Florida Revealed

Dispatches From the Land of Publix, Citrus, and Alligators

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Nina K. Berkstresser

Nina Kathryn Berkstresser was born in Hawthorne, Florida in 1901. She was one of four daughters, and her parents were William and Emma. They were members of the First United Methodist Church.

First United Methodist Church of Hawthorne, circa 1900, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Nina's Sunday School class at First UMC, 1914, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

After Nina finished school, she began working as a bookkeeper at a local grocery store. The 1920s were a time of great change for young women and Nina took advantage of that. By 1921 she was living in Jacksonville and working as a bookkeeper for the Jefferies Market. She lived first at the Lenox Hotel on Newnan Street and then began renting at 418 E. Duval Street.

Bay Street at the Union Terminal in Jacksonville, 1921, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Her father died in 1927 and it’s unknown if that’s what brought her back to Hawthorne but sometime that year she moved back home. Her father had been the postmaster, so she began working as a clerk in the post office.

The Berkstresser home in Hawthorne with Nina's father, William, and sister, Helen, on the front porch. The building also served as the post office. Courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

In 1928 Nina became the postmaster of Hawthorne and held that position until 1936. The next year she moved back to Jacksonville and began working for Jefferies Market again. This time she lived on Washington Street.

By the 1940 census she had moved back to Hawthorne again and was working in the post office. Her mother had died in 1939 so she was living on her own. The US entered World War II at the end of 1941 and on August 3, 1944, Nina enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The Gainesville Sun covered her swearing-in ceremony because not only was her family well-known, but she was the first woman from Hawthorne to enlist in the WAC. In the article Nina stated that “I have a nephew in the Navy ‘somewhere’ in the south Pacific, and I hope by offering my skills to my country, to do my bit toward bringing him home sooner.”

She was sworn in by her nephew, Captain D. E. Williams (US Army), and attended training at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia.

Nina in her Women's Army Corps uniform, courtesy of the Alachua County Library District

After she was discharged in August 1945 she returned home to Hawthorne and worked for the Social Security Administration. She lived for a short while in Miami in the 1950s but always came home to Hawthorne. In 1959 Nina received a $10 award from the Social Security Administration “in recognition of her performance between January-December 1957, in handling claims for old-age benefits in the Columbus, Mississippi office.” According to the Gainesville Sun article Nina helped the Columbus office when they were “swamped with farmers’ claims for old-age benefits following the revision of social security benefit laws.”

Nina passed away in 1977 and is buried in the Hawthorne Cemetery.

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“A Trip Over the Transit Railroad”

by Joanna Grey Talbot

In 1883 journalist A. L. W. took a trip on the Transit Railroad in Florida, which connected Fernandina on the Atlantic to Cedar Key on the Gulf. They shared their experiences in an article published on the front page of the May 15, 1883, issue of the The Weekly Floridian in Tallahassee.

Let’s follow along as they visit 10 towns along the route.

“The majority of persons living in Middle Florida, whose business or pleasure has not railed them to the Eastern part of the State, have very little idea of the material progress, the great influx of immigration, I lie important industries, or the rapid development of the country along the line of the Transit Railroad, which connect Fernandina, the best harbor on our Atlantic coast, with the important port of Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico; nor is it possible in the short scope of one letter to convey more than a general view of this very important portion of the State. The traveller from Middle Florida, after a night spent in the comfortable sleepers of the Florida Central and Western Railroad, which is under the efficient management of Major W. M. Davidson, a Middle Florida man, strikes the Transit road at…”

Hotel Oliver, Baldwin, Florida, courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida

Baldwin

“…long a very important transfer point for freights for the line of the Transit road. Cedar Key and the Gulf coast, which formerly came from the North and West via Savannah and Live Oak, but which, since the completion o! the Waycross “Short Line," is now delivered to the Transit system at Callahan, twenty miles north of Baldwin. […] The lumber industry along this road is immense, as is attested by the long trains of heavily loaded flat cars which were passed at various points; in fact, the monotony of the pine forest was almost constantly broken by a panorama of saw mills, young orange groves and handsome residences seen from the car windows as we sped along, till proving the existence of an industrious and thrifty population, each contributing his quota to the prosperity of the road and the material progress of the State. The towns of Highland, Lawty and Temples were passed when the brakeman called out…”

Call Street, Starke, Florida, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Starke

“twenty minutes for dinner and alighting from the train we proceeded to the “Railroad House," kept by Mr. Kleinsmidt, an industrious German, who owns a farm and orange grove near town, while his estimable wile and charming daughters vie with each other in serving the tired traveller with all the good things which go to make up a first-class dinner. […] There are several groves in the vicinity, some bearing, while most of them are young.— In the town new houses are going up on all sides and the song of the saw and hammer is the music which greets one at every turn. […] Speeding along we soon reached…”

Seaboard Depot, Waldo, Florida, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

Waldo

“…the junction of the Transit with the Peninsular Railroad. Here we switched off the through coach which is run daily from Jacksonville to Wildwood, thus obviating the necessity of a change of cars between these points. Waldo has a fine hotel, a cigar factory, several stores and churches, and is the terminal point of the Santa Fe Canal, which brings the fine orange country of the lake region within easy access of the railroad. […] Our next stopping place…”

Arlington House advertisement in the “Eden of the South,” 1883, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Gainesville

“…the metropolis of East Florida, is a city of about four thousand inhabitants and the county site of Alachua, one of the richest agricultural counties in the State. […] Besides its numerous stores and other business places Gainesville has a bank, a cotton seed mill, three ginning establishments, three livery and sale stables, two depots (the Transit and Florida Southern), two first-class hotels, the Arlington and Varnum House, (the former about the size of our Leon) and quite a number of boarding houses. I have not space in this letter to devote to the above business enterprises the attention which each deserves. […] Six miles further on we come to…”

A Giant Crop of Irish Potatoes in Florida, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

Arredondo

“…the boss vegetable station of the Transit road. I have not spoken of this industry heretofore because I was at a loss how to convey to the minds of your readers a just idea of the magnitude of this business on the line of the Transit and Peninsular roads. All along we had observed at the different stations large lots of vegetables in crates waiting shipment but here we saw the entire platform covered with piles on piles of crates filled with, beans, cucumbers, peas, Irish potatoes and cabbage […]. Some idea of the extent of the business may be gleaned front the fact that twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, an extra train far vegetables only, is run from Bronson to Fernandina to connect with the steamships of the Mallory line, in addition to the daily freight train.

Church Street, Archer, Florida, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

Archer

“…also in Alachua county, is a live little town with five or six stores, and contributes its quota to the vegetable business. Peach culture has here been brought into some imminence by the Rev. J. P DePass, well known to many in our section.”

A.H. Bateman and family in front of their home in Bronson, ca. 1910, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Bronson

“…the county site of Levy County, is distant from Cedar Keys about thirty-five miles. It has four stores, and besides being the shipping point of a vast scope of country for miscellaneous exports such as cotton, hides, wax, etc., being situated in the midst of a fine grazing country, large numbers of beef cattle are annually shipped from here to the markets of Savannah and Charleston. After passing Otter Creek, a flag station, we next arrive at…”

Rosewood

“…the residence of C. B. Dibble, Esq., who, in addition to his orange grove, has developed an entirely new industry; you who are familiar with the lovely flower gardens of the Floral City, just think of eight or ten acres in Tube Roses. The flowers are sold in Gainesville, Cedar Keys and other places, while the bulbs are shipped North, and I am told the proprietor has found it profitable. Soon after leaving this station we pass through a spur of the far-famed…”

Gulf Hammock fiber factory, ca. 1890, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Gulf Hammock

“…probably the largest and finest body of hammock land in the State, whose sylvan depths furnish alike wealth to the enterprising cedar cutter, and the fattest turkeys and juiciest venison which ever tickled the palates of tourist epicures at the Egmont and St. James. Swiftly skimming over the few remaining miles we soon alighted at…”

Bird’s Eye View of Cedar Key, 1884, courtesy of the University of Florida Digital Collections

Cedar Keys

“…the Venice of the Gulf, whose cool sea breeze, fresh from the “cradle of the deep," tanned our (very dusty) brows, and tossed the smoke-plumes of our locomotive in fantastic wreaths and curls, the same whose shrill whistle had in the early morn mingled with the hoarse roar of old ocean as he piled his white-capped waves high on the smooth beach at Fernandina. […] Cedar Keys has been so often written up, and is so well known by reason and its importance as a Gulf port, that any attempt of my weak pen to do it justice would be futile. […] The principal industries of Cedar Key are its lumber mills, of which there are four or five for the manufacture of pine lumber, and two cedar mills belonging respectively to the Faber and Eagle Pencil Companies. In addition to the above its export of fish and oysters is a source of great revenue, while its sponge trade is by no means an inconsiderable item of its business. […]

“I have already spun this letter out to more than double my original intention, and yet “the half remains untold,” for one could find material for many letters in the beautiful little city of Cedar Key, and its adjacent Islands, bays and rivers, which I left with regret, feeling that next to the breezy hills of Tallahassee I would rather live on the lovely Gulf Coast of Florida.”

