Historical Resources

Application for Corridor Extension Historical Resources

Although the Green Mountain Scenic Byway CME considers the proposed corridor eligible for designation on the strength of its recreational and natural resources, the corridor extension could be designated on the strength of its historical resources. The City of Mount Dora has created a Historic Preservation Review Area which is located within a larger National Register of Historic Places District. The entire Review Area is included within the proposed corridor extension. The extension connects the historic downtown of Winter Garden with the historic downtown of Mount Dora.

Narrative

The colonization of Florida by the Spanish proved disastrous to the Native Americans. Waves of epidemics of infectious diseases introduced from Europe crashed upon the Native Americans. Between 1565, the year that the Spanish founded St. Augustine, and 1595, when serious Catholic missionary attempts began, it is estimated that the Timucua speaking population had plummeted from about 150,000 to about 50,000.

To add to the devastation of disease, savage raids by Creek and Yamasee Indians, often supported by Carolina colonists, further reduced the population. By 1700, the Timucua had been reduced to about 1,000 people. The remaining Timucua attempted to seek refuge from the raids at St. Augustine, but by 1753 only 136 Timucua remained. When the British took Florida from Spain in 1763, the few that were left were expelled from the St. Augustine area. A pitifully few Timucua moved south and tried to settle on the Tomoka River. It is possible that their descendants eventually joined the Seminoles.

The Seminoles were originally part of the Creek Confederacy. Between 1716 and 1767, Creeks in considerable numbers moved into the Florida peninsula. Pressure from colonists in Georgia and Alabama, and war among the Creek themselves, encouraged the Creek to fill the vacuum left when the Timucua and other peoples were gone. Just as earlier cultures on the peninsula developed in response to changing environmental conditions, a new culture, the Seminole, was created as the Creek adapted to conditions in Florida. At their peak, the Seminole people in Florida numbered about 5,000.

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Application for Corridor Extension Historical Resources

The First Seminole War took place in 1817 and 1818, when General Andrew Jackson led a U.S. military expedition into Spanish Florida. Violence between Seminoles and Americans had occurred for years before, and continued for years after. Seminole troubles were used as a pretext for the incursion of the U.S. Army. General Andrew Jackson’s true aim was probably to show the U.S. government just how weak Spanish control of Florida really was. The success of the expedition also made the Spanish realize the tenuous hold they had on the peninsula. In 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. for $5 million in Spanish debt and the surrender of the U.S. to any claims on Texas.

The Treaty of Moultrie Creek in 1823 restricted Seminoles to the interior of the state from Micanopy to the Peace River. This placed the Lake Apopka area squarely in the center of Seminole territory, discouraging white settlement.

In 1832 the Treaty of Payne’s landing was signed between the U.S. government and a small group of Seminoles, without the consent of most of the Seminole leaders. The treaty called for the Seminoles to give up their lands and move west within three years. The Seminoles balked at the treaty, and when the U.S. Army tried to enforce it, the Second Seminole War erupted. The war was one of the most costly, in both blood and treasure, of all the Indian wars.

The Second Seminole War dragged on from 1835 until 1842. The U.S. Army suffered 1,466 deaths. The number of Seminoles killed is unknown, but by the end of 1843, 3,824 had been captured and sent west, or bribed, coerced, or tricked to do so. Only 300 to 400 remained in Florida.

The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 encouraged settlement of the former Seminole lands located between Gainesville and the Peace River. Any head of family or single male over 18 was entitled to 160 acres if he agreed to cultivate at least 5 acres, build a house, and live on the property for five years.

There was a Third Seminole war from 1855 to 1858. The Seminoles had only about 100 warriors, and the war consisted of a series of random raids and attacks. After the destruction of the main Seminole village by U.S. troops in 1857, Chief Billy Bowlegs took the government’s offer of $44,600 dollars for him and his followers to be shipped west. Less than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida.

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Mount Dora The Drawdys arrived in the area in 1846 and were probably the first white settlers in the area. The generally accepted story credits the naming of Lake Dora after Dora Ann Drawdy, either a squatter or a homesteader farming property located east of what is now Lake Beauclair by General Land Office surveyors. Dora prepared home cook meals for the surveyors, who rewarded Dora by naming the large lake to the north after her. However, several holes have been found in this story by local historians, but it is a very popular story, and it appears that it is going to stick.

Settlement of the area around Lake Dora was very slow. It was extremely difficult and expensive to transport goods and passengers into or out of the area, and depended on a convoluted combination of wagon or horseback, steamboats and railroads. In 1880, Lake Dora was connected to the Harris Chain of Lakes by the Dora Canal, providing much improved transportation. Also in 1880, construction began on the Apopka-Beauclair Canal, but it was 1893 before anything resembling a navigable canal was opened.

Early families settling what was to become Mount Dora included the Sadlers, Tremains, Gilberts, Simpsons and Donnellys.

It wasn’t until 1880 that a post office was established. The post office was first named Royellou, a contraction of Roy, Ella, and Louis, children of early settler Ross Tremain. After several years of confusion the name was changed to Mount Dora in 1883.

