history the early organizations of several of the earliest central Florida railroads.

Alexander St. Clair Abrams organized three railroads, each based out of Tavares, trains planning to connect the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and the port at Sanford with a new State Capitol located at their hub, Tavares.

At least two overwhelming events prevented the Abrams plan from ever becoming a reality, events beginning with Florida’s Yellow Fever Scare of 1887, and followed up by the Great Freeze of 1894-95.

Plans of the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railroad likewise faltered, largely because of the first event, the Yellow Fever Scare. By the mid-1890s the JT&KW had fallen into receivership, mainly because of a lack of cash.

Today, much of the right-of-way for the phantom Sanford & Lake Eustis Railway has disappeared. A short stretch does exist today, an isolated shady trail sitting along the north side of Markham Road, west of Orange Boulevard, in Seminole County.

Stay tuned for a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returning Wednesday, August 3, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida pioneers, and one historic 1894-95 devastating event that forever changed the Orange Belt.

WIN 1 of TEN FREE autographed copies of GHOST TOWNS & PHANTOM TRAINS at GOODREADS.com – winners to be drawn August 27, 2016.

Our giveaway begins July 27, 2016, and it’s easy to enter. 

Simply click on this link:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/195539-citrusland-ghost-towns-phantom-trains

This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have each priced this book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

TOWNS of the FLORIDA MIDLAND RAILROAD

Central Florida’s story, in terms of growth and expansion, cannot be properly chronicled without telling of the effect short-lived railroads had on the landscape of the land I refer to as CitrusLAND. Disregarding the story of these phantom trains is tantamount to removing the more fascinating chapters of the earliest days of Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Florida’s surrounding Citrus-belt counties.

P. A. DEMENS & Company, Railroad-Tie Plant (1885)

Outlying suburbs of today, as well as numerous ghost towns of yesteryear, were one-time vital hubs for 19^th century railroads. Such towns include Longwood, Palm Springs, Apopka, Ocoee and Kissimmee City, each of these examples being railway depots of the Florida Midland Railroad (FMR).

Previous RAILS & TRAILS posts in this series have discussed primarily north-south trains, interior railroads that contributed to developing central Florida as we know it today. Success of a railroad to Maitland, for example, versus the inability to finance a southbound train at today’s Ghost Town of Mellonville, are but two examples of how railroads shaped the region’s countryside.

The earliest regional railroads all planned to run southbound from a steamboat port. But the FMR was different, as it was designed as an east-west train from its founding.

Florida’s General Assembly approved Florida Midland Railroad’s charter February 10, 1885, granting organizers a franchise that, “shall be completed between Lake Jessup (sic) and Leesburg, or to such other point or points as provided in this Act, on or before the first day of June, 1888.” The “point or points” changed over time. The railroad did not actually start at Lake Jesup, nor end at Leesburg, but during its brief existence, this east-west train became a major contributor to central Florida growth.

LONGWOOD was the first vital rail intersection south of Lake Monroe. The FMR crossed over South Florida Railroad track at the center of Edward W. HENCK’s town of Longwood. Henck founded his city in 1876, served as the initial 1880 President of South Florida Railroad, and was a major force in the organization of Florida Midland Railroad.

Longwood also became headquarters for the P. A. Demens Construction Company, one of early suppliers of railroad ties, shipping from a Longwood plant in all four directions.

By year end 1885, Webb’s Historical, Biographical & Industrial periodical said a portion of the FMR had already been completed, “from a point, 6 miles west of Lake Jesup, to Longwood, Palm Springs, and FITZSIMMONS.” Webb’s also reported that the railroad would soon be completed into the town of Apopka.

PALM SPRINGS, the first town west of Longwood, also became an important crossroad when Peter A. Demens built his north-south railroad beginning in 1886 (A Future Post).

Continuing westbound, the 1880s town of LAKE BRANTLEY grew up around a FMR depot, and even further west, the FMR became the second of three planned railroads to serve APOPKA. At Apopka, the FMR then made another sharp turn, changing course from Leesburg, and instead setting sights on Osceola County's up-and-coming- town of KISSIMMEE.

Today, one can walk a remnant of the FMR route along the WEST ORANGE TRAIL. Apopka Vineland Outpost of the WOT, at the northwest corner of Apopka-Vineland Road and Clarcona -Ocoee Road, sits where the FMR train from Apopka veered west, passing through OCOEE on its way to APOPKA.

By 1890, the FMR was certified as having 33.9 miles of completed track running from Longwood to GOTHA. Founded by Printer & Inventor Henry A. HEMPLE, his town of Gotha, and later the towns of WINDERMERE and VINELAND, were each given life by the path of the Florida Midland Railroad.