The full article can be viewed here via the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America database: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015289/1883-05-15/ed-1/seq-1/.

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Dr. Robert B. Ayer, Sr.

By Joanna Grey Talbot

The story of one of Gainesville’s first Black physicians began in pre-Civil War South Carolina. Robert Bunyan Ayer was born on September 16, 1862, to Robert Ayer and Jannie Dickerson in Bufords Bridge, South Carolina.  Typically enslaved workers took on the last name of their white owners so it is likely that Robert was born on one of the plantations owned by Lewis Malone Ayer, Sr. in the Bufords Bridge area. According to the University of South Carolina Archives, the Ayer family owned over 8,000 acres and multiple plantations - Patmos, Runnymede, Harmony, Pineland, and Campfield prior to the war. At Lewis Sr.’s death in 1863 he owned 161 enslaved workers, which likely included Robert, his parents, and siblings.

In the 1870 census Jane Ayer was still living in Bufords Bridge and working as a farmhand. Her children were Evins, Mary (both working as farmhands), Robert, William (both in school), Julia, and Rebecca. After extensive research I was unable to find them in the 1880 or 1890 censuses so, unfortunately, there is a big gap in the family’s history. I do know that at some point during those 20 years Robert went to medical school, married Adriana Colclough, and moved to Gainesville.

Robert and Adriana are first listed in the 1900 census living at 202 Bay Street (4th Street). Robert was working as a physician and they owned their house. His office and drug store was located at the corner of W Union Street and S Garden Street (SW 1st Avenue and SW 1st Street). Their two children, Irwin and Vernon, Robert’s step-father and mother, Jack and Jane Elliott, sister, Annie Hagood, and niece, Maggie Benson, were living with them. Living in downtown Gainesville, the children would have attended Union Academy, the premier school for Black children in the county.

Pleasant Street postcard, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

At this point in history, being a physician was a highly respected position and Dr. Ayer used his influence for good in his community. He was a member of Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church, served as Chairman of the Board of Union Academy, and assisted the county during inquests and with the treatment of prisoners. County Commission minutes ranging from 1902-1910 list payments to Dr. Ayer for “professional services” at inquests, at the Florida Farm Colony, and as a witness. In 1906 he even ran for City Alderman according to the Daily Sun, but came in seventh out of seven with the first three being elected.

Receipt from Dr. R. B. Ayer, physician, surgeon and druggist - 1924, courtesy of the Alachua County Clerk of the Court Ancient Records

Based on his career as a physician and the fact that he owned his home, Dr. Ayer was one of the more wealthy Black citizens in Gainesville. According to the State Library & Archives of Florida, he owned a car. In July of 1910 he registered his Model D Brush (10 horsepower) and in July of 1911 he registered his Semi-Tour Overland (25 horsepower). On May 28, 1905, the Daily Sun reported that Dr. Ayer had installed in his drug store “a fine Victor talking machine, which he purchased from [agent] Moses Edelstein. [...] Dr. Ayer will no doubt attract customers to his store as a sugar bowl attracts flies ‘in the good old summer time.’” In October 1906 the Gainesville Sun reported that he was one of 15 new subscribers to the Southern Bell Telephone Company service. The Daily Sun also reported in March 1907 that Dr. Ayer had bought a “Best Fancy” light from the Gainesville Automobile Company and had installed it in his drug store - “It is handsomely finished in Oriental brass, and yields from 700 to 1,000 candle-power. It is unquestionably the finest lamp in Gainesville.”

Advertisement for the 1910 Brush in a 1909 issue of the Daily Sun

Sometime between the 1900 and 1910 census he divorced Adriana and married Ella. Robert bought a new home at 108 W Columbia Street (NW 7th Avenue). He and Ella had four children together - Helen, Orion, James, and Robert, Jr. Gainesville City Directories and Census data continued to list Robert, Sr. as a physician until his death on October 29, 1937. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery with both of his wives and two of his children.

Even with all that Dr. Ayer accomplished in his community, his greatest legacy was his children:

Vernon Alexander Ayer (1891-1976) -  According to his WWI draft registration he attended Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency at Old General Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and then moved to New York City to open his practice. In 1942 he married Gertrude Elise Johnson, the first licensed Black female principal in the New York Public School System. Her obituary states that she “was a pioneer in vocational guidance for minority students. She also played an active part in the cultural life of Harlem in the 1920's.” Dr. Vernon Ayer retired as the director of the Central Harlem District Health Center.

Irwin Robert Ayer (1889-1945) - Irwin worked as a postal carrier in Gainesville. He served in the 92nd Infantry Division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, during WWI. After training at the Tuskegee Institute he shipped out to France in June 1918 and fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in November. According to documentation from the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Johnson City, Tennessee, Irwin was injured in the war and had a limb amputated. In despite of his injuries, he continued to work as a postal carrier, even living with Vernon in New York City for a while. By 1935 he was back in Gainesville and living with his mother, Adriana. At some point before 1942 he married Josie, who was working for the Afro-American Life Insurance Company.

Helen Jeannette Ayer (1910-1982) - Sadly, I could not find much information about Helen except that she married Clarence Richmond in 1937 and he served in the Korean War.

Orion Thomas Ayer (1913-1998) - Orion was the second child of Robert to become a doctor. He attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. His WWII draft card listed him as working at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. It was during this time that he met and married his wife, Helen Viviane Matthews. In 1945 they moved to Gainesville where he set up his practice on NW 1st Street. In 1949 he joined the staff of Mercy Hospital in St. Petersburg, the only primary care facility for Black citizens from 1923-1966. In 1964 he was elected as Chief of the Division of General Practice at Mercy and Mound Park Hospitals. Dr. Ayer was also active in the Civil Rights Movement in St. Petersburg.

James William Ayer (1922-2007) - James lived with the extra challenge of being deaf. He worked a variety of jobs, such as dishwasher at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and laborer at the Seven-Up Bottling plant in Jacksonville. James married Virtez Allen in 1944 and they lived in Jacksonville with their son, Thadeus.

Robert Bunyan Ayer, Jr. (1929 - ) - I’ve been unable to find much information about Robert, Jr. except that he lived in Gainesville so it’s possible he is still living.

Dr. Vernon Ayer’s passport application in 1920 for a trip to Brazil, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

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Benjamin F. Childs, Sr.

By Joanna Grey Talbot

It is hard for readers in the 21st century to imagine a time when we did not receive our mail at our home, but instead had to travel to the nearest post office and pick it up. According to the late historian Jess Davis, Gainesville did not begin postal letter carrier service until February 1, 1904.

At the time the post office was located in the Baird Hardware building (east side of the courthouse square). The beautiful Federal building that we know today as the Hippodrome State Theatre wasn’t completed until 1911.

Post office information from the 1905 Gainesville City Directory, which lists B. F. Childs as one of the city letter carriers

Benjamin Franklin Childs, Sr., was one of the first African American letter carriers in Gainesville. Although we don’t know his exact routes, according to the United States Postal Service’s historian it wouldn’t be unheard of for African American letter carriers to deliver to white homes and businesses. The earliest known African Americans employed by the USPS were enslaved workers who were used by mail transportation contractors prior to 1802. In 1802 Congress banned the practice as a result of Southerners’ fears of a slave rebellion after the 1791 Haitian Revolution.

This stood until 1865. Yet, African American postal workers still faced discrimination, racism, and threats. As a result, even if they were qualified, many African Americans chose to apply for carrier jobs instead of higher-paying clerk jobs.  Booker T. Washington remarked in 1906: “In many parts of the South the white people would object seriously to colored people handing them a letter through the post office window, but would make no objection to a colored mail carrier handing them a letter at their door.”

An unknown mail carrier outside the Gainesville post office in 1926, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

Benjamin Childs was born in Alachua County to John and Cherrie Childs, natives of South Carolina, on June 18, 1876. By the 1900 census Benjamin had married Ella Lula Debose and they were living in Haulover, Florida, with their son Petrus. Benjamin was working as a school teacher.

Between 1900 and 1905 they moved to Gainesville where Benjamin became a city letter carrier, trustee of Union Academy, English teacher at Lincoln High School, and the first black newspaperman at the Gainesville Sun. They lived at 612 N. 6th Street and their family grew to include four more children - Benjamin Jr., Lincoln, Elihu, and Lansing.

In 1921 Benjamin wrote a letter to Nathan Young, the president of Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU), asking for a recommendation for a new principal for Union Academy. You can read his letter below. Mr. Young responded two days later by recommending A. Quinn Jones, who would go on to become the beloved principal of Lincoln High School.

Letter from Benjamin F. Childs to N. B. Young on May 23, 1921, courtesy of the A. Quinn Jones Collection, UF Special Collections

In the 1930 census it shows that Benjamin and his family moved to 654 N. 6th Street. Benjamin was still listed as a postal carrier and his son, Ben, was a teacher at Lincoln High School. Sadly, Ella passed away in 1932 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery with Benjamin’s parents.

By the 1940 census Benjamin married Karlene and they had bought a house at 626 NW 4th Street. His eldest son, Petrus, married Edna Berry in the 1920s and worked as a laborer and hospital orderly. According to census data he lived at the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee from at least 1935-1945. In the 1958 Gainesville City Directory he was listed as living with his brother, Ben Jr., in the family home. Benjamin Jr. worked as a teacher at Lincoln High School, in some capacity at the University of Florida, and as a reporter for the Gainesville Sun.

Lincoln was married first to Earnestine Vanetta Reeves and attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. After Earnestine’s death in 1932 he married Theodosia. He served as a captain in the medical corps in World War II. Elihu married Ruth Mae Johnson and on his WWII draft registration card he listed himself as working for the Walter Field Clothing Company in Chicago. Lansing studied at FAMU and was a captain in the Air Force during World War II.

Benjamin, Sr. passed away in 1943 and is buried with his parents, both wives and all of his children in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Gainesville. 

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Chester Shell

By Joanna Grey Talbot

Chester Shell did not grow up in the easiest of times but he was a man of purpose and vision. Born on February 16, 1892, in Orange Springs, Florida, he learned how to hunt, fish, and train bird dogs. These skills would give him a step up in life and give him the opportunity to change the lives of his fellow African Americans.

By the 1900 census he and his mother, Sofia, step-father, Howard, and five siblings and half-siblings were living in Hawthorne, Florida. Howard worked for the railroad as a crosstie chopper. These are the wooden supports that the rails are laid on top of. Sofia was taking care of the family and the older children, including Chester, were in school. At that time there was no school building for the black students, so they met in private homes and churches for only 3 months of the year. This experience planted a seed in Chester’s mind that would grow into a life-changing decision later in life.

Hawthorne Train Station, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

In 1910 Chester’s family was listed in the census as still living in Hawthorne and all of his siblings were either working for local businesses or in school. Chester would have been 18 or 19 and isn’t listed, so it’s highly likely he had moved out to make his way in the world.

We find him again in 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft. By this time he was married to Marie Riley, a native of Interlachen, and living back in Hawthorne. He was working as a farmhand for G. D. Moore, the son of William Moore who founded the Moore Hotel in Hawthorne.

The Moore Hotel, 1900s, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Chester’s first child, Elmer Randolph, was born in Hawthorne on August 3, 1919. Yet, by the 1920 census Chester and his young family were living in West Palm Beach and he was working as a laborer in “rock work.” In 1921 their daughter Margery Joyce was born and the next year their youngest, Arthur Ray, was born.

At some point we know they moved back to Hawthorne because Chester began working as a porter for the Seaboard Railroad and as hunting/fishing guide for Moore’s Hotel. Chester led hunting expeditions for wealthy, northern visitors. 

A hunting party at Moore’s Hotel, 1900s, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Sadly, Marie passed away in 1924 and is buried in the Hawthorne Cemetery. Two years later, though, Chester made a decision that would change the lives of generations of black children in Hawthorne. Remembering his experiences as a student in Hawthorne and watching his own children attending school in private homes and churches, he knew something had to change.

According to the Alachua County Library District’s Heritage Collection he approached the Alachua County School Board in 1926 and requested that a school be built for the black students.  He was told that if he raised half of the necessary money the School Board would match the funds. Mr. Shell decided to put his northern contacts to use, many that he met through his time working at the Moore Hotel. He traveled north to raise money and even solicited the Rosenwald Fund, which contributed $1,200. In addition, the black community in Hawthorne sold dinners and made personal donations. The goal of $10,000 was reached and the school was built in time for the 1927-1928 school year. It covered only kindergarten through the eighth grade, so high school students had to be bused to Gainesville's Lincoln High School.

Chester Shell in the 1920s, location unknown, courtesy of the Alachua County Library District

A high school for Hawthorne's black students was finally built in 1955 and was called Shell High School. Shell High was integrated in 1970 and in the 1990s it became Shell Elementary School, which is still in operation today.

On August 8, 1930, Chester married Millie Dorthula Woodward. It doesn’t look as if they had children of their own, at least according to the census data. I was unable to find them in the 1930 census but by the 1935 state census he is still listed as living in Hawthorne and working for Moore’s Hotel as a “superintendent of woods.”

In 1940 the census states that they are living on Sanders Street and own their home. All three of his children would attend college and Elmer and Arthur served in World War II. Elmer attended Florida A&M, served in the Marine Corps during the war, earned his Master’s, married Gladys Floyd and became an educator and minister. His sister, Margery, became a teacher and married Robert Johnson in 1946. Arthur worked at Camp Blanding and then served in the Navy in World War II. He married Verlee Bonniegene Dubois in 1947.

Chester remained very active in the Hawthorne community, even serving as president of the Alachua County Voters League. He traveled extensively, often for religious and political gatherings, visiting 37 of the 50 states. He loved sports, especially baseball, basketball, hunting, and fishing.

His wife, Millie, passed away in 1956 and Chester in 1967. Both are buried in the Hawthorne Cemetery with Elmer, Margery, and Arthur.

Chester Shell, 1960s, courtesy of the Shell Elementary School Enrichment Class of 1997 website http://www.afn.org/~hawthorn/ourtown/history2.html

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Dunbar Hotel

By Joanna Grey Talbot

The historic Pleasant Street neighborhood in Gainesville was once home to the Dunbar Hotel. From the 1930s to the 1950s it was the only hotel in Gainesville that served black travelers. Located at 926 N. Grove Street (732 NW 4th Street today) it was opened in 1936 by Jackson and Sophronia Dunbar.

The hotel hosted businessmen, families, and even celebrities such as Duke Ellington, B.B. King, and Ella Fitzgerald. Gainesville had a couple venues on the Chitlin’ Circuit, including the Cotton Club, and the Dunbar Hotel was the only place the black performers could stay. The Chitlin’ Circuit was a collection of venues throughout the South that hosted black entertainers and audiences during segregation.

After desegregation the Dunbar Hotel began to lose clientele and it eventually closed. In 1995 the City of Gainesville bought and restored it and turned it into Pleasant Place - a home for pregnant teenagers. Pleasant Place operated from 1999-2013 and now the building is privately owned.

The only image the Matheson has of the building is from its time as Pleasant Place, which is included below. Hopefully one day we will come across an image of the building as the Dunbar Hotel. Preserving our collective history is so important!

Image courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

I didn’t want to leave my post at that, so I decided to dig deeper into the background of the Dunbars themselves. We can glean so much information from census data and other documents, even though they can sometimes list conflicting dates.

According to the 1930 census Jackson (or Jack as he’s listed) and Sophronia were married sometime around 1917. Jack’s birth year is listed differently in each census (1885, 1889, 1882) and on his tombstone (1897). Sophronia’s birth year is the same confusion (1888, 1894, 1882) and her tombstone says 1890.

Jack’s World War I registration card lists his birthday as September 4, 1882. He submitted the registration on September 12, 1918, and at the time he was living in New Smyrna, Florida. The handwriting is tough to read but he was working for a cypress company of some kind and his nearest relative was Florence Dunbar in New Smyrna. He was disqualified for service, though, because “his right eye [was] out.”

Jack Dunbar’s World War I registration card

The 1920 census finds Jack and Sophronia living in Gainesville. Jack was working as a nightwatchman for a lumber company. It’s hard to tell what street they lived on but they owned their home. The census lists Jack’s parents as being born in Virginia and Sophronia’s parents as being born in North Carolina, although later censuses will list both sets as native to Florida. By 1920 Jack and Sophronia had their first two children - Rabanna, age 3 and Effie, age 1.

By the 1930 census they had moved to 926 N. Grove Street, the future home of the Dunbar Hotel. Now Jack was working as a night watchman for the railroad and they had three children, having added Lillie, age 5, to the family. At the time the census was taken they also had four boarders:

- Alfred Jones, age 15, born in Georgia, working as a delivery boy at a drug store

- Willie Hawkins, age 12, born in Alabama

- Alex Smith, age 19, born in Texas, working as an odd jobs laborer

- Tomas Carraway, age 31, born in Georgia, a veteran, working as a public roads laborer

The last census we have access to is the 1940 census. The Dunbars were still living at 925 N. Grove Street and Jack was still working as a night watchman for the railroad. According to the census the highest level of education he completed was the 5th grade. Their four children were still living at home but now had added two grandchildren. Their daughter Effie was working as a public school teacher.

Jack passed away in 1978 and Sophronia in 1989. Both are buried in the Pleasant Plain Cemetery in Jonesville. They played a key role in their community and we are so thankful they are a part of Gainesville’s history.

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Jesse Aaron

By Joanna Grey Talbot

One of Gainesville’s most celebrated artists didn’t begin his career as a sculptor until he was well into his 80s.

Jesse Aaron was born in Lake City in 1887 with African American, European, and Seminole heritage. His parents were farmers Will and Annie Aaron. Jesse was the oldest of twelve children and from a young age was hired out as a field-worker to help his family. By the 1910 census they had moved to the town of Bland, in northwest Alachua County to farm.

After Jesse turned 21 he attended vocational school to become a baker and began serving as a cook on the Seaboard Coastline Railroad. A few years later he met and married Lee Anna, who worked as a teacher.

The Starke railroad depot circa 1915, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

By the 1920 census Jesse and Lee Anna were living in Starke. They owned their home and he was still working on the railroad. Between 1920 and 1930 they had three children and moved to Gainesville.

Jesse worked as a cook in local hotels and University of Florida fraternity houses. Lee Anna was employed as a maid at the hospital. On the side Jesse also built cabinets and furniture. His love of constructing and creating also helped him to build their house on NW 7th Avenue. Some of Jesse’s earliest carvings were faces on trees that he used to mark the boundary of his property.

Jesse’s career took a major turn in 1968 when his wife, Lee Anna, began losing her sight to cataracts. He wasn’t sure how they were going to afford the surgery she needed but according to him, the following happened early one morning around 3am. He woke up after hearing the Lord say, “Jesse, carve wood!” He immediately went to his workshop that was attached to the house and he carved his first sculpture.

Jesse working on one of his sculptures in December 1976, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Pleased with what he was creating he opened a shop in his home to sell the sculptures. Within his first year of carving wood he was able to pay for Lee Anna’s first surgery.

His work quickly caught the eye of people in the art world, including Roy Craven – the first director of the University Gallery at the University of Florida. Craven curated an exhibition of 31 pieces of Jesse’s work at the University Gallery, which opened on October 14, 1970. Most of the sculptures sold within the first hour and a half.

Jesse with one of his many unique sculptures in 1977, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Jesse’s wooden sculptures had visual similarities to carvings of several traditional cultures, such as Native American and African. He also enjoyed adding found materials, such as fabric or plastic eyes, to his pieces in order to create what he had envisioned.

Jesse passed away on October 17, 1979, at the age of 92. He and his wife, Lee Anna, are buried in the Fort Call Cemetery in Worthington Springs, Florida.

Untitled (Tree Trunk with Faces) by Jesse Aaron, ca. 1970-1979, wood and mixed media, in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In 1982 several of his pieces were included in an exhibition curated by the former Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The exhibition, “Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980,” toured the country. Today you can find his pieces in collections throughout the country at such institutions as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, High Museum of Art, and the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

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Evinston, Florida

by Joanna Grey Talbot

Located on the border of Alachua County and Marion County is another sleepy town with a vibrant history. 

The area was a part of the Arredondo Grant of 1817 and many of the early settler families went by the names of Reeves, Wolfendon, and Evins. The Evins family had moved from South Carolina (just like the Mathesons and Hailes) and eventually owned large land holdings west of Orange Lake.

In 1882 Captain William Drayton Evins gave land for the right-of-way for the Florida Southern Railroad. That same year he built his house, which still stands today and is owned by Ashley Wood, long-time Alachua County Historical Commission member.

Evins-Wood House, courtesy of Alison Eckerle - WUFT News

The post office was established on February 28, 1882. The depot wasn’t built until 1884 but it was named Evinston in honor of the Evins family.

Evinston was a thriving town with a variety of stores, schoolhouse (it consolidated with the Micanopy school in the 1920s), three churches, a blacksmith, two packing houses, and a grist mill.

A short article in the Gainesville Daily Sun on September 6, 1905, tells of the opening of the school year.

“The Evinston School, under the direction of Miss Vallie Grace, opened Monday under most favorable conditions, a good enrollment having been recorded the first day. Miss Grace is one of the most popular and efficient teachers in the county, and will no doubt make a fine success of the Evinston School.”

As most of Alachua County had been, Evinston had a number of citrus groves that were destroyed during the freezes of the 1890s. The local economy instead focused more on vegetables, melons, and cattle.

On February 8, 1907 the Gainesville Daily Sun reports that “the truckers [are] shipping a large quantity of lettuce from that section, which is as fine as was ever grown in Florida. The lettuce industry at Evinston is one of the most important in the section.”

Lettuce Farm in Florida, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The melon industry was also booming at the time. In 1909 the Gainesville Sun reported:

“The melon and cantaloupe movement from this part of Florida is now at its highest, for nearly all sections are shipping this fruit with fine results being obtained. It has long since passed simple carloads, and from three to five extra melon trains are run over the A.C.L. from Ocala to this city, while it is about the same ratio over the Seaboard, the greater part of this fruit coming from the Evinston and McIntosh sections.”

In 1905 the Gainesville Sun reported that F. W. Barron from Evinston had sent them a 96 pound melon! He was a postmaster, merchant, and farmer. The paper thanked him for “both the melon and his thoughtfulness.”

Florida cantaloupes, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

For a time Evinston also had a local baseball team. In 1906 the Gainesville Sun reported about a game between Evinston and Oak Hall. It was not the most exciting of games.

“Those who attended baseball at the park Thursday afternoon between the Oak Hall and Evinston teams expected to witness something exciting, but the contest was so one-sided that before the game was half over all interest was lost, and the spectators began munching peanuts, drinking lemonade and talking over the current events of the day, some even taking out their papers and glancing over the news. The Oak Halls found an easy thing, but the visitors did the best they could under the circumstances. The score was 11 to 3 in favor of Gainesville.” 

In 1886 the Mt. Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church was established. The church held camp meetings for 2 weeks each year. They were so popular that the railroad would run excursions out to Evinston. The old wooden church was replaced by the current sanctuary in 1973.

The congregation of Evinston United Methodist Church began meeting in the 1890s in members’ homes and the one-room schoolhouse. Members would also somtimes go to a service in McIntosh and then back to Evinston for Sunday School class. The church builidng was constructed in 1909 and the laying of the cornerstone was covered by the Gainesville Daily Sun. It was a circuit church with Micanopy, McIntosh, and Shiloh. The Evinston church met on the third Sunday of each month. It wasn’t until the 1990s that they hired their first full-time pastor, Reverend Don Legler.

Evinston United Methodist Church, courtesy of the Evinston UMC

The railroad service to Evinston was discontinued in 1956 and the tracks were pulled up in the 1980s. Today Evinston is still a beautiful, small town and is home to the famous Wood & Swink Store. It was constructed in 1882 and became a general store around 1900. The store and post office changes owners multiple times until the Wood family bought it in 1906. It became the Wood & Swink in 1933 when Frederick Wood and his brother-in-law, Paul Swink, became co-owners. The Wood family continue to operate it and in 1989 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can still visit it today!

The Wood & Swink Store and Post Office, courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida

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Island Grove, Florida

By Joanna Grey Talbot

A few minutes down the road from Cross Creek at the intersection of Highway 301 and County Road 325 is another small town with a fascinating history.

Island Grove was established in the early 1880s and its post office was opened on February 17, 1884. The town had a school house, two churches, a grocer, and a railroad stop. By the 1890s the town grew to 400 residents.

The town’s two main industries were citrus and fishing. A large citrus packing house operated in Island Grove and produced 10,000 crates of oranges a season at its height. Until the devastating freezes of the late 1890s the town remained a shipping center for oranges and vegetables.

Alfred E. Warden in an Island Grove okra patch, courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida

Fisherman pulled their stock from the nearby Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake. In 1892 the company of Weeks & Lambeth built a moss factory and ginned 20 bales a day. Spanish moss was used for a variety of products, including stuffing mattresses.

A celery field in Island Grove, 1940s, courtesy of the University of Florida Archives, Special Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries

According to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) records, Island Grove Baptist was constituted and opened its first building in 1902. The congregation met every third Sunday until they found a permanent pastor. Reverend Ben York was appointed the first pastor and he served from 1902-1904. In the 1930s when the WPA recorded this information the congregation at that time totaled 85.

The Island Grove Masonic Lodge No. 25 was founded in 1924 but today is inactive.

The Service Station, owned by E. F. Partee, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

Island Grove’s historic cemetery, Antioch Cemetery, held it’s first burial on July 4, 1871, for an infant from the Vandlandingham family, according to the Alachua County Virtual Cemetery Project. The cemetery is also the final resting place of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her husband, Norton Baskins. If you visit her grave today you can easily find it by looking for the fake deer that rest next to her tombstone, an homage to her novel The Yearling, and the collection of pens and pencils.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings headstone, 2012, courtesy of Joanna Grey Talbot

Today Island Grove is most well known for the Island Grove Wine Company, which opened in 2010 and specializes in fruit wines (blueberry, blackberry, peach, apple, and more). Their tasting room is located at the intersection of Highway 301 and County Road 325. The town also hosts the Island Grove Blueberry Festival, which started in 2007. Its held annually in the spring.

Island Grove may be another town that if you blink you’ll miss it but if you slow down you just might find a treasure.

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Cross Creek, Florida

By Joanna Grey Talbot

Located on an isthmus between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake, bisected by mile-long Cross Creek, is the beautiful town of Cross Creek, Florida.

Orange Lake postcard, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The area was settled sometime in the 1800s and its main industries were fishing, citrus culture, and farming. During the 1880s 10-20 barrels of fish were shipped out of Lochloosa Lake every day.

According to historian Jess Davis, from 1880-1892 Captain A. K. Wade operated a steam boat on both lakes. He carried oranges and cargo and rented out his boat for social events. The boat was 60 feet long and just squeezed through the narrow Creek. It had two decks – lower for cargo, upper for passengers and it  churned up the water so badly when it passed through the Creek that all the fish would come to the surface. 

Cross Creek - May 16, 1947,  courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida

In 1928 Cross Creek’s most famous resident moved in. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her husband, Charles, bought a 72-acre orange grove that included a cracker-style farm house. Only a handful of families lived in Cross Creek at the time but Marjorie fell in love with the rural Florida landscape and decided to write her novels there. She wrote and published classics such as South Moon Under, Cross Creek, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Yearling while running her farm and getting to know her neighbors.  Rawlings once wrote, “After long years of spiritual homelessness, of nostalgia, here is that mystic loveliness of childhood again. Here is home.”

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home in Cross Creek - 2011, courtesy of Joanna Grey Talbot

Although she would eventually move to Crescent Beach, the people and natural beauty of Cross Creek would always have her heart. The home was bequeathed to the University of Florida Foundation on her death in 1953 and today operates as a Florida State Park. Rawlings is buried with her second husband, Norton Baskins, in the Antioch Cemetery in nearby Island Grove. 

Cross Creek - 1967, courtesy of the State Archives and Library of Florida

Cross Creek remained a rural town well into the 20th century. Electricity was delivered to the town in 1948 and the first paved road was constructed around the same time. In 1952 another Cross Creek landmark opened - the Yearling Restaurant. It still operates today and serves the best sour orange pie I have ever tasted!

The Yearling Restaurant, courtesy of the University of Florida Digital Collections

If you have never visited Cross Creek then it is an absolute must. Take a tour of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, enjoy lunch at the Yearling Restaurant, and take in the natural beauty of the Creek. 

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings-historic-state-park

https://www.yearlingrestaurant.net/

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Town of LaCrosse

Located north of Gainesville along State Road 121 is another one of Alachua County’s unique small towns.

Although settlers were in the area as early as the 1840s, LaCrosse did not establish a post office until April 22, 1881. It was located in the mercantile owned by local businessman and cotton buyer John Eli Futch. No one knows for sure how the town received its name but the state historical marker says it was either Mrs. Futch or Henry Clay Parker, the son of one of the first settlers .

There were schools for both black and white children, multiple churches, a wheelwright and blacksmith, multiple stores, two cotton gins, dentist, hotel, grist mill, and packing sheds.

In 1883 Carl Webber published his Eden of the South book about Alachua County but yet he left out LaCrosse. This left the citizens very angry. The town may not have been incorporated until December 17, 1897, but there was already a thriving community there in 1883. Something that may have affected Mr. Webber’s choice to leave out the town was that the purpose of his book was to give tourists a glimpse of the beauty to be seen in the county but LaCrosse wasn’t reachable by train until the 1890s.

LaCrosse Baptist Church organized in 1883, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

LaCrosse was largely dependent on the agriculture industry – cotton, potatoes, naval stores, moss, vegetables, and tung trees. According to the Florida Cooperative Extension Agency Bulletin from June 1923, the LaCrosse Potato Growers’ Association was founded that year by 15 members who were growing 150 acres.

LaCrosse Potato Grower’s Association, 1927 or 1928, courtesy of the Town of LaCrosse

Unfortunately, the boll weevil blight put an end to the cotton industry in the area during the 1920s. Farmers continued to harvest and ship beans, peppers, squash, cucumber, potatoes, and more.

Man standing in a field of velvet beans in LaCrosse, August 23, 1932, courtesy of the State Archives and Library of Florida

In the 1930s over 100,000 tung trees were planted in LaCrosse and Newberry. The tung industry became so important in Alachua County that it was celebrated by parades and festivals. The tung oil tree is native to China, hence the Chinese motif. The development of synthetic products during World War II and late spring frosts in the 1950s ended the industry in the area.