The Sanford and Lake Eustis Railroad came to Mount Dora in 1887. The railroad ran from Sanford to Tavares, with a stop in Mount Dora. The Sanford and Lake Eustis Railroad was eventually bought by the Atlantic Coast Line, and in 1915, the Mount Dora station was built and is now used as the Mount Dora Area Chamber of Commerce. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

J.P. Donnelly was an active citizen and tireless promoter of Mount Dora for over 50 years. In 1883, a group of local investors which included Donnelly built the Alexander House at the end Alexander Street. The hotel had ten rooms and a spectacular view of Lake Dora. The Alexander House was later renamed the Lakeside Inn. The hotel is still in business and has been expanded several times. Prominent guests of the Lakeside Inn include former Presidents Coolidge and Eisenhower, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. The Lakeside Inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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A tourism industry began to take root in Mount Dora with the construction of several hotels in addition to the Lakeside Inn and the completion of the railroad. Northern tourists would spend several weeks to an entire winter season. Fishing, hunting and boating were popular activities.

The Chautauqua movement made its debut in Mount Dora in 1887. The Chautauqua was a one to two week, concentrated program of education, culture and non-denominational religion. The Chautauqua originated in up-state New York in 1874, and the movement spread quickly. A local group formed the South Florida Chautauqua, and raised money to build a 1,500 seat auditorium. While popular for quite a few years, the Chautauqua faded away after the auditorium burned down in 1905.

In 1893, J.P. Donnelly built a grand Queen Anne style house on Donnelly Street that is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is considered by some as the finest example of Queen Anne architecture in the southeast.

The earliest settlers planted small citrus groves around their homes. By 1891, there was enough citrus production to support a packing house and several fertilizer plants. The Great Freeze of 1895 dealt a setback to the citrus industry, but it soon recovered to become the largest and most important industry in Lake County for decades.

The 1890 Census reported a population of 174. The 1900 Census reported a population of 197. In 1910 the population grew to 371, and the community incorporated as a town with J.P. Donnelly as the first mayor.

World War One sparked a sharp increase in agricultural prices. By 1920 Mount Dora had telephone service, water, electricity and a population of 725. In 1922, a fire burned several buildings downtown, including Town Hall.

Along with most of the state, Mount Dora was swept up in the land boom of the 1920s. Several new hotels and commercial buildings were built, and a 900 lot subdivision was platted just outside of town. The real estate frenzy came to a screeching halt in 1926. While Mount Dora suffered the Great Depression with the rest of the country, there was still enough money in town for the construction of the Mount Dora Community Building in 1929. The Community Building is located on Baker Street and looks over Donnelly Park.

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The building was constructed to have a seat for every resident in town. The building is still in use today, although not all of Mount Dora will fit into it.

World War II and its nearly insatiable demands for agricultural products of nearly all types lifted Mount Dora out of the Depression. During the war German POWs were housed east of Leesburg at what is now Lake Sumter State College. These POWs worked in the groves and fields for local farmers, including the Mount Dora Growers Cooperative. Millions of US Servicemen passed through Florida during the war. Many liked what they saw and would return after the war.

By 1950, the population of Mount Dora stood at 3,038 residents, and the economy remained dependent on citrus and retirees. In 1953 the town incorporated as a city. In the mid-1950s the State Road Department proposed expanding U.S. Highway 441 and aligning the roadway across the northern and eastern sides of Mount Dora. Local citizens, fearful of the impacts associated with this alignment on the city, fought the plans. The battle went all the way to Governor Leroy Collins, who killed the alignment. The highway would run much farther to the north and the east, saving the city from the fate of other small towns that are overwhelmed by major highways in or near their traditional downtowns.

The next threat to Mount Dora’s downtown was the opening of the Golden Triangle Shopping Center in 1961. When vacancies rose in the downtown, merchants met and decided to make a concerted effort to attract customers, both locals and tourists. It was suggested that storefronts reflect a common theme, colonial or traditional. From these discussions arose the slogan “A Touch of New England”.

The citrus industry was nearly completely destroyed by a series of freezes in the 1980s. Lake County had been a leader in the industry for nearly 100 years. The Mount Dora Growers Cooperative, which had been in business in one form or another since 1919 closed, putting several hundred people out of work. An immediate consequence of the decline of citrus was the opening up of cheap land for real estate development.

By the mid-1980s business in the downtown was again slumping. The city formed a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to try to pull downtown out of its doldrums. The CRA has been able to finance parking areas, streetscaping and many other improvements. Mount Dora’s downtown has become a vibrant and bustling community.

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The CRA has sponsored a map for a walking tour and a driving tour. The walking tour highlights 25 downtown historic homes and commercial buildings, while the driving tour showcases 19 historic homes in the residential district. Maps can be found at: http://www.mountdora.com/whattodo/historic_brochure.pdf Hard Copies of the map can also be picked up at the Mount Dora Area Chamber of Commerce in the Atlantic Coastline Building.

The Mount Dora History Museum is located at 450 Royellou Lane in downtown. The museum is located in the city’s first fire station and jail. The museum displays objects from the 1880s to the 1930s, as well as restored jail cells.

