Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
When the city decided to move its city hall from the old building on Longwood Ave. to the new Altamonte Springs Municipal Complex on Newburyport Ave., the baseball field and recreation center at that location were replaced by this park, which opened in May of 1972. The George D. Perkins Civic Center was dedicated on November 11, 1973.
About a mile south, not visible from here, along the railroad tracks on the south side of Lake Seminary, was the settlement of Woodbridge beginning in the 1880s. Most of the 85 residents were black, and there was a school for black children. They were granted a post office in 1888, with Jane B. Turner as the first postmaster. The post office remained open until 1929, when mail service was transferred to Maitland.
This area is a part of Stewarts Subdivision, platted by Wilmer and Jenerva Stewart in 1924. This is another Frame Vernacular home, built in about 1925. Frame Vernacular is a term applied to wood frame construction that is indigenous to a particular area and often designed or built by a carpenter.
This Bungalow was built in about 1925 and has a wide gable roof, exposed rafter ends, and a simple entrance.
"Bungalow" is derived from a Bengali word meaning a low house with porches, used as a wayside shelter for nineteenth century British travelers in India. Between 1910 and 1930, the bungalow was one of the most popular home designs in Florida.
A bungalow is generally one to one-and-a-half stories with a shallow pitch roof, with at least two rooms along the front of the house. The masonry piers holding up the porch floor often continued above it, topped by short wood columns supporting the roof. The front door was often off-center, and the window pattern was usually asymmetrical.
Built in 1921, this Frame Vernacular home embodies the Depression-era characteristics of a gable roof, cross-gable extension, and an enclosed entrance porch.
This house was built in Winter Park in about 1935 and later moved here. This Frame Vernacular home shows a gable roof, pedimented gable, gable extension, and enclosed entrance porch.
This Bungalow from about 1920 has a gable-over-gable roof, exposed rafter ends, and a screened-in porch.
Gambling could be found just outside the city limits to the south. In 1949, during an attempted robbery of the gambling hall of The Seminole Club, three of the robbers were killed and the other two were apprehended. Shortly thereafter, the governor initiated an investigation of gambling in Seminole County.
The Seminole Club closed in 1951, and the Catholic Church bought its building and the surrounding 20 acres. Father Hubert J. Reason himself did most of the remodeling to turn it into a church.
St. Mary Magdalene began in the remodeled building in 1959, and a new building was completed two years later. In 1975, a new sanctuary was built and the old building became the social hall.
Built by William H. Hardwick in the late 1920s, it was the first actual filling station (as opposed to just a gas pump in front of a store) in Altamonte Springs. It was acquired by B.D. McIntosh, Jr. in 1934, and he operated it until he left for the Navy in World War II.
This is now the location of Ramblewood Condominiums.
This section of Maitland Ave., plus Longwood Ave. and the portion of Altamonte Ave. in between, were a part of the Dixie Highway, which was the dream of Carl Fisher of Indianapolis. He had made his fortune in the new auto industry, and wanted to build a highway from Chicago to Miami. When news got out, many communities formed associations to lobby for inclusion on the route.
The Dixie Highway Association met in Chattanooga and chose a route passing through Tallahassee and Jacksonville, and proceeding south along the east coast. Frenzied lobbying also produced an inland route passing through Gainesville, Ocala, Winter Park, Orlando, Kissimmee, Bartow and Arcadia, rejoining the coastal route at Palm Beach.
In 1915, Fisher led an auto cavalcade from the Midwest to Miami, popularizing auto trips to Florida. The Dixie Highway was officially opened for traffic in October of 1925 from the Canadian border at the northern tip of Michigan to Miami.
This church began holding services here in 1962. In 1972, they shared the building with the congregation from the new St. Marks Presbyterian Church.
This is a Bungalow, built in 1917. It has a gable roof, symmetrical facade, exposed rafter ends, shed bay, and a center entrance with a gable overhang supported by brackets.
This area is the R.L. Betts' Addition to Altamonte Springs, platted by Robert L. Betts in 1917. This Frame Vernacular home was built in about 1940 with a gable roof, long facade, and a recessed entrance.
This home was built in about 1917. As a Tudor Revival style, it has a gable roof, two front-facing gable wings (one capped by a hip), exposed rafter ends, arches, and a recessed entrance porch.
Birdsie L. Maltbie was the mayor of Altamonte Springs and the president of Altamonte Development Company. To manage the development, the city authorized the company in 1925 to build "a neat office building" at the corner of South Altamonte (Maitland) Ave. and Magnolia Dr. That location expanded from a construction office to an information center for the town. Maltbie built this home for himself in the late 1920s.
