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- Title: SITE OF FORT McNEIL
Location:vicinity of Tosohatchee State Preserve, S.R. 532,
County: Orange
City: Orlando
Description: During the Seminole Indian War in 1837, a stockade with blockhouses at diagonal corners was constructed upon this site. It was named FORT McNEIL in memory of 2nd Lt. John Winfield Scott McNeil, USA, who fell gallantly in the action near Dunlawton September 11, 1837. He was the son of General John McNeil, USA, and nephew of Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States.
Sponsors: This Marker Erected and Dedicated by
Orange County Historical Commission
In Cooperation With
Department of State, Bureau of Historic Preservation
- Title: OLDEST MASONIC LODGE BUILDING IN CONTINUOUS USE IN FLORIDA
Location:U.S. 441
County: Orange
City: Apopka
Description: Masonic Lodge #36 of the Grand Jurisdiction of Florida was established in 1856 and is still serving under a warrant issued that year. This building was erected here in 1859; the upper story has been continually used for lodge meetings. The original lower floor was used as post office, school, church and general store. Masons from miles around visited the community, which was known as The Lodge until the Town of Apopka City was chartered in 1882. In 1952, due to the effects of deterioration and highway widening, the lower story was removed and replaced. Orange Lodge #36 is a "Moon Lodge" and meets on or before the full moon and two weeks thereafter.
Sponsors: sponsored by
the city of apopka bicentennial committee
in cooperation with department of state
- Title: FORT CHRISTMAS
Location:S.R. 420, near mile marker 11.832
County: Orange
City: Christmas
Description: As white settlers moved into Florida in the 1820's and 1830's, there were growing demands that the Seminole Indians be removed to a reservation west of the Mississippi. Efforts to convince the Seminoles to move failed, and in 1835 the conflict known as the Second Seminole War began in earnest. Late in 1837, Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, overall commander in Florida, began intensive preparations to carry the fighting to south Florida, where he believed he would find a large force of hostile Indians. These preparations included opening a road on the west side of the St. Johns River and building along the road several posts to serve as depots for operations to the south. On Decmeber 25, 1837, troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Abraham Eustis established Fort Christmas on the north side of a creek a short distance from here. General Jesup himself led the column south from Fort Christmas early in January. By late January Jesup's troops were receiving their supplies by water from the St. Lucie River, and in March Fort Christmas was abandoned. While this simple wooden fortification was short-lived, it gave its name to the town of Christmas, a short distance south of here.
Sponsors: sponsored by the
orange county historical commission
in cooperation with department of state
- Title: WINDMERE TOWN HALL
Location:
County: Orange
City: Windermere
Description: The settlement of Windermere began in the mid-1880s when Englishman Stanley Scott built his home in the area, giving it and the surrounding orange groves the name of Windermere, in memory of the Lake Windermere region of England. Other settlers followed, and a town site was platted in 1889, but the community was not formally incorporated until 1925. The town council had no permanent meeting place. Elected officials and citizens often met at the Windermere Woman’s Club, which was destined to become Town Hall. The two-story wood frame clubhouse had been erected on the shore of nearby Lake Butler in 1922 and was moved to its present site in 1938 for use as a community center. It formally became the seat of local government in 1945. Today the square surrounding the town hall is the focus of civic and recreational activity in Windermere. Facilities found there include the Chase Memorial Library, basketball courts, a municipal office building and the Cal Palmer Memorial Building, a small wood frame building constructed in 1911 by one of Windermere’s most prominent early residents. Both the Town Hall and the Cal Palmer Building are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Sponsors: TOWN OF WINDERMERETOWN OF WINDERMERE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - MAITLAND
Location:Maitland Presbyterian Church, U.S. 17/92
County: Orange
City: Maitland
Description: This congregation was organized in 1882 by ten Presbyterian settlers under the direction of the Rev. W.G.F. Wallace when Maitland was a pioneer hamlet. The church building was
constructed in 1883, and it is one of the oldest churches still in use in this area. The church is typical example of pioneer ecclesiastical architecture of its period.
