Excerpt from “Pioneers of Lake County” BY William F. Gouveia (1989) P. 4
ASTOR
"Four Timucuan Indian trails converged in the vicinity of Astor.
One trail led to St. Augustine, one to Titusville, another to Pensacola, and the last to the Central Lakes Region.
During the First Spanish Era, the Spanish explorers traveled down the St. Johns River. There they established,
on the east bank of the river, the Franciscan Mission "San Salvador De Mayaca."
The mission was near an existing Mayacan Indian village.
Although its initial building date has not been determined, it was known to exist in 1659.
The mission is believed to have been destroyed by Indian allies of the English in 1703-1706.
About 1774, visiting horticulturist William Bartram mentioned James Spauldings
"Upper Store" as being located in the vicinity of the former mission.
About 1776, during the Second Spanish Era, Panton, Leslie, and Forbes operated a trading post on the site of
the "Upper store"."
In 1818, at the famous "Dillard Oak", the Seminole Indians signed a peace treaty forfeiting their claims to Astor and its environs.
In 1819 Moses Levy, a wealthy Portuguese-Jewish immigrant purchased approximately
80,000 acres from the Fernando de la Maza Arredondo Grant along the St. Johns River near the
"Upper Store."
In 1822 he built the "Hope Hill" plantation house on the west
bank of the river. Levy planted citrus groves and built a sugar cane mill in the hope
of convincing oppressed European Jewish settlers to migrate to his haven of freedom.
In 1838, a few months after Hope Hill Plantation was burned, the United States
erected Ft. Butler stockade on the west bank of the St. Johns.
However, many soldiers became ill, causing the Fort to be abandoned before too long."
General Butler had fallen from an Indian bullet during the Seminole War near the "Dillard Oak".
The Civil War spared
Astor from any significant damage.
March 1874 marks a true rebirth in the town's development.
In that year, William
B. Astor, grandson of multi-millionaire John Jacob Astor, purchased 12,905 acres around
Ft. Butler from the Moses Levy family for $7500.00. By then Ft. Butler had been aban-
doned for nearly three decades.
The name
"Astor" is first recorded officially in Orange
County public records of December 11, 1884.
William Astor began his "Manhattan Project" in an effort to escape the demands
placed upon him by the high society of his day. With the assistance of his agent,
J. P. Doss, he embarked on an ambitious building program that included two hotels,
(the Astor House and the Palmetto), stores, warehouses and docks.
In 1892 he donated
land for the first church, later organized in 1916 as the Astor Presbyterian Church.
Astor entered into a partnership with William Boyd and Richard McLaughlin and laid out
the new town of Manhattan in 20 acre lots.
He also donated a schoolhouse and cemetery.
About 1880 Astor started the St. Johns and Lake Eustis Railroad. Connecting with
several steamship lines, including the famous "Clyde", this new railroad allowed visitors
and goods to travel into the "Great Lakes" section of Florida as far as Eustis.
Although not immediately realized the railroad spelled the end of the steamboat era.
The town of Astor began a steady decline. Many of the residents moved away with the
notable exception of Barney Dillard who stayed through boom and bust.
"During the last quarter of the 19th Century, Astor pioneer Barney Dillard, Sr. helped dismantle the
remaining mission ruins.
He reported finding a large skeleton with a Spanish axe in it's rib cage which he believed belonged to the massacred Franciscan friar.
Soon after William Astor's death on April 25, 1894 his town experienced the 1894/5
"Great Freeze" which wiped out the Astor citrus groves.
His son, John Jacob Astor, inherited his father's Florida land holdings and kept them until April 15, 1912 when he
drowned on the Titanic.
The Astor property then reverted to William V. Astor.
The new owner was not interested in continuing his grandfather's work and, in 1916, sold
the Manhattan Grant to the Duluth (Michigan) Land Company.
The town of Astor entered the 20th Century as a semi-forgotten settlement strug-
gling for existence. A major change took place in 1926 when the Astor bridge was built
replacing a ferry connecting the two banks of the St. Johns. Barney Dillard managed to
get construction crews to spare the famous "Dillard Oak" where Seminole Indians had
signed a peace treaty in 1818 forfeiting their claims to Astor and environs. Nearby,
too, General Butler had fallen from an Indian bullet during the Seminole War."