Mr. Maltbie was also the president of the Maltbie Chemical Company of East Orange, New Jersey. He donated the Beal-Maltbie Shell Museum on the Rollins College campus to house the seashell collection of Dr. James H. Beal. The shell collection had an international reputation until about 1988, when the museum closed and the collection was removed.
This Tudor Revival home, built in about 1935, has a steep pitched gable roof, a sloping front facing gable, and a recessed end entrance. Another typical Tudor feature is the "folded-under" roof edge.
A home at this location was donated to the town in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Birdsie L. Maltbie. Mr. Maltbie was the mayor, and the building was used as a home for the town's government.
It was also the meeting place of the Chamber of Commerce, which had been organized in about 1921. The Ladies Auxiliary formed in late 1924 was responsible for landscaping and building improvements. In 1939, its care was taken over by the Woman's Club. This is now the site of the Altamonte Springs Library, dedicated in 1980.
On the Altamonte Hotel golf course, there was a small lake which had begun as a sinkhole. Named Park Lake, it was filled in when the present Capistrano Apartments were built. In the 1980s, it collapsed and damaged some of the buildings.
This is one of the oldest homes in Altamonte Springs, believed to have been built in about 1892. It sat vacant for a long time, and was once used by a local radio station as a Halloween haunted house.
The hotel was built between Lakes Orienta and Adelaide in 1883. The Altamonte Land, Hotel and Navigation Company, comprised of Boston capitalists, wanted to build a "Florida Boston Town". The 130 hotel rooms had 49 fireplaces and 500 feet of verandas. Just to the west, school was held in a building donated by the company.
The hotel was the main feature of "Hotel Park" on the north end of Lake Orienta, 20 acres bordered on the east by Maitland Ave. Western Ave. (about where Jasmine Ave. is now) was just north of the hotel. The railroad maintained regular passenger service to the hotel into the 1930s.
During that decade, the hotel consisted of the main building, a three-story annex, a two-story lodge, and two long bungalow buildings of 16 rooms. The weekly room rate at the time was $38-$60 single, $55-$85 double.
George and Everett Bates ran the hotel, and employed an orchestra conducted by A.L. Norton that played classical and popular music for Saturday dances and Sunday concerts. Starting in the 1920s, movies were shown on Monday evenings.
The hotel burned down on July 1, 1953, with 50 firemen from seven communities fighting the fire for 22 hours. The annex was saved and temporarily housed the hotel's guests.
The site is now the location of Lake Villas Condominiums.
In 1885, Henry Herman Westinghouse, younger brother of George Westinghouse, bought 18 lots in what is now Altamonte Springs. His dwelling was located at this corner until it burned down in 1936. Its building plan was a mirror image of the Bradlee-McIntyre House, which was located diagonally across the intersection from it until it was moved to Longwood in 1973 at the urging of historic preservationist Grace Bradford.
In addition to this home, Westinghouse had Boston architect Nathaniel Bradlee design homes of 12 to 15 rooms near Boston Ave. on the west side of the hotel, and north of the hotel just west of Lake Adelaide.
The site is now the home of a drug store.
Springs were discovered on the lakeshore across the road to the north, and a spring house was built 100 yards north of the hotel. Water was piped from there to the hotel. In 1960, Hurricane Donna ruined the spring house, which was then capped and covered with paving. The 701 Building was built on top of it in 1973, with the nearby Kirchman Building going up shortly thereafter.
A Victorian style home built in 1911 as a farmhouse with an attached barn stood behind where later was built a music store. When Florida Hospital's expansion plans in the early 1980s included the demolition of the house, many local residents worked for its preservation. One plan involved moving it, perhaps to Hermits Trail park, and converting it to a museum.
Eventually, the city offered to give it away to anyone who would move it and restore it. Before this could happen, it was seriously damaged by fire in September of 1985, and the remainder was torn down.
The site is now a retention pond.
The first patients were admitted to what was then known as Florida Hospital North on February 19, 1973. Since then, it has grown through construction and acquisition of existing buildings, including the establishment of an outpatient physical therapy center in the Elmco Building (renamed the 608 Building).
The building which was located here until it was moved to Longwood in 1973, was built in Boston in about 1870 as one of this country's oldest prefabricated structures, permitting its later relocation. It is called "Inside-Outside" because the vertical framing structure is placed on the outside of the exterior horizontal siding, forming panels which are bolted together in shiplap fashion. Inside, the walls are covered with stucco over tongue and groove siding.