Residence of GOTHA founder, Henry A. HEMPLE

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 27, 2016. Our summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ a historical novel based on real-life Central Florida 19^th century residents, and the true-life 1895 devastating event that forever changed their lives.

This summer, Central Florida Railroad Museum, in historic Winter Garden, in association Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have priced my book at a Rails & Trails special price of $15.00.

Take the family on an outing, explore central Florida’s amazing network of RAILS & TRAILS.

COMING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com - an entirely NEW Mystery, an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details: http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html OR follow me on my Goodreads, Richard Lee Cronin Author Page www.Goodreads.com

Want to know more about CitrusLAND? Visit www.CroninBooks.com.

Sanford & Indian River Railroad to OVIEDO

February 18, 1882, fifteen (15) months after South Florida Railroad (SFRR) had arrived for the very first time at ORLANDO, the railroad’s President, JAMES E. INGRAHAM, arguably Mr. Railroad of Central Florida, gave notice to the Florida General Assembly of their intentions to build another railroad that would originate in SANFORD.

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad (SIRR) envisioned opening up a vast untapped region of East Orange County, then heavily owned by English investors. The intent of the railroad was to connect Sanford with TITUSVILLE on the Indian River. The first six (6) miles of SIRR track was certified complete December 27, 1883.

The initial track alignment was indeed interesting. Departing southwest from Lake Monroe, along track laid down by South Florida Railroad, after about one mile the track veered sharply east, and continued east until arriving at the old homestead of Augustus VAUGHN. At Vaughn’s land, the track then made another sharp turn, this time veering south, heading toward Lake Jesup.

Sanford & Indian River Railroad of 1883 had made a bee-line directly to Vaughn’s land!

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad swerves to cross the

Augustus Jefferson Vaughn Homestead at Fort Reid

Augustus Vaughn had been among the earliest homesteaders south of Lake Monroe. His property included the site the 1840s fortress Reid. By the 1850s, village of FORT REID had grown up around this historic site, and over the years, the town expanded south, along The First Road to Orlando. (2015 Second Edition by Richard Lee Cronin).

Confederate Major George W. WYLLY platted, in 1875, an addition to Town of Fort Reid to the south of Vaughn’s acreage, land including a rail station on Depot Avenue. This land sat adjacent to another historic site; the Alaha Chaco, or ORANGE HOUSE Hotel.

Part Three of this series, The Veterans Railroad at Mellonville, told of the first planned Orange County railroad, organized in 1870, by Confederate Veterans, one entire decade before the South Florida Railroad was organized. The Corporate headquarters for that original Veterans Railroad was the Orange House Hotel at Fort Reid.

Track of the Sanford & Indian River Railroad, after veering south and crossing Vaughn’s property, continue another mile or two to historic RUTLEDGE, first established by Florida Brigadier General Joseph J. Finegan. The General, one of the original founders of the Veterans Railroad, named this location for his deceased son, Joseph Rutledge Finegan. 

Rutledge later became the residential site of railroader James E. Ingraham.

“One begins to recognize a task of engineering,” the SFRR wrote in 1887 of their route south of Rutledge. “Dynamite will do no good here. That black venomous looking mass must be fought hand to hand, with axe, pick and spike.”

The SIRR followed the original planned alignment of the Veterans 1870 Railroad, or at least as far as SOLDIERS CREEK, on the shore of Lake Jesup. At this point the track turned east, heading toward the Mitchell Grant’s town of Tuskawilla (Part ONE).

“The throttle valve takes a fit,” said SFRR in 1887 of the train’s engine as it traveled south of Soldiers Creek, “it yells a deep bass horror; it is terribly nervous, and it has a hoarse, horrible cold. But it bellows as if in frightful terror and dismay. Are we about to tumble over the edge of the world?”

Sanford & Indian River Railroad crossing at Soldiers Creek

The Sanford & Indian River Railroad did not to tumble over the edge of the world, but the 19^th Century train, today a phantom train, never arrived at Titusville on the Indian River either. OVIEDO, and a “switch to the west one mile,” LAKE CHARM, where the “eye rests with pleasing content,” was as far east as the train ever traveled.

Though never reaching the east coast of Florida, the Sanford & Indian River Railroad was responsible for bringing improved transportation to a largely unsettled east Orange County. Lake Jesup City, Lake Charm, Oviedo and to an extent, Tuskawilla, each flourished largely because of the SIRR.

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 20, 2016. Our summer series is sponsored by my historical novel, ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains,’ based on real-life Central Florida 19^th century residents, and a true-life 1895 tragic event that forever changed their lives.

All summer long, Central Florida Railroad Museum in historic Winter Garden, in association the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have priced my book at a summer discounted price of $15.00.

Take the family and explore central Florida’s remarkable network of RAILS & TRAILS.