- Title: CARVER COURT PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECT
Location:
County: Orange
City: Orlando
Description: Built in 1945 for $468,700, Carver Court was a public housing development set up by the Orlando Housing Authority in an effort to stimulate the economy, resolve growing slum and housing problems, and meet local demands associated with the massive defense buildup that had occurred during World War II. The development consisted of 16 one-story buildings and 12 two-story buildings. Carver Court was a prime example of a planned residential community, reflecting important urban planning and housing design theories of the period. As a well-defined group of affordable, multi-family, residential buildings organized around open spaces, Carver Court exemplified public housing projects constructed throughout the country during the late 1930s and 1940s. A team of Orlandos most prominent architects and landscape architects, including Arthur Beck (1899-1990), the first Jewish architect in Orlando, Herbert L. Flint, landscape designer for the first public housing complex in Jacksonville, and F. Earl DeLoe (b. 1893), designed the housing complex. Originally built to house African-American families, Carver Court reflected attitudes toward segregation and the housing of low-income families that were characteristic of the time.
Sponsors: THE ORLANDO HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: SITE OF FORT GATLIN
Location:Orlando
County: Orange
City: Orlando
Description: On November 9, 1838, during the Second Seminole Indian War (1835-42), the
U.S. Army established Fort Gatlin in Mosquito County. This fort was named
for Army Assistant Surgeon John S. Gatlin (1806-1835), who was killed in the Dade Massacre in 1835. The site of the fort was chosen as a military outpost due to its strategic position overlooking three lakes and because the area was frequented by Native Americans led by Seminole Chief King Philip and his son Coacoochee. The Fort served the state militia during the war until the Army withdrew in 1849. A few soldiers and families remained in the area, growing citrus and raising cattle. In 1856, Fort Gatlin became the county seat of Orange County, created from Mosquito County in 1845. The communitys name was later changed to Orlando, a name attributed to militiaman Orlando Reeves, who was reportedly killed in a skirmish during the Second Seminole War. It is believed that Reeves is buried near the site of Fort Gatlin. In 1941, during World War II, the United States Navy established the Underwater Sound Reference Laboratory near this site on Lake Gem Mary because of the great depth of the lake. The lab was closed in 1997.
Sponsors: THE FORT GATLIN HISTORICAL GROUP, THE FORT GATLIN HISTORICAL GROUP, ORANGE COUNTY GOVERNMENT, AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: MOSELEY HOUSE
Location:
County: Orange
City: EATONVILLE
Description: Taylor Street is the eastern boundary of Eatonville and is the site of Jim and Matilda Clark Moseleys home. Matilda, or Miss Tillie, as she was affectionately called, was the niece of Joseph Clark, Eatonvilles founder and first mayor. Early dwellings in Eatonville were mainly single-family, one-story, 500-square-foot wood frame houses with no more than 2 or 3 rooms. One such house was located at 11 Taylor Street, built c. 1888 and is known as the Moseley House. Tillie was born and reared in Eatonville, where she served as a Sunday school teacher, church pianist and community activist. She married Jim Moseley, son of the fourth mayor of Eatonville. As a member of Eatonvilles pioneer family and due to her community involvement, many considered her a walking historian. Eatonvilles most acclaimed citizen Zora Neale Hurston author and folklorist was Tillies best friend and a frequent visitor. Much of Hurstons work is set in Eatonville and she would often stay with the Moseleys when she returned. The house is a repository for early Eatonville memorabilia, including the Moseley family and Zora Neale Hurston, and is a place to preserve African-American history and culture.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA STATE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL ASSEMBLY AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: ORLANDO ARMY AIR BASE
Location:SE Corner McGuire Blvd.& Livingston Streets
County: Orange
City: Orlando
Description: Orlando Municipal Airport opened in 1928 on 65 acres of land north of Lake Underhill. In 1940, with Europe at war, the United States Army took over the airport for defense purposes, activating it as the Orlando Army Air Base on September 1, 1940. The first Army Air Corps planes arrived on September 5, 1940. The Base provided a training center for pilots and fighter and bomber groups. The United States entered World War II on December 7, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1942, B-17 bombers and their crews moved to the newly-completed Pine Castle Air Force Base, now the Orlando International Airport, and the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics moved to the Orlando Army Air Base, by then grown to 1000 acres with 6 runways. The size and importance of the Orlando base, where pilots tested new aircraft, including P-26 and P-40 fighter planes, brought notable visitors such as Chief of the Army Air Force General Hap Arnold and entertainer Bob Hope. At the end of World War II the base became a separation center for thousands of servicemen and women resuming civilian life. It was returned to the city of Orlando in 1946. Renamed Herndon Airport in 1961, it became the Orlando Executive Airport in 1982.
Sponsors: THE CITY OF ORLANDO, THE GREATER ORLANDO AVIATION AUTHORITY AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
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