In 1873, its builder, Capt. W. Pierce, retired as a sea captain and moved himself and his house to Florida. It was transported by steamship from Boston to Mellonville, where it was transferred to mules for the ride to Altamonte Springs. After it was reassembled, the ground floor served as a cabinet shop, while the family lived upstairs. It is one of the most architecturally unusual buildings in Central Florida.
To protect the home from demolition, it was moved to Longwood by the Central Florida Society for Historic Preservation.
By the late 1960s, the Valley Forge Golf Club was in operation on land leased from Webber Haines. A decade later, the shopping center anchored by the Publix store replaced the front nine holes, and an apartment complex sits where the back nine used to be.
In the 1950s, the area from here eastward to Lake Adelaide was known as Bryan's Meadow, where Leslie T. Bryan grazed cattle and horses. Across Palm Springs Dr., where Altamonte Mall opened in 1974, Charles E. Bradshaw used to graze his cattle.
From about 1913 to 1940, Altamonte Springs had the largest ferneries in the world. The fern business was started here by Charles D. Haines, a congressman from New York who arrived here in 1913. Shortly after World War I, he bagan growing asparagus plumosis ferns and founded Royal Fern Corporation in 1922.
Haines bought a 200-acre grove on the north shore of Lake Orienta, built a house, and raised 70 acres of ferns under wooden shade slats. His son acquired 60 acres next door. Out of the 260 acres, 140 were sold in 1940 to Hibbard Casselberry, after whom the city of Casselberry is named. The property was later sold to the Hattaway family.
In 1927, Haines lobbied the legislature to abolish the town so he wouldn't be taxed on his ferneries and groves. He died in 1929, and Benjamin F. Haines became the owner of the property. He persuaded the local delegation to sponsor a bill to abolish the town. It became law in May of 1931, to be effective upon approval of 2/3 of the qualified voters at the November election. The voters turned it down.
Charles D. Haines built a private theater here for his use in the early 1920s, with seating for 120. Years later, Haines wanted to donate the Jasmine Theater, $50,000, a club house and 65 acres of land to the International Press Association to be used as part of a home for retired newsmen. The IPA had intended to buy additional adjoining land, but the publicity in 1925-26 caused others to buy it. The IPA then determined that they lacked the room for their Press City project, and located it elsewhere.
In the early 1930s, the IPA sold the theater to Rudolph and Maple Haas, who converted it into a residence. It was then acquired by Chester Fosgate, owner of a citrus packing plant. His plant manager, Robert Bradford, and his wife, Grace Bradford, moved in in the late 1930s.
The Frame Vernacular home has a T-shaped multi-level cross-gable roof, center entrance, and porch as its significant exterior features.
Haines lived in a prefabricated home purchased through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogue. It was assembled in 1917 on a lot near the lake, southwest of here at 250 Lakepointe Dr.
After 1935, the Works Progress Administration was active in several projects in Altamonte Springs, including the construction of cow-dipping vats in which cows infected with cattle ticks would be treated. One such vat was located in a pasture here on which Charles E. Bradshaw grazed a herd of cattle.
City Plan 2005 established a plan for a city center to be developed around this park. The intent is to provide a place where people can relax during their breaks from busy workdays or shopping sprees.
This church was started by Temple Baptist Church of Azalea Park, which began holding services in the Community House in 1963.
Another school with the same name was built on Altamonte Ave. in 1959. Traffic and adjacent commercial development made that location unsuitable, so that building was moved to Paola in 1977 and a new school was built here. The school was expanded by the construction of a large addition in 2003 and at the same time, the olders buildings were given a facelift.
This home, built in about 1880 by Peter Nolan, is the oldest house in Altamonte Springs. It is also known as the Juthe House, after Kristian Juthe who lived here with his family for many years.
It is of Frame Vernacular construction, with a gable roof, roof-line balustrade, shed extensions on either side, and a formerly screened-in porch.
This Frame Vernacular home, built in about 1925, has a gable roof, gable extensions, and an entrance porch. It is the first home we've stopped at in San Lando The Suburb Beautiful Subdivision.
In 1924, the Altamonte Homes Company acquired from J.E. Bartlett most of the unsold property originally platted by the Altamonte Land, Hotel and Navigation Company. This included Lakes Florida, Marion and Frances. Sanlando was referred to as "The Suburb Beautiful".
The project was marked by a sign at the intersection of Altamonte Ave. and Hermits Tr., and plans included canals to connect the lakes, as in Winter Park. By late 1924, five miles of streets and electric lines were being installed. Sanlando was annexed into Altamonte Springs in March of 1925, but a portion was excluded in 1934 when a judge ruled that the town lacked the authority to annex it.
This is a Bungalow, built in about 1925. Its style is expressed by a gable roof, a gable extension, and an enclosed entrance porