1885 - A. L. Stuckey

1885 - J. W. Payne

   In approximately 1885, J. W. Payne, the man responsible for naming Mascotte, laid claim to several thousand acres of wilderness throughout the area of modern day Mascotte and Groveland, forming Payne Enterprise. Payne's primary economic interest was the harvesting for turpentine and timber from the vast pine forests in the area. Both of these ventures proved to be extremely lucrative and there was soon a need for more laborers.
   He brought in Negro laborers who were beginning to migrate from Georgia seeking employment opportunities. Payne began to develop property near the settlement of Mascotte, where he constructed one or two room shanties for the Negros.

1886 - Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church

   These early Negro settlers may have been poor, but they were rich in faith and beleived that "the Lord would see them through".
   This group of early settlers who became members of Mount olive Church were:
      John Baldwin
      Albert Blue
      Israel Gadsen
      Ike Hart
      Ben Maxwell

   While they could remedy their wealth through hard work, they needed a place to build up their spirit.
   Around 1886, at the settlers request for a place to worship, Payne donated a one room shanty that was located, on the south side of today's HWY 50, across from the Cemetary on the Hill. The settlers continued to worship in this small structure for almost five years under the leadership of Rev. B. J. Chasen, J. L. Stephens, and Arch Harris
   In March of 1891, the three men formally chartered the congregation, which was established as Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church.
   Rev. B. J. Chasen was the first pastor.
   The early pioneers of the congregation included:
      Mr. and Mrs. Butch Griffin and their children: Bubba Son, Wilbert and Ms. Griffin
      Mr. Billy Allen with his three sons and two daughters
      Mr. Mark McGill
      Mr. John Spaulding

A. L. Stuckey

   A. L. Stuckey, a wealthy merchant from Dade City, purchased some of Payne's land holdings (a portion of which were now owned by the Taylor brothers) and named the village Stuckey, to honor himself.
   To those who grew up in this area, the community was known as "Stuckey's Still", because of the turpentine stills that were built throughout the area.

1910 - More About Mount Olive Church

   In 1910, the Mount Olive Church moved further west into Stuckey. The first site chosen was the lot where the home of Mrs. Tamara Mobley currently stands.

   In this same year, John Spaulding announced his calling to the gospel ministry. In order to further his education, he left for New Jersey where he became the first "Stuckian" to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree. He soon entered Seminary and received a degree in theology. In 1926, Spaulding returned to Florida to pastor five different churches over the years. He later served as District Missionary until his death.

   In 1928, Mount Olive Church moved to its present location.

   Other Mount Olive pastors:
      Rev. F. J. R. Brown
      Crawford
      William Jackson
      C. B. Buggs
      C. C. Carter
      C. B. Buggs (2nd term)
      M. J. Brown (son of F. J. R. Brown)
      Jackson
      R. Montgomery
      Roscoe Godwin
      Rev. Noel Scott

   Rev. Dr. Clarence Southall - Rev. Southall began his ministry at Mount Olive Church in 2001 and continued as pastor there until his passing in December of 2019.
   Clarence served in the Army and as a Sergeant in the National Guard.

Rev. Southall with his wife Linda (Avant), daughters Iva and Stacy, and grandson Christian.

   Rev. Southall often stressed the importance of education. He led by example, having received a Doctorate degree in Theology.

   "God has continued to bless this house under Reverend Dr. Clarence Southall's leadership.
   "Rev. Southall has identified the need for various outreach ministries and is calling upon his congregation to reach out to the unsaved and needy of this community and the surrounding areas."

Over the years, not much has changed at Mount Olive Church. The church is one of the last in the area to continue a legacy of traditional styled sermons and hear songs straight out of the old time hymnals.

1915 - First Black School

   The first school for Blacks in Stuckey was founded in 1915.
   Professor Samuel H. Newsom served as the first teacher.
   Parents were required to pay fifty cents per month for each child as an attendence fee.
   The school term lasted for three months.
   In 1920, Lake County began to pay for the public schooling of the Black students.
   Ms. Annie Surrency was the first public school teacher.
   Succeeding Ms. Surrency were:
   1921 - Ms. Emma Pettigrew
   1922 - Ms. Phillister Robinson
   1923 - Ms. Phillister Robinson and Ms. Mary - The school term was extended to six months.
   1924 - Mrs. Eliza Williams and Ms. Cecilia Pierce
   1925 - Ms. Cecilia Pierce
   1928 - Ms. Arletha James

1919 - E. E. Edge Opens Way for Black Land Owners

   In 1919, E. E. Edge purchased the lands of A. L. Stuckey, among others, in the settlement.
   In 1924, Edge had an unoccupied portion of this area surveyed and subdivided into lots.
   These lots were offered to the local Black family's for purchase. They now had the opportunity to become land owners.

Other Early Families

   Bully Allen
   Taylor and Pauline Bradshaw
   Will and Anna Bronson
   James "Big Jim" and Isabella Brown
   James and Mahalia Bunn
   Will and Nellie Crawford
   Mack and Amanda Durant
   Butch Griffin
   Elliott and Mary Ann Hodges
   Ellis and Mattie "Tiny" Horn
   Henry and Neller Johnson
   Rev. Elijah and Minnie Jones
   Jessie and Frances Jones
   Ivory and Annie "Babe" Kinslow
   Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lee
   Alex and Hattie Linzy (after Hattie passed away Alex married Georgianna Maxwell)
   Ben and Alzda Maxwell
   Mark McGill
   Bruce and Georgianna McKinnon
   Siplins, Mose Cornelious and Isaiah
   John Spaulding
   Mr. and Mrs. Green Stafford
   Mr. and Mrs. Zack Strong
   Henry and Cora Taylor

[Contributors: Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1885-1889 - The Orange Belt Railway Comes to Towns

1885-1889 - The Orange Belt Railway Comes to Towns

Petrovitch Demenscheff

   In 1850, Petrovitch Demenscheff, was born in Russia, to Russian nobility.

   Being an outspoken anti-Marxist, he was exiled and immigrated to America in either 1880 or 1881. He sailed to New York with $3,000 and an English language textbook.
   Upon landing in New York, he anglicized his name to Peter Demens and left straight for his cousin's orange grove in Jacksonville, Florida. With the land there being too expensive, he traveled further along to Longwood.

1885-1887 - Peter Demens Takes Over the Orange Belt Railway

   In 1885, having received training, in Russia, as a forester managing his large family estates, Demens began a business supplying railroad ties to the construction of the Orange Belt Railway.
   The Orange Belt Railway was being built to connect the citrus groves in Sanford to the ports near what would become St. Petersburg. This was during the era when Florida's frontier was beginning to see the arrival of the three-foot narrow gauge railroads.

1886 - Rail Lines in Sumter (Lake) County prior to the Orange Belt Railway. Notice the closest place names to the Groveland area were Millford (later Villa City) and Empire.

   Demens became owner of the Orange Belt Railway System when the previous owners fell into dept and could not pay him the money they owed him. Under Peter's ownership, the rail lines were extended to connect Jacksonville and Kissimmee to Tampa.
   The Orange Belt Railway began in Sanford and, by 1887, came through the area that would become Taylorville.

   The local family of Matthew Sloan recalls how he was paid 25 cents a day for shoveling dirt in order to clear a right of way for the tracks.

   The railway continued on its journey, heading West through Mascotte and Slone Ridge, parallel to today's HWY 50, with its construction ending up in what would become St. Petersburg.
   On June 8, 1888 the first train pulled into the terminus (the end of the line) in southern Pinellas County with one passenger. The area of this train station had no official name and no real streets or sidewalks. Demens drew straws with John Constantine Williams Sr. for naming rights. Demens won and named the location St. Petersburg, Florida, after St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had spent half his youth. Williams had wanted to name it Detroit, which was given to the first hotel in the city.

1888 - The Orange Belt in South Lake

   With its wood burning engine, the trains ran on narrow gauge tracks.
   Small towns began to appear along the railroad, including Taylorville.
   The first train depot in Taylorville was located between today's Billy's Meat Market and the city's Festival Park.
   The arrival of the Sanford & St. Petersburg line of the Orange Belt Railroad brought many more settlers to the Groveland area.

   In 1889, the railway now having put Demens into debt, like the previous owners, he sold the railroad to Henry B. Plant. Plant was also the owner of the city of Mascotte's namesake, the SS Mascotte.

   In 1890, the rail system eventually converted to standard gauge when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line.
   Over time the railroad helped change Groveland into a thriving town.
   The trains hauled out lumber, citrus, watermelons, and farm produce and brought in investors and farmers from the North. Lumber and pine tree sap used to make turpentine for ship building, along with agriculture industries continued to contribute to Groveland's economic growth.

   Writings of the area's old-timers recounts the time of the early railroad:

   "When the train came through, it had a green pine pole for a coupling and at one timehad a barrel for a smoke stack. They would heat by wood and there were a few instances when they stopped the train and the crew got off and cut enough wood to make steam to get to the next wood stack. They used wood two feet long to fire the boilers."
"On one occasion, the train pulled into Mascotte and the engineer was sick. Mr. Rabb, who had come to live in Mascotte in the 1890s, and a retired engineer, got on the train and drove it on to St. Petersburg."

   A few years after the trains came through the area, the railroad company began running excursions to St. Petersburg on Saturday nights, with a return trip on Monday. The price for a ticket was 75 cents for the round trip.

1895 - The Short-Lived "Town" of Varnell

   A man named Jake Varn lived in the area of today's Green Valley Country Club. At some point before 1887, Varn mad a deal with the railroad company that, if he would provide them with 30 feet of right of way, they would build him a depot and make it a regular stop. The area would become known as Varnell. The "town" of Varnell has been found on maps as early as 1895, but having never developed, by 1917, it disappeared from maps along with the depot.

More Train Stops and Depots

   There were many stops along the way from Sanford to St. Petersburg. Several of these were nothing more than a place for the trains to refuel by collecting water and chopping wood for the boilers.
   While some of these would go on to form communities or towns, many simply disappeared around the turn of the century. One such stop was known as Sheridan. It was located on the area of today's Groveland Publix.

   Other stops were located in Taylorville, Mascotte, and Tuscanooga, before reaching the station at Trilby (located north of Dade City). While the map labeled the stop as Tuscanooga, the tracks went through Slone's Ridge, not Tuscanooga. Mr. Robbins recalled that the area of Slone's Ridge was first known as Tuscanooga Hammock. It is believed that this accounts for the discrepency, as it is unknown when exactly the area began to be called Slone's Ridge. He also recalled that the depot in Slone's Ridge was torn down around 1925.

   In 1925, the second depot in Groveland, which remains today by the northwest corner of HWY 50 and HWY 19, was built of brick to replace the earlier smaller depot.