ARRIVING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com - an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details at http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html as well as my Goodreads Author Page.

Richard Lee Cronin Author Page is up and running at www.Goodreads.com. Care to know more about any of my books? Visit www.CroninBooks.com.

The Great Railroad Center of TAVARES

Two (2) trains served all of Central Florida during Christmas 1880, two (2) more than had served this very same region one year earlier.

Two hotels met travelers  during the 1880s at the ASTOR town pier on the St, Johns River.

Snowbirds desiring to flock to 1880 Orange County, still arriving via steamboats, could dock at one of five piers, each located at a want-to-be towns, but four of the five ports would quickly fizzle out, and are today but distant memories – a/k/a, Ghost Towns!

Of the two ports having railroads, ASTOR, the first pier south of Lake George on the St. Johns River, offered service to FORT MASON, on the north shore of Lake Eustis. This was the rail line of St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railroad (See Part Two). Further south along the St. Johns River, a pier at SANFORD, in Lake Monroe, offered service to ORLANDO aboard the South Florida Railroad (See Part Four).

Months prior to track being laid by South Florida Railroad ever reached ORLANDO though, others began planning additional railroads. Two railroads of 1880 multiplied into more than a dozen railroads by the end of that decade. Most had failed by 1890, but much of today’s layout of central Florida grew out of the RAILROAD DECADE of 1880-1890.

South Florida Railroad originated at Sanford, and by June 1, 1880, about 10 miles of track had been completed south to LONGWOOD. Another 12 miles of wilderness lay ahead, and before a train could arrive at its planned destination at Orlando, that track still had to be laid.

On June 2, 1880 however, Orlando Attorneys Robert L. SUMMERLIN and Alexander St. Clair ABRAMS purchased a large lakeside parcel located 40 miles northwest of Orlando. A month later, these same attorneys acquired two acres at Orlando. Planning then began to connect these two parcels with a Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad.

ABRAMS was a big dreamer! In fact, his plans were so big, one train couldn’t possibly fulfill his ideas for central Florida – by then America’s 19^th Century Paradise!

PENINSULAR Land, Transportation & Manufacturing Company was organized by Abrams. Headquartered in his new town of TAVARES, Peninsular would be Abram’s marketing organization for the selling of town lots, growing of oranges, building and operating railroads, and then some. By 1883, Tavares began promoting itself as the, "Great Railroad Center of South Florida".

The St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railroad had, by 1883, been extended to TAVARES, and at that time was promising connection, via the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad, to Orlando. The route to Orlando, and three other rail lines, were reportedly all under construction in 1883, promoting connecting such destinations as Lake Monroe, the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, as well as points between. At Tavares, passengers and freight would then connect with railroad service to the north, completely eliminating the need for steamboats on the St. Johns River. (Plans didn't work out quite as planned).

Orange Land, Orange County’s Official 1883 publication, described Tavares: “It supplies settlements and villages of Mount Dora, Tangerine, Sorrento, Zellwood, Carleton, West Apopka, Oakland, Starke Lake, and Minneola, and will, within the next three years, be the greatest shipping point in all this region of Florida."

"As a winter resort, Tavares is one of the most inviting in South Florida," continued Orange Land's description, "the hunting and fishing are unequalled. Here is the Peninsular Hotel, the best hotel in the Lake Region.”

The Peninsular Hotel at Tavares was built by town founder Alexander St. Clair Abrams.  

Tavares became part of Lake County in 1887, and it can be said plans for the town didn’t quite work out as Alexander St. Clair Abrams hoped, but his grand scheme did open up a vast central Florida wilderness to development.

Plymouth, Apopka, Piedmont and many west Orange County communities benefited from the Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic Railroad, even though the 1880s railroad never did make it to the Atlantic coast.

Stay tuned, as a new RAILS & TRAILS, and another GHOST TOWN or two, returns next Wednesday, July 13, 2016. This summer series is sponsored by ‘Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains’ a Novel based on true-life Central Florida 19^th century residents, and a factual 1895 historical event that forever changed their lives and all of CitrusLAND.

All summer long, Central Florida Railroad Museum in historic Winter Garden, in association the Winter Garden History Center, and Bookmark it Orlando book stores, have all priced Ghost Towns at a summer discounted price of $15.00. Take time this summer and explore central Florida’s remarkable network of RAILS & TRAILS.

COMING THIS FALL to CroninBooks.Com is an entirely NEW Genre! Watch for details at http://www.croninbooks.com/MYSTIQUE.html and my Goodreads Author Page.

Richard Lee Cronin Author Page is up and running at www.Goodreads.com, so if you want to know more about any of my books? Please visit www.CroninBooks.com.

Meet you back here next Wednesday!