Tung oil parade in downtown Gainesville in the 1930s, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

Today LaCrosse is a rural community with its own fire department, post office, and local businesses. The area is still largely agricultural and specializes in potatoes, vegetables, tobacco, and corn. It is also home to the Florida Citrus Repository, a 20,000-square-foot facility built by the Florida Department of Agriculture in 2014 to help in the fight against citrus greening. 

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Rochelle, Florida

By Joanna Grey Talbot

A few minutes south of Windsor is a forgotten town that has many stories to tell. The former town of Rochelle is located at the crossroads of County Roads 234 and 2082.

Like Windsor, the area was first settled by farmers and plantation owners in the 1840s. Madison Starke Perry, who would go on to serve as governor of Florida, owned 3,000 acres in what was first known as Perry Junction. He had moved from South Carolina in 1847 to start a cotton plantation. Governor Perry died in 1865 and is buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Rochelle, the second oldest cemetery in the county. He had donated the land for the cemetery in 1854. The oldest section is furthest from the entrance because the road used to pass on the east side. The present entrance area served as a burying ground for African American residents.

In 1881 the town was renamed Gruelle in honor of N.R. Gruelle, the original surveyor of the Florida Southern Railroad. The next year the railroad line from Palatka to Ocala was constructed with a stop in Rochelle, ensuring the town’s growth for the foreseeable future. Later the town would also be on the main line of the Plant Railroad System between Jacksonville and St. Petersburg.

1883 Map of Alachua County showing the town of Gruelle, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

Due to the railroad and the thriving citrus and farming industries, the town began to grow and on March 22, 1884, a post office was established there. On August 11, 1884, the town was renamed in honor of Mrs. Perry’s family, the Rochelles.

By the 1880s the town population was approximately 175. It was described by Carl Webber in Eden of the South (1883) as “a thriving little town, about 10 miles from Gainesville. [It] has a hotel, two or three stores, a saw-mill, an express-office, etc. It is surrounded by some of the most prolific vegetable farms in this section. It is quite near Newnan’s Lake.”

In 1885 Sallie Perry, daughter of Madison and Martha Perry, donated the land for a new school for the local white children. It was named in honor of her mother – the Martha Perry Institute. The building was two stories with two classrooms on the first floor and the music room, balcony, and bell tower on the second floor. The school’s first teacher was Clem Hampton of Georgia and there were 32 students enrolled during its first year.  The Institute building served as a school until 1935. The building still stands, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. This year it was named as one of the “11 to Save” by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation along with the Trinity Methodist Church (built 1890).

Martha Perry Institute building, undated, courtesy of the Alachua County Library District Heritage Collection

African American students met in a former church, which was described as “very poor and unimproved with stove or chimney, though the trustees promise a stove soon.” In 1885 there were 37 students enrolled and the teacher was Frank J. Story.

The Croxton family Christmas celebration in Rochelle, 1892, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Unfortunately, the great freeze of 1894-95 decimated the citrus industry and precipitated the beginning of the end for Rochelle. The citrus industry moved further south but the farming industry continued. In 1914 an article in the Gainesville Sun discussed the town’s farmers who had “already shipped eight railroad cars of beans. Other crops planted and expected to begin shipping soon were watermelons, cantaloupes, sugar, corn, tomatoes, squash, and seven acres of cotton.”

Program for the Martha Perry Institute’s production of the operetta Lilly Bell on April 14, 1896, courtesy of the Alachua County Clerk of Court Ancient Records

Students of the Martha Perry Institute, 1901, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

By the 1940s the population declined significantly with the continued growth of Gainesville. Postal service was moved to Gainesville in 1945. Although there is no longer a visible town center, a small population still lives in the area today.

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The WPA Guide to Florida

By Joanna Grey Talbot

The future of America and much of the world was completely altered by the U.S. stock market crash in October of 1929. Although not the sole cause, it was one of the major catalysts for the Great Depression. From 1929 to 1939 over half of the country’s banks failed and unemployment reached an all-time high.

One of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s solutions to accelerate the country’s recovery was to institute his New Deal policies, which was a series of programs, public works projects, financial reforms and regulations. One such program was the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) under the direction of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The FWP was established on July 27, 1935, and was one of many projects created to support the arts and provide jobs for unemployed librarians, clerks, researchers, editors, historians, writers, and others.

The two major projects of the FWP were the American Guide Series, guides to the then 48 states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the Alaska Territory, and the Slave Narrative Collection, which contained over 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery.

The cover of the 1984 reprint

The American Guide Series gives today’s readers a unique look into the U.S. of the 1930s. Florida’s guide was published in 1939 just as the country was beginning to come out of the Great Depression and a world war was on the horizon. Each guide contains a state’s history, geography, and culture, and includes photographs, maps, drawings, and detailed driving tours.

The WPA Guide to Florida opens with a foreword by then president of the University of Florida, John J. Tigert. He reminds readers that “four centuries of varying culture under five flags may be noted as one is guided, through the pages of this book, from quaint old St. Augustine to metropolitan Miami, or from the exclusiveness of ante bellum Tallahassee to the exclusiveness of modern Palm Beach.”

The section on general information covers all forms of transportation available, fishing laws, hunting laws, climate, information for the motorist, and general rules of the road. According to the guide “the first rule of Florida road is for the motorist to exercise caution when approaching livestock, particularly cattle, which roam most of the State’s principal highways.” This fits with President Tigert’s description of Florida as the “last American frontier.”

Postcard courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The best part of the General Information section, though, is the “Caution to Tourists: Do not enter bushes at sides of highway in rural districts; snakes and redbugs easily infest such places. Do not eat tung nuts; they are poisonous. Do not eat green pecans; in the immature stages the skins have a white film containing arsenic.” Yikes! They forgot to warn tourists that if there is a body of water always assume there are alligators in residence there.

Postcard courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

The majority of The WPA Guide to Florida consists of driving tours. Each tour lists road conditions, history of the area, industries, flora and fauna, and interesting places to visit. Alachua County is a part of Tour 3 from Fernandina to Cedar Key along State Road 13, which is today’s Highway 301 and 24.

Except for a stretch between Callahan and Baldwin, the route is a “hard-surfaced roadbed.” Between Yulee and Callahan the road “is flanked with drooping willows, wild hibiscus in brilliant scarlet bloom, and elderberry bushes, white with blossom in spring, heavy with purple fruit in the late summer.”

You arrive in Gainesville (population 10,465) after passing through the Austin Cary Memorial Forest, which was planted by the Society of American Foresters in memory of Dr. Austin Cary, and Tung Acres, one of several large groves of tung trees in the region.

“For nine months of the year [Gainesville] is a typical college town,” as it is home to the University of Florida. Downtown centers around the red brick courthouse and the fact that trains still travel down Main Street shows its link to Florida’s “pioneer railroad history.”

Postcard courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The African American settlements, which we now know as the Pleasant Street and Porter’s Quarters neighborhoods, are given a paragraph. These neighborhoods have their own businesses, churches, and schools. The majority of the residents are employed in domestic service or nearby lumber and turpentine camps.

Postcard courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The majority of the Gainesville section focuses on the University of Florida, though. At the time it was a 200-acre campus and the gala event of the year was Homecoming Day. The Florida Union Building was one of many WPA projects in the area. It was began under the Federal Emergency Recovery Administration (FERA) and completed by workers of the WPA. Another WPA project was the running track and grandstand at UF.

Construction of the Florida Union Building, April 4, 1935, Image courtesy of the State Archives and Library of Florida

WPA constructed running track and grandstand at UF, April 4, 1935, Image courtesy of they State Archives and Library of Florida

After passing through Gainesville the paved road becomes “narrow, rough, and hilly.” Travelers pass through Arredondo (population 100); Archer (population 576), which relies mainly on agriculture but also has a grist mill and foundry; Bronson (population 694); and Otter Creek (population 989), which manufactures hardwood slats for fruit crates. Between Bronson and Otter Creek is an “an area that serves as a range for isolated herds of semi-wild cattle and hogs.”