Astatula

William T. Kennedy in his History of Lake County, 1929, states that Astatula is Indian for sparkling waters, tinted waters, or rainbow waters. The town was originally known as Astabula, but in 1894, the post office changed it to Astatula. No one is really sure where the name of Astatula came from.

The first settler of Astatula was probably T.A. Hux, who arrived in 1872. Hux planted cotton, sugar cane and citrus.

The first post office opened in 1884. By 1887, the town had a population of 100 with three general stores, a telegraph office, a sawmill, a school, two churches, a boarding house and three grocery stores. A.C. Wright, Bryant Summerall and Joseph Kern ran the three general stores.

Transportation of agricultural products depended on steamers that ran in the Harris Chain of lakes. In 1885, the Tavares and Gulf (T&G) Railroad came through Astatula. The T & G become known as the Turtle and Gopher and the Tug & Grunt to the locals, as the locomotives often had to struggle up poorly graded roadbeds. .

A bridge across Little Lake Harris, connecting Howey with Astatula, was built in 1925. It was a wood structure 1.5 miles long. The bridge, in bad condition, was demolished in 1949 upon the completion of the SR 19 bridge.

In 1927 the town was incorporated, but still grew slowly. During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration constructed the Astatula Town Hall. The Town Hall is now known as the Olive Ingram Community Building (Florida Master Site File #LA3576). The

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Application for Corridor Extension Historical Resources building is considered potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Citrus was the dominate industry from the 1880s until the devastating series of freezes in the 1980s. Several large concrete and plastic heavy fabrication plants have replaced citrus as major employers. Still a small town, the population of Astatula is 1810 (Census 2011).

The Steamer Astatula of the Hart Line.

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Freshly Paved Donnelly Street, Facing North.

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Sources:

A Chronology of Florida Post Offices Alford G. Bradbury E. Story Hallock The Florida Federation of Stamp Clubs, 1962

Mount Dora Historical Society http://www.mountdorahistoricalsociety.org

Mount Dora, Florida: A Short History James M. Laux Dollar Bill Books www.dollarbillbooks.com

History of Lake County, Florida William T. Kennedy Lake County Historical Society Tavares, FL

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Application for Corridor Extension Cultural Resources

Cultural Resources Mount Dora is known for its large number and wide variety of art galleries, festivals and events. The premier event is the annual Arts Festival, hosted by the Mount Dora Center for the Arts. The Mount Dora Center for the Arts is a community based, nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of art and culture in the Central Florida region.

Mission Statement: The Mount Dora Center for the Arts is a non-profit collaborative leader, which plays an integral role in the community by demonstrating the passion and commitment to the development of the arts through progressive and diverse educational programs, dynamic exhibits and an arts festival which is the foundation of artistic expression within the community.

The Mount Dora Arts festival is in its 39th year, and draws an estimated 300,000 people to downtown Mount Dora to see the works of nearly 300 artists. The festival is scheduled for the first weekend in February. The Center maintains a year-round calendar of arts-related events and activities and serves the community by providing changing exhibits of original art, arts education programs, classes, seminars and lectures. The Center for the Arts is located on the byway extension at 138 East 5th Street in downtown Mount Dora.

Mount Dora Center for the Arts 138 E Fifth Ave Mount Dora, FL 32757 Phone: (352) 383-0880 Website: www.mountdoracenterforthearts.org Contact Email: [email protected]

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Mount Dora Arts Festival

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A Sampling of Mount Dora Events and Organizations:

The Modernism Museum Mount Dora The Modernism Museum Mount Dora is dedicated to showcasing the inspiration and design creativity in the largest collection known of Modernist art by some of the most iconic and influential American masters of the craft. The Museum offers an unprecedented collection of fine art and design, one that defines the Arts & Crafts Movement, from mid- century works to those being created today. 145 East Fourth Avenue Mount Dora, FL 32757 (352) 385-0034 www.modernismmuseum.org

The Florida Lakes Symphony Orchestra is Lake County’s resident professional orchestra. The orchestra is composed of 60 professional musicians from all over the world. Florida Lakes Symphony Orchestra 1026 Nantucket Sound, Mount Dora, FL 32757 www.floridalakessymphonyorchestra.com

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Mount Dora Music Festival Four day Festival in its 17th year. February 20-23, 2014 P.O. Box 712 Mount Dora, FL 32756 [email protected]

Mount Dora Annual Spring Antiques, Collectibles & Crafts Show Dates: March 22-23, 2014 200 booth vendors displaying treasures on the downtown streets of Mount Dora. Location: Downtown Mount Dora Times: 9-5 PM Contact: Visit Mount Dora Phone: 352-735-1191 [email protected]

29th Annual Craft Fair Dates: October 25-26, 2014 This nationally ranked juried event continues to attract over 200,000 visitors and over 400 of the best crafters in the country. Location: Downtown Streets of Mount Dora Times: 9AM-5PM Contact: Mount Dora Downtown Merchants and Business Association Phone: 352-735-1191 http://www.mountdoracraftfair.com

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