   Around 1930, Mascotte constructed a pass over the railroad, on C.R. North 33.
   Local resident Daisy (Hart) Brown recalled, as a young girl, watching from the schoolyard as the small trucks would have to make a running start, in reverse, just to get to the top of the steep overpass, in order to unload the dirt. The overpass was later leveled.

   The B and W Canning Plant would eventually take over Groveland's Depot and used it as part of their gated entrance, as the main track ran along the front of the factory with other tracks leading to the area for loading the juice and other products that they shipped across the country.

   Eventually, on July 1, 1967, the Atlantic Coastline and the Seaboard Air Line would merge to form the Seaboard Coastline Railroad. In 1971, it would be taken over by Amtrak.

   By 1984, what remained of the train tracks through Groveland and Mascotte had all been removed. However, signs of these tracks can still be seen in some areas today.
   The Mascotte Depot was moved to the Lake County Fair Grounds, where it still stands today.
   The path of the train tracks that ran under the C. R. North 33 overpass became today's Underpass Road. Before recent development in 2021, you could still see remnents of the pit from where they quarried the sand for the overpass.

[Contributors: Daisy Mae Hart, Simon T. Brown Jr., Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1887 - Formation of Lake County

1887 - Formation of Lake County

1887 - Formation of Lake County

   Originally, much of what is now Lake County, including modern Groveland, was part of Sumter County.

   During the mid 1800s, pioneers in covered wagons, began arriving and settling in areas which grew into small communities. The cooperation among the settlers, which was essential in that era, and marriages among families brought western South Lake County together as one big family.
   Families lived off the land, raising their own vegetables, livestock, and cotton. Sugar cane provided sugar and syrup, while wild game and fish were plentiful.
   A trip to Leesburg, by wagon, to barter or buy and sell goods took two days. The travellers would camp overnight at Bug Springs, near Okahumpka.
   In the late 1800s, entrepreneurs began arriving to profit from the turpentine in the long-leaf yellow pine trees which covered the area.
   The railroad, which was built through South Lake County during 1887, from Sanford to St. Petersburg, spurred growth and helped the economy.

1886 - Rail Service Map into Sumter (Lake) County

   The people of Yalaha and Tavares helped to form Lake County in July 27, 1887 from portions of east Sumter and west Orange County.

   The land was named simply "Lake County", because of the 1,400 or more clear pristine lakes that covered many of the 1,156 square miles.

   The first County Seat was Bloomfield. It was a small town located near Yalaha. Bloomfield later became a ghost town, after Tavares became the county seat following 3 elections that included political maneuvering and outright corruption.

   The First County Judge was Dalton Huger Yancey. He was also the First Legislator from Lake County when he was elected State Senator in 1889

   The First Marriage License Issued in Lake County was on December 27, 1887 to Elias Disney and Flora Call, who would become the parents of Walt Disney. It was signed by Judge Yancey.

   In 1889, the courthouse, known as the Pioneer Building was dedicated.

   In 1890, the first census was formed and there were 8,034 people in the county.

   Lake County's First Newspaper was The Leesburg Commercial.

   In 1915, contracts were let for the construction of the first hard surface roads in Lake County.
   Prior to that most transportation was on the waterways with special hybrid steam/paddlewheel boats, on the Orange Belt or other railway, or on horseback or wagon along early wagon trails.

   In 1933, Lake County received its first general hospital, the Lake County Medical Center in Umatilla.

   In 1937, during its 50th anniversary, Lake County became the first Florida County to fly its own flag.

[Contributors: Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown, Richard Helfst]

Next Article: 1887 - Dukes Cemetery

1887 - Dukes Cemetery

1874 - The Daniels and Dukes Families

   George Washington Dukes, who married Sarah Ann Lastinger, arrived to the area in 1874. Their daughter Cassidina married John Wesley Daniels.

   John Daniels and his wife, Cassidina (Dukes) had squatter's rites to property west of Lake David which he sold to E. E. Edge, after Edge's arrival in 1899.
   John and Cassidina, then purchased property on Villa City Road. Old land deeds show both marking an "X" for their signatures.
   When Cassidina's father, George Washington Dukes, died, in 1887, he was buried on the Daniels family property in what is known today as Dukes Cemetery. It is believed that he was the first one buried in the cemetary.
   The nearby Dukes Lake was also named after the Dukes family.

   Daniel Sloan was also buried there in 1888.

   Today's Lake Catherine was originally known as Cemetery Lake, because of its proximity to the Dukes Cemetery.

[Contributors: Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1880s-1940s - A History of Citrus Labels

1880s-1940s - A History of Citrus Labels

1880s - Citrus Labels

   In the 1880s, oranges were being shipped to markets in wooden crates.

Growers began developing their own labels in order to stand out against the other competing groves. Some growers had a label for their fruit even though they did not have a packinghouse. They used their own colorful and unique labels to market their excellent tasting fruit. Those who knew the growers that produced high quality fruit could recognize it by the labels.

The labels continued until shortly after World War II, when metal and wood shortages led to the invention of cardboard shipping boxes with pre-printed names.

The roughly 60 year span, during which the labels were used, created a colorful and creative history of the early marketing of the citrus industry.