The tour and the road ends at the Cedar Keys (population 1,066). Prior to the mid-1880s Cedar Key was a prosperous port and railroad terminal complete with a U.S. customs house and weather bureau. With the completion of the railroad to Tampa in 1884 signaled the end to Cedar Key’s prosperity. In the 1930s the main sources of income are commercial fishing, oysters and sponges, and a factory manufacturing brushes from palmetto fibers.

Image courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Although they reflect the attitudes and perceptions of the time, the American Guide Series is an important window into the U.S. of the 1930s. If you ever get the chance, spend some time reading through one and see what you discover!

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Windsor, Florida

Located at the crossroads of County Roads 234 and 1474 in Alachua County is a beautiful town full of forgotten stories and names but one that is still full of life.

Timucuans and Seminoles lived in the area long before settlers arrived. Nearby Lake Pithlachocco, “Place of Long Boats,” is the final resting place of over 100 prehistoric canoes. They were discovered in 2000 when the lake’s water level had dropped during a dry season. In order to preserve them, the canoes were left buried in the lake bed.

During the War of 1812 Colonel Daniel Newnans and Georgia militia lead a raid in the area in an attempt to annex Florida. They clashed with Seminoles, including King Payne, and several on both sides were killed. King Payne received a mortal wound and died days later. Colonel Newnan and the militia built earthworks and sent for reinforcements. Many of the soldiers became sick, though, and after seven days they headed back north.

In 1844 John Bush began proceedings to acquire a 4,000 acre tract from the Arredondo Grant. Two years later the area was named Windsor by English cotton planters. Some of the earliest settlers were John Phifer and E. L. King, both slaveowners. Soon citrus culture would bring new settlers and change Windsor’s future.

Image courtesy of the University of Florida Digital Collections

The post office was established in 1884 with a population less than 100. In 1887 the population mushroomed to over 400. By the 1890s Windsor was supporting a doctor, one-room schoolhouse, three stores, real estate office, grist mill, two sawmills, a hotel, and factories producing boxes, cedar baskets, and fertilizers. A stage coach line between Windsor and Rochelle delivered people to the nearest railroad line. Captain Kelly’s ferry service took passengers and freight back and forth across Newnan’s Lake (Lake Pithlachocco) to nearby Gainesville.

Home of real estate agent P. M. Porcher, courtesy of the State Library & Archives of Florida

Image courtesy of the Alachua County Clerk of the Court Ancient Records

Two things occurred that caused the town to decline by the turn of the century. First, the area’s orange groves were devastated by freezes. After the big freezes of 1895 and 1896 many residents left. The ones that stayed behind replanted many of their groves but after the freeze of 1898 gave up as well. Second, Windsor residents had hoped to entice David Yulee’s railroad and the East Florida Seminary to move there. Unfortunately, both went to Gainesville, ensuring that town’s future.

In 1936 Windsor’s post office was closed and the area became a rural route of Gainesville. The population had shrunk by this point but thankfully people saw the importance of preserving many of Windsor’s buildings. The first home to be restored was the George Byles place at 12633 SE 3rd Place by Dr. and Mrs. McPherson in 1952. Soon many followed, including one of the original Windsor stores at 309 SE CR 234, which is now a private residence. Today there is a gorgeous stretch of restored homes, many in the Victorian style, along CR 234.

Another important building still standing in Windsor is the Providence United Methodist Church. It was established by Reverend Edward Lawrence King, one of the town’s earliest settlers, in 1855 in a log church near the present site. The historic graveyard has graves dating from 1855. The current building at 13705 E. CR 1474 was constructed about 1884. The simple, white frame building is elegant in its simplicity and is still home to an active congregation today.

Providence United Methodist Church, images courtesy of Leah Forster

Windsor is well worth a visit - stroll through the historic cemetery and drive by the beautifully, restored homes amidst the Florida countryside. Each May Windsor comes to life with the Zucchini Festival, which supports the local volunteer fire department. Don’t miss it!

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Campville, Florida

By Joanna Grey Talbot

Throughout history towns and villages that were once bustling with activity are now a shell of their former existence or have disappeared altogether. They can vanish for a variety of reasons but one of the purposes of a history museum is to ensure that their memory lives on.

Today the town of Campville is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida. Most people only know it as a green location sign near the intersection of Highway 301 and County Road 1474. Yet, from the 1880s to the 1960s it was a different story.

Founded in 1880, it was originally named Santa Fe because of the nearby lake of the same name. The name was changed to Campville when the post office was established on September 12, 1881. At that time there was a store, school, church, sawmill, and about 20 residences. In Carl Webber’s Eden of the South, published in 1883, he described Campville as having “a wonderful spirit of enterprise.”

Why call it Campville? It was named for the three Camp brothers who moved to the area from Virginia in 1880 and 1881 and became the major land owners and opened a variety of businesses. They owned a sawmill, general store, orange groves, and interest in a nursery. Between the three of them they also owned 4,000 acres but agreed to sell some of it as lots in the town as long as liquor was not sold within the town limits.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin Camp (Frank) was the first to move to Florida in 1880 for his health. His enthusiasm for Florida’s potential encouraged his brothers Paul and Robert to travel there by train and see it for themselves. Coming from a lumber and paper manufacturing family, they saw the promise of Florida’s natural resources. Eventually their brothers William and John and sister Jenny Norfleet would also move to Florida, although not everyone stayed.

John and Robert joined forces with Frank in 1888 to form the firm of R. J. Camp and Brothers. According to Frank, they split up the duties as followed: John - logging, Robert - general store and sawmill, Frank - orange groves. Prior to this Frank had also founded a brick kiln in Campville in 1885. According to him there was no brick kiln in Florida before he began his business. Over the next forty years the Campville Brick Company would make an average of four million bricks a year. At its height it would ship three carloads of bricks a day. 

Campville Brick Company, 1914, courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida.

A receipt from R. J. Camp & Bros., courtesy of the Alachua County Clerk of the Court Ancient Records

Robert moved back to their hometown of Franklin, Virginia, within a few years but stayed invested in the Florida ventures until his death in 1915. John died of alcoholism in 1899 while operating the company store in Campville.

The only visual piece of Camp history in Campville is the Camp-Tillman house, which Frank built in 1880. Located at 1512 NE 191st Terrace, its beautiful architecture includes two-story verandas on the front and back and a bay window on the north side. The last occupants were the Tillman family who bought it in 1938 and upgraded it with electricity and indoor plumbing. It was last sold in 1983 after Mrs. Tillman’s death and sadly sits empty today.

The Camp-Tillman House - undated, courtesy of the Southampton County Historical Society.

In 1896 Frank moved his family to White Springs, Florida. His businesses had suffered as a result of a fire at the sawmill and the Great Freeze of 1895-96. In White Springs he started another sawmill and built a short-line railroad to join the Seaboard line at Welborn. In 1898 he helped build the White Springs Baptist Church. He was involved in a variety of businesses but after the Panic of 1907 he never fully recovered financially. He died in White Springs in 1927.

Another building from Campville’s early days is the Orange Creek Methodist Church located at the corner of County Road 1474 and SE County Road 219A. It was founded in 1869 and its current white, frame building was built in 1900.

Orange Creek Methodist Church, courtesy of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

After the Camp brothers left, Campville continued to flourish with lumber and turpentine and a variety of crops that replaced the citrus groves. For example, according to the Lakeland Evening Telegram, in 1919 there were 120 acres of cantaloupes with an estimated yield of 30 train car loads. Another long-running business was the Dyess store, which opened in 1900 and doubled as the post office. It closed in 1971. The brick factory shut down in 1940. In 1966 the post office was moved to Hawthorne and Campville became a sleepy street of a few homes.

For further reading on the Camp family check out “The Timber Tycoons: The Camp Families of Virginia and Florida and Their Empire 1887-1987″ by Parke Rouse Jr., published by the Southampton County Historical Society (1988).

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The Thomas Family

William Reuben Thomas was born on May 24, 1866, in Gainesville to Dr. Gabriel Thomas and Omerea Fraser Thomas. Dr. and Mrs. Thomas had moved to Gainesville in the 1850s and he opened the city’s first drug store. In 1866 he established a medical practice with Dr. James McKinstry. Dr. Thomas passed away in 1890, leaving behind his widow, one daughter, and three sons.

William Reuben Thomas, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum

Kathryn Kraus Thomas, courtesy of the Thomas Center Associates

After attending the East Florida Seminary; the State Normal School at Bowling Green, Kentucky; Peabody College; and Vanderbilt University he returned to Florida. After his graduation in 1888 he became the principal of Fort Meade High School. He returned home to Gainesville in 1890 and became the chair of languages at East Florida Seminary. It was during this time that he gained the rank of Major and many people would continue to refer to him as Major Thomas. In 1892 he became the principal of the Gainesville Graded School and then the Gainesville High School.

He ended his career in education in 1894, at the age of 28 and went into business and politics. Thomas was elected as senator for the 32nd District of the Florida Legislature in 1895 and served for four years. He married Kathryn Kraus of Brunswick, Georgia, on January 21, 1896, and turned his attention to local government a couple years later. In 1910 he purchased and completed the Sunkist Villa in northeast Gainesville for their home.

The five Thomas children, ca 1910: William, Jr., Clarence, Phillip, John, and Margaret, courtesy of the Thomas Center Associates

After two years as alderman he was elected Mayor of Gainesville in 1901 and served in that role until 1907. He oversaw the enactment of prohibition and the construction of the Florida Winter Bible Conference Tabernacle. Yet, he was most well known for his role in campaigning for the University of Florida to come to Gainesville. He led the delegation that lobbied in Tallahassee and changed Gainesville forever.

William’s first business enterprise was a livery and livestock company but with the dawn of the automobile he decided to diversify. He founded the Gainesville Furniture Company and assumed an interest in the Dutton Bank. In 1907 at Dutton’s retirement Thomas sold his livery business, bought the bank, became president, and reorganized it under a state charter. 

The same year he opened the White House Hotel in the renovated girls’ dormitory from the former East Florida Seminary. By 1911 he was the owner of or investor in the Dutton Bank, the Wilson Company, Gainesville Furniture Company, W. R. Thomas Real Estate Company, and the White House Hotel. Always with his pulse on the tourism industry, he founded Gainesville’s Tin Can Tourist Camp after World War I. Yet, Gainesville still lacked a resort hotel. In the late 1920s he decided to construct the Hotel Thomas, which would be built attached to his home, the 15,000-square-foot Sunkist Villa. It opened on January 10, 1928, and Governor John Martin attended. The Hotel Thomas operated for 40 years, hosting famous visitors such as Helen Keller and Robert Frost. Its landscaped grounds, garden parties, dances, and restaurant attracted many visitors, local and out-of-town. 

Major Thomas and two of his grandchildren sitting in front of the hotel - 1941, courtesy of the Thomas Center Associates

Major Thomas died on September 10, 1943, and left behind his wife and five children. Kathryn died in 1948, although she had spent most of the previous 30 years in and out of a sanitarium because of an inoperable brain tumor. William, Jr., was manager of the White House Hotel but died in an automobile accident in 1944. The eldest son, Clarence, took over the management of the family’s assets at this time. The second son, Phillip, moved his family into the former Sunkist Villa and lived there until the hotel’s closing in 1968. John, the fourth son, became a medical doctor and practiced in Gainesville for 13 years. He died in 1948, one month after his mother.

That same year the railroad tracks were moved to 6th Street, making it difficult for guests to arrive by train at the Hotel Thomas. In 1963 Gainesville became “wet” and the hotel opened one of the most popular cocktail lounges, the Cornish Arms. With the building of Interstate 75 and the rise of beach vacations the family decided to sell the hotel. It was closed in 1968 and bought by Myrl J. Hanes, R. A. Hanes, and John M. Steadham. It was leased to Santa Fe College and then fell into disrepair. Thankfully it was saved by Historic Gainesville, Inc., and currently serves as City of Gainesville offices and event space.

For further reading on the Thomas Center be sure to check out “The Thomas Center: Illustrated History & Guide” by Rie Burton and Sam Gowan.

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1867 Matheson House

This year our beloved historic home turns 150 years old! What history it has witnessed during that time. We are forever grateful to its last owner, Sarah Hamilton Matheson, for bequeathing it to the Matheson History Museum in 1996 and ensuring its preservation for generations to come. 

Postcard courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The land, 10 acres at the time, on which the historic 1867 Matheson House resides was originally bought by Alexander Matheson in 1857 for $225 from Major James Bailey. Alexander and his wife, Harriet, moved to Florida during this time with their household goods and a number of enslaved laborers. Their fifth child was due in 1861 so Harriet traveled to her parents’ home in Liberty Hill, South Carolina, to give birth. After the Civil War began Alexander also returned to South Carolina, never to come back to Florida. He seems to have let his mortgage payments lapse so the land was sold at auction to Tillman Ingram.

James Douglas Matheson, Alexander’s brother, moved to Gainesville after the war ended and began working as a clerk in his uncle Edward Haile’s firm, Savage & Haile. He bought his brother’s former land from Ingram and began building a home. In 1867 he married Augusta Florida Steele from Cedar Key and brought her to live in the home he had built for her. There may have been a home standing before 1867 but researchers have yet to come across any descriptions so we have to assume it was built in 1867.

James Douglas Matheson, image courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collections

The home was located just east of Sweetwater Branch and was bordered by Alachua Avenue (University Avenue today) to the north and Union Street (SE 1st Avenue today) to the south. The property included orange trees and two outbuildings. Raised on brick piers, the house was built of heart pine and faced west. The house is covered in horizontal, overlapping pine boards and the windows are double-hung with two-above-two panes.  A detail that harkens back to James’s hometown of Camden, South Carolina, are the six freestanding square columns that reach from roof to ground, supporting the front porch’s roof. His father’s home, as well as many others in Camden, featured this type of front porch.

In 1906 the Mathesons decided to enlarge and renovate the house. According to Augusta Matheson’s diary the work was finished on March 23, 1907. The second floor was enlarged by raising the roof and turning it into a gambrel roof. Cypress shingles were used to cover the roof. A gambrel roof is a symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is at a shallow angle and the lower slope is at a steep angle. Six dormer windows, three on each side, were added to the second story. The kitchen had been separate from the house but now it was attached. The back porch was enlarged and a one-room addition was added to the south side.

Augusta Florida Steele Matheson on the front steps of the Matheson House sometime after the 1906 renovations. Image courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection.

The interior of the home then and today features a wide hall from front to back and thirteen foot ceilings, which allows for air to flow through and cool the house. The flooring is made of pine boards throughout the house. Three fireplaces warmed the house in winter, but the chimney on the south side is purely ornamental, balancing the working one on the north side. Rooms include a parlor, dining room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom added later. In the 1920s the kitchen was enlarged and remodeled and the rear porch was enclosed.

After James and Augusta passed away their son, Christopher, inherited the house. He lived in it until he felt called to take a pastorage in Oklahoma. He did not return permanently for twenty years and in the meantime he rented out the house to a succession of people. During this time he met Sarah Hamilton and they were married in 1933. In 1945 due to health reasons Chris retired and they moved back to Gainesville to live in the family home. The house had fallen into some disrepair so they had it renovated. They added two bathrooms, finally finished the upstairs bedrooms, and updated the kitchen. 

Chris passed way in 1952 and Sarah continued to live in the house until her death in 1996. Her tireless involvement in the Gainesville community included being a founding member of the Alachua County Historical Society. It is through this organization, the pre-cursor to the Matheson History Museum, that she bequeathed the house to the museum to be enjoyed by generations to come.

Sarah Hamilton Matheson on the front porch of the Matheson House - 1976, image courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collections

The Matheson History Museum is indebted to former board member, Murray Laurie, for her tireless efforts in researching the Matheson family and the history of the historic home. You can read about her findings in her book, “The Matheson House of Gainesville, Florida - Sheltering the Past.”