For more information, visit the Lake County Citrus Label Tour Website: www.HistoryofLakeCountyCitrus.com or contact John Jackson: jackson71344@yahoo.com (352) 267-3227

[Contributors: John Jackson and Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1880s - Oak Tree Union Cemetery

1880s - Oak Tree Union Cemetery

Cemetery Story Gets Wider Audience
by Susan Pines

What started as an in-house effort to draw attention to an abandoned, historically black cemetery has suddenly gotten a much larger audience.

When Graphic editor Linda Charlton paid a visit to a Clermont city council meeting on March 13, the last thing she expected was that she would trigger televised coverage of the cemetery. She was not there because of the cemetery, which isn't in Clermont anyway. She was there to make a presentation about a death investigation that she has been following. Purely by chance, a television reporter and cameraman was there also, drawn to the council by an unrelated story. The two reporters made each other's acquaintance, and Charlton told the television reporter (Chase Cain from Fox 35 WOFL) of the story of the forgotten black cemetery.

Five days later, Charlton was on camera, giving the Fox crew a tour of the cemetery in the woods. In Charlton's words, "the best thing about the session with the television crew was that we came on two gravestones I had not seen before. One of them is a WWI veteran. The other is a man who, from his date of death and age at death, was most likely born a slave." What a find! That now makes it four World War I vets and unknown number of graves of individuals of men, women and children.

Charlton started this venture four years before the first of the Graphic cemetery stories appeared (published Nov. 4, 2011), when she wrote it about for another publication. That particular publication no longer covers Groveland, and had extremely limited exposure in Groveland. As a result of that story, however, she was asked by a close friend to "do something about the veterans."

Charlton had been told about the cemetery while attempting to find information about a rumored outdoor place of worship south of Groveland called Harmony Hill (or Hominy Hill).

Since Graphic staff visited the cemetery in October of 2011, Charlton has, bit by bit, searched for descendants of the veterans. She made contact with two of the grandchildren of one of the veterans (Joe Green) in January. In the wake of the first television broadcast, additional grandchildren of Joe Green came forward, and their first visit to their grandfather's grave happened on camera two days later. Other people have come forward as well, offering services that in all likelihood will make the concept of a restored cemetery a reality. And if the veterans end up being moved to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell to lie in rest amongst their fellow veterans, their original headstones can still stay in the cemetery in the woods, allow visitors to better connect with their roots.

For this is not about who gets the story, it is about the media community cooperating amongst themselves, and the community at large coming together to preserve history and roots that would otherwise have been lost in the woods.

New Life at Cemetery
By Linda Charlton

There's signs of life at Groveland's abandoned black cemetery. Specifically, there was a family reunion there of sorts on March 20, as descendants of army veteran Joe Green gathered to visit his grave. It was the first time the descendants had been to the cemetery. In fact, until recently, the family members did not even know where the cemetery was. Some had been told that the cemetery was in an old grove near a certain intersection. Others had just been told that the cemetery was "somewhere in the area."

Joe Green is one of four WWI army veterans buried there. An unknown number of civilians are also buried in the cemetery in the woods for, as several long-time members of the community have indicated, the cemetery was filled up by the late '40s. Judging by the comments of those same long-time 'Grovelanders,' the visit by Greens descendants was likely the first such family visit in at least 40 years. As one of Green's granddaughters, Cassandra Davis, said upon seeing the headstone, "We praise the Lord that he's still standing, and that we have the opportunity to experience this."

As for what to do next, the consensus among family members at the gravesite was that it would be nice to see grandaddy Green moved to the national cemetery in Bushnell, but the original headstone should stay in the cemetery in the woods, where it has been standing since 1938. As for the other three veterans buried there, it is an open question as to what the wishes of the families are, for the families have not yet been located.

James V. Middleton died in 1928 as a youthful widower. He was 42. There is some indication that he had children, possibly two of them. The man was from Liberty County in Georgia.

Gus Williams, who died in 1938, was 49, and was from Alabama. He left behind a widow names Lucile.

Henry Spellman died in 1931. Very little is known about him at this point.

[Contributors: Susan Pines, Linda Charlton, Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1880s - Greenwood Cemetery

1880s - Greenwood Cemetery

[Contributors: Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1880s - Edgewood Cemetery

1880s - Edgewood Cemetery

[Contributors: Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1890 - The Taylor Brothers and Taylorville

1889 - The Taylor Brothers and Taylorville

The Importance of Turpentine

   Long ago this area was covered with tens of thousands of acres full of long-leaf yellow pine which provided the needed sap for the turpentine business. The highly valued pine forests stretched from today's Groveland all the way to the cities of Brooksville and Dade City.

   The collection of turpentine began during the Colonial Era as a preservative for the ropes and rigging on ships and for caulking wooden seams. These products were called "naval stores". Turpentine also had uses in numerous products such as medicines, cleaning products, paint, etc.
   Following the War of Northern Agression (Civil War), the turpentine industry reshaped the weakened economy of the South.
   In the late 1800s, extracting sap from pine trees and processing it in backwoods stills was once Florida's second largest industry, after citrus. Chevron shaped gashes were chipped into pine trees. Metal sleeves were inserted and pots were hung to catch the sap.

Harvesting Sap from Pine trees

   Scoring trees to cause them to "bleed" could eventually damage the tree. When that happened the industry was forced to move on to find new forests. The cuts made in the pine trees, in order to extract the sap, could still be seen in the area well into the 1950s.
   The collected sap was brought to the still for processing. Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of the sap from live pine trees. When processed, the sap would separate into a fluid turpentine and a hard waxy resin.
   The rosin and spirits of turpentine were then shipped out by rail for marketing.
   Long-leaf yellow pine was also an ideal source of lumber for construction, since it naturally repels termites.

   Many Florida towns emerged from what was once a turpentine camp and still or sawmill. The area of South Lake County became a large producer of turpentine and lumber, along with some cattle ranchers and citrus growers.

1860s-1880s - Pre-Taylorville Settlers

   The Taylor brothers would eventually arrive in an area that was already inhabited by some of the area's early families, but had not become an "official" settlement.

   Some of these pre-Taylorville families include: the Browns, the Daniels, and the Dukes. (Read more about these families here.) Along with Daniel Sloan, who built a home (believed to be the first) in the area as early as 1866.

   Simon Brown and his family came to the area around 1870.

   George Washington Dukes, who married Sarah Ann Lastinger, arrived to the area in 1874.

   John Wesley Daniels and his wife, Cassidina (daughter of George W. Dukes) had squatter's rites to property west of Lake David which he sold to E. E. Edge, sometime after 1899.

1889 - The Arrival of the Taylor Brothers

   Around 1889, brothers, C. C. and B. M. Taylor, along with their Negro workers arrived in Mascotte, with hopes of establishing a turpentine business. However, they did not receive a warm welcome from the settlement's leader at the time, Theodore Ruff, who had already arrived in 1885. Ruff did not like the idea of the Taylor brothers living together with their Negro workers in the settlement of Mascotte. Thus, the Taylor brothers moved further East along the new train tracks, until they found a suitable place outside of Mascotte.

   The Taylors built a turpentine still around the north side of Lake David.
   Legend states that the lake was named after David Crum who killed a large black bear along the shore in 1880.
   Their home and still was located around the north side of today's Hardee's.
   Granville Beville Robbins (b. 1874 at Tuscanooga) was only about 15 years old when he was hired, along with Will Vinson, a Tuscanooga school teacher, by the Taylor brothers to build the first structure in Taylorville. It was a storage shed for them to hold their supplies needed for the turpentine business.
   This structure was built on the north side of today's Groveland Post Office and would later serve as the camp's commissary.
   At this point, the brothers were still camping under their wagons which they leaned against a tree on the north shore of Lake David. Old writing tell of how the brothers would sit and watch the deer and bears coming to the shoreline to drink the water.
Sometime around 1889-1890, they set up their operations, building homes for themselves and their workers that included: overseers, chippers, dippers, rakers, strippers, stillers, and woodsriders.

   The railroad needed a name for the spot in order to drop off supplies, so even though their had been people living nearby for at least 30 years, the brothers named the area Taylorville. The town of Taylorville was shown on maps as early as 1895.

c. 1890 - The Taylor brothers' Turpentine Still

   The Taylors also constructed a little 'Pepperbox' sawmill, labor quarters, and commisionary near what is now the intersection of HWY 19 & HWY 50.

[Contributors: Julian Rowe, Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]



Next Article: 1895 - Oak Hill Baptist Church

1895 - Oak Hill Baptist Church

[Contributors: Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1895 - The Great Florida Freeze 

1895 - The Great Florida Freeze

1894-1895 - The Great Freeze

   The winter of 1894 brought big changes to Villa City. With its agriculture flourishing, the residents prepared for a typical Florida winter of occasional cold snaps and mild freezes, which helped sweeten the fruit and kill the pests in the groves.
   What happened in the evening of Decemver 29, 1894 took them all by surprise. The temperatures dropped into the teens and stayed there all night.
   In the week following, the trees became stripped of their leaves. However, the damage was not bad enough to kill the trees.
   In January, the temperatures rose back into the 70s and 80s for most of the month. The trees began to fill with sap when spring seemed to be at hand.

   Then, on February 7, 1895, a massive "arctic express" from the north interrupted the warm humid weather. The air quickly dipped down to a freezing 12 degrees. The freezing temperatures started early in the day before the rain clouds had cleared, thus causing snow to fall quite hard and accumulate to depths of up to a quarter of an inch.
   The temperatures dropped into the low teens at sunset and remained there all night, solidly freezing the sap in the trees.

   This event in itself might not have been as disastrous as it seemed and spared the hardier trees, if they could have warmed slowly the next day. However, when the morning came with a bright sunshine, the temperature quickly rose up to 85 degrees and warmed the trees. The rapid thaw of the frozen sap caused the trunks of the trees to burst wide open with loud explosions.

   Almost all of the citrus trees in the entire state were destroyed, as well as the vegetable crops and many farm animals. The devastation was agonizing to look upon. Ten years of hard labor were gone in a single day.
   Villa City quckly became one of Florida's many ghost towns. Within a year, the population dropped from about 150 to only a few. Some of its citizens returned to the North to remake their fortunes and others moved closer to nearby settlements. The King family, with the exception of, Anne Parlow, George King's mother-in-law, picked up their things and moved back to Boston and New Bedford. Those few who were determined enough to stay in Villa City survived mostly on wild game, fish, and their own gardens. The experience encouraged what were already tight knit communities to continue to turn to each other for support.
   The abandoned property of those who left to the North, were eventually seized by the state for delinquent taxes and the local people moved into the vacant houses. They took possession of the abandoned contents and eventually disassembled the houses and the lumber was repurposed for other homes and buildings in the area.
   The last remaining building was the Gano house, a popular site for high school couples into the 1960s. It was torn down in 1968, making Villa City a true ghost town.

   Since the long leaf pine trees were not affected by the freeze, turpentine production became popular until the agricultural climate improved.
   This is a turpentine still built on the shore of Lake Emma.

[Contributors: Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1898 - The Spanish-American War

1898 - The Spanish-American War

1898 - The Spanish-American War

   In 1898, a militia group was established in Leesburg, during the Spanish-American War. It was called the 'Leesburg Rifles" and were ready to bravely defend our country.

[Contributors: Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1899 Early - A New Era - E. E. Edge 

1899 Early - A New Era - E. E. Edge

1899 - Elliott Erastus Edge and Wife Cornelia Arrive in Taylorville

   In the early part of 1899, Elliott Erastus Edge and his wife Cornelia, coming from Georgia, arrived in what was still known as Taylorville. They brought with them their four children: Kate, Bertha, Lacy Day (L. D.), and Freddie.

   You can read more about their son L. D. Edge at the following pages:
   1922 - L. D. Edge - Groveland's First Mayor
   1923 - L. D. Edge Becomes the Youngest Speaker of the House of Florida
   1950s - L. D. Edge, the "Father of the Department of Transportation"

   The Edge family was described in the writings of Robert James Merritt's family (of Slone's Ridge) history:
   "I have found the Edges to be nice honest truthful people every one of them. They always helped the poor and needy far and near and was nice to everybody."
   "Mr. E. E. Edge, with a group of Negro families (Andersons, Baldwins, Blues, and Wrights) came into the area from Georgia. Some said they came in wagons drawn by oxen. Some of the earliest white families to arrive were the Averitts, the Rices, and the O'Neals."

   Mr. Edge brought with him several of his employees in the naval stores business, including the families of: Bill Faircloth, J. W. O'Neal, George W. Todd, Jack Driggers, and the Howards.

Early African American Families

   Along with Edge came numerous African American workers and their families who rode to the area in wagons..    Albert S. Blue relocated to Taylorville along with the families of:
       Mrs. Irene Adams,
       John Baldwin,
       Israel Gadsen,
       Jim Hall,
       Ike Hart,
       Ben Maxwell.
Other family names found that may have come a few years later were:
       Anderson,
       James Brown,
       Will Crawford,
       Moses Harris,
       Elliott Hodges,
       Elijah Jones,
       Henry Taylor,
       and Wright.
    All were recruited to come here by E. E. Edge.

    Due to Albert Blue's efforts, the first African-American school was built in Groveland.

   Many of these families have local streets named for them (Baldwin, Blue, Gadsen, Hart, and Wright).

Mrs. Cornelia Edge

   Elliot's wife Cornelia was also highly admired by the local Black community. Teresa Baker Floyd shared heartwarming stories of how the Edge family helped people. One of her stories was of how Cornelia continuously supported two young Black teenage boys after the death of their parents. She supplied them with food and clothing. Later, when one of the boys moved away and was killed, Mrs. Edge made arrangements for his return and burial in Groveland, along with paying the funeral expenses.
   Teresa Floyd left groveland in 1960 and moved to Washington D. C.. In time she would get a job working for Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, and would continue working at the U.S. Capitol for the next twenty-nine and a half years. At the time of this writing, she was 94 years old and living in Maryland.

E. E. Edge - A True Entrepreneur

   Experienced in the naval store business (those products made from the sap of pine trees) for about ten years, upon arrival to this area, he bought the home and turpentine business of the Taylor brothers.
   He would continue buying up stills and woodlands until he owned the land or turpentining rights for most of the pine forests from Clermont to Dade City. Old documents have been found that show him owning land as far away as Hillsborough County,
   E.E. Edge would soon become one of Groveland's influencial founders.
   A true entrepreneur, Edges's various businesses would soon include: turpentine operation, sawmill, farms, commissary, citrus groves, funeral service, the county's largest department store, hardware store, clothing store, furniture store, animal feed store, auto service and fuel station, and propane delivery.

   In 1902, The Edge House was built by Elliott & Cornelia on the site of what is today Hardee's. The Queen Anna style home is on the National Register of Historic Places.

   In 1988, the house was moved 1 mile west on HWY 50, where it remains today.

   When Edge first came to town, he used the Taylor brothers' commissary as a "trading post" for the early settlers to come and purchase or trade for goods. This was the beginnings of the Edge Mercantile Company and it was located on the north side of today's Groveland Post Office.
   In 1905, Edge built a general store for the Edge Mercantile Company and post office, at the corners of what is now Broad Street and Main Avenue
   By 1910, Edge built his furniture store across the street. It was located in the empty lot on the west side of the 1923 Edge Mercantile Building.

Edge's Telephone Company

   The writings of the Merritt history also state:
"It was said that Mr. E. E. Edge bought the rights to the turpentine business... buying a huge block of long-leaf yellow pine in an area that stretched from Taylorille to Dade City. He then had a line of turpentine stills that stretched from here to Dade City. To communicate with these stills, he sent out a rider telling each still what they were to do."
   Edge owned a number of turpentine camps (nine between here and Dade City). For communication within his empire, he first used riders on horseback to run instructions to the various camps.
   As technology advanced, Edge hired Otto Wettstein, Jr. to create a telephone network between the camps to send messages to the stills faster.
   By 1925 Edge and Wettstein had formed seven separate telephone companies. That network grew into the Lake Telephone Company and eventually became the Florida Telephone Company. It started in the building that today houses Cheffing It Up Pizza. The Florida Telephone Company would continue on to become what is known today as Embarq.
About 1900 - A Young Lacy Day Edge Sitting in Buggy with Men Who Worked for E. E. Edge

Edge Island

   Daniel Sloan is believed to have built the first house in the area that would become Taylorville/Groveland. After his death in 1888, his heirs inherited his property, which they later sold to E. E. Edge. The property became known as Edge Island. It is located about one mile northeast of downtown Groveland

1904 - The Edge Sisters

   Around 1904, E. E. Edge's three sisters joined him in Taylorville. Laticia Edge was married to R. L. Averitt. Jane Edge was married to E. L. Rice. Bertha Edge would go on to marry a Maguire, but would later move to North Florida.

   Other people knwon to have arrived prior to 1910 were: Addison Smith, Albert Cashwell, and Russell Brown (No relation to Browns of Brown's Ford).

1906-1907 - The Drought and Edge's Sawmill

   During the years 1906-1907, a severe drought killed thousands of acres of pines, which made them useless for sap, but still good for lumber. It is thought that the heavy harvesting of the sap may have weakened the trees too much to survive.

   Did E. E. Edge buy out the Taylors' small sawmill and expand it or did he begin his own? It is not clear because another source states:
   "The lumber mill originally was started by E. E. Edge after the turpentine business was severely crippled due to the drought of 1907 that killed many of the long-leaf pines."

   In any case, E. E. Edge, began or continued his sawmill business, which was known as the Edge Lumber Company in 1907.
   By 1908, Edge would form a partnership with Robert L. Dowling, a lumber baron, from Live Oak, Florida. The name was then changed to the Edge-Dowling Lumber Company. (Groveland local Dennis Bronson found a book showing a timber contract executed to the Edge-Dowling Lumber Company on September 14, 1908.)
Early Sawmill in Taylorville Located Along the North Side of Today's Crittenden Ave

1910 - J. Ray Arnold Rides To Town

   J. Ray Arnold, a sawmill machinery salesman, rode into town in 1910, on horseback. He eventually stayed and would end up marrying Robert Dowling's daughter.

J. Ray Arnold

   By 1917, Edge had sold out his interest in the sawmill to Robert Dowling. His son-in-law J. Ray Arnold soon took over Dowling's interest in the sawmill.

   "There was a gentlemen's agreement between J. Ray Arnold and E. E. Edge. J. Ray Arnold ran the sawmill, while Edge ran the turpentine business and the mercantile business. They would work together in managing the town.
   This agreement, whether true or not, was honored until the end of the sawmill at which time Edge then ran the town." - Julian Rowe (b. 1915 in Taylorville)

Abt. 1912 - Looking Westward along Today's Crittenden Blvd

1915 - Downtown Taylorville - Looking East from the Intersection of HWY 50 and HWY 19

1915 - Downtown Taylorville - Showing the First Bank Building on the Corner of HWY 50 and S Main Ave.

1915 - Lacy Day Edge Becomes The Youngest Ever Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

   Lacy Day Edge, son of E. E. Edge, also made noticeable accomplishments. Beginning in 1915, he represented Lake County as a state legislator and, in 1923, became the youngest ever Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives at age 25. He would also serve in the Florida Senate.

1914 - Lacy Day Edge - Speaking During His 1st Race for Member of House of Representatives

L. D. Edge (center) During the Signing of a Bill While Serving as State Representative

   Around 1898, E.E. Edge purchased the Crenshaw holdings south of Lake Louisa, and before the end of 1917 county commissioners appointed Hon. L. D. Edge, of Groveland, H. L. Johnson, and S. S. Fesler to a commission that would have charge over the preliminary work of draining the marsh.
   This is what Steve Rajtar wrote for the Groveland Mascotte Historical Trail [Note: There are some errors in the following quote *]:
   "The severe freezes in 1894-95 hurt the citrus industry, and this area of Lake County turned to turpentine. T. M. and C. C. Taylor sold their turpentine still in the southern portion of the county and went to Mascotte, planning to start tapping pine trees with a crew of black laborers. However, since Mascotte had never had a black resident, town leader Theodore Ruff refused to let the Taylors set up shop. The Taylors then followed the railroad eastward to a place they named Taylorville, and erected a still on the lot where later L. Day Edge [*E. E. Edge] built his home. His father, Elliott E. Edge, bought out the Taylors in 1899 and laid out the foundation of a town."

   Referred to as the "Father of the Department of Transportation", L. D. Edge influenced the building of Highway 50 through Groveland.

   L. D. Edge became the first mayor of Groveland when the town was incorporated in 1922.

   By the 1920s and '30s, many of the businesses in the downtown area were owned by the Edge family. The Edge Mercantile Company was built in 1923 and was, at the time, one of the largest in the state.

   Upon entering the 1923 Mercantile, one would find clothing on the first floor. There was a machine in the large shoe department that one could stick their feet into to determine their shoe size. Clyde Plowden, the clerk, would help children try on a new pair of Buster Brown shoes.

   The second floor could be reached either by the stairs or what felt like "the world's slowest-moving elevator". On the second floor were bolts of material, various sewing needs, linens, and rugs, among other merchandise. With each purchse customers were given "green stamps". At Christmas time, Santa Claus always made a visit. Residing on the second floor, he would listen to children's Christmas wishes.1

   Also, in the center of the first floor, was the Lake Drug Company. Since the proprieter of a drug store was required to have a special license, it was one of the few stores in Groveland that was not owned by Mr. Edge. He rented out space in his mercantile building to the pharmacist, Dr. T. Grady McFadden. Lake Drug Co. had its own soda fountain and was a favorite place for socializing for several decades. During the 1950s, a cherry coke in a glass cost 5 cents or 7 cents in a paper cup.

More Memories of the Edges

   They bought and sold whatever the public wanted, from trinkets to farm implements. People throughout the Central Florida area were known to come to Groveland for their shopping needs. It was said that you could come to Groveland and buy everything you needed in one day, except for a car.
   Julian Rowe, born in Taylorville in 1915, once shared how he, as a young boy, was hired to ride on the running board of a car and pass out sale flyers to homes. His route went south to the Polk County line, west almost to Dade City, back through Sumter County, and east to the Winter Garden area.
   Edge Enterprises also included:
      a hardware store,
      furniture and appliance store,
      feed and seed store,
      drug store (complete with soda fountain),
      funeral home,
      grocery (which later evolved into Groveland's A & P),
      dry goods and clothing,
      vast acres of pine forests and citrus groves,
      heating oil and propane gas company, and
      Edge's fuel station (located at Broad Street and Highway 19), which held the record for being the longest privately-owned fuel station in the country.

1920s - Edge Makes a Mint

   With the banking problems of the 1920s and 1930s, it was common for businesses to print or mint their own money. So following the bank failures in Groveland during the 1920s, Edge began minting his own currency that was called "lumies", because they were coins made of aluminum. The coins were accepted throughout his stores.
   One town legend says that a man moved in and began counterfeiting Edge's lumies. He was eventually discovered and the counterfeit coins were dumped into Lake David.
   Edge soon stopped making the company currency.

1934 - In Memory

   At E.E. Edge's death in 1934, being one of nine charter members of the First Methodist Church in Groveland, the church voted unanimously to change the name to the Edge Memorial Methodist Church in honor of his support of the church and Methodist-supported missions, including Florida Southern College.
   Constructed in 1922, the second oldest building on the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, was renamed Edge Hall in 1935 to honor E. E. Edge, who was one of the first large donors to the college.
   Edge, and his son Lacy Day Edge, were lifelong members of the church

   Following the death of his father in 1934, Lacy Day (commonly known as Day Edge) gave up his rise in politics to return home to assume the responsibilities of running the various Edge businesses.
L. D. Edge standing with the artist during portrait unveiling in Tallahassee, Florida


[Contributors: Julian Rowe, Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]



Next Article: 1900s - Citrus and Celebrities - Kuharske Family of Bay Lake

1900s - Citrus and Celebrities - Kuharske Family of Bay Lake

Citrus

   During the 1800s, Adalbert Wojciech Kucharski and his wife, Napocepna Piathowski Kucharski, immigrated to America from Poland.
   Their son, Edward Adam Kurharske (the spelling of their surname began to change) would be born in Wisconsin. Edward and his wife Edith (Cleveland) Kurharske had four children, two of which would make a major impact on the Groveland/Bay Lake area. Namely, sons Charles Garrison Kuharske and Cleveland Macdowell "Mac" Kuharske.
   The exact date of the arrival of the family of Edward Adam Kurharske to this area is uncertain, however, it is thought they could have been part of the large group of people enticed to this area near the turn of the century from Illinois.
   Cleveland Macdowell "Mac" was part of Groveland High School Class of 1934, but needing to return to Illinois his senior year to take care of business for his father, he would finish school there. Cleveland would later return to Groveland.
   The Kuharske family (Edward and his sons, Charlie and Mac) would make a major impact on the local citrus industry. They owned over 1,000 acres of citrus groves. They are credited with bringing citrus to the Bay Lake area.
   Mac Kuharske, at his citrus nursery in Bay Lake, developed a nematode-free rootstock, called the Kuharske Citrange, that is still one of the most sought after rootstocks in the world today and is officially recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida.

Celebrities

   The Kuharske family history is filled with many interesting stories, among them:

   One of Charlie and Mac's Great Grandfathers, William Cleveland, was a brother to President Grover Cleveland.

   The Kuharske sons had a grandmother, Theodocia Garrison Cleveland, whose sister's son, James Henry Breasted, was one of the world's leading Egyptologists who had a part in the discovery of King Tut's tomb.
   His picture appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.

   Mac and Charlie's mother, Edith, was privileged to go to Egypt and visit the tomb her first cousin had helped discover.

   Charlie and Mac's Grandfather, Festus Cleveland, was a Methodist minister in Chicago.
   Ulysses S. Grant was known to attend the church he pastored. During the Civil War, Rev. Cleveland, at times, was asked to accompany General Grant as his spiritual advisor.
   Family Lore states that following the war, the now President grant returned to visit this church and it is reported that, walking over the church grounds, he carried in his arms a 3-year-old Edith, the mother of Charlie and Mac. Today the Kuharske family is in possession of the gown Theodocia (wife of Festus Cleveland and grandmother of Charlie and Mac) wore to one of President Grant's inaugural balls.

   Charlie and mac's mother, Edith (Cleveland) Kuharske, as a young teenage girl, would make visits with her mother, Theodocia, to the home of her mother's good friend Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom's Cabin).

[Contributors: Mary Helen Myers, Jason Brown]

Next Article: 1904 - The Second Church and School of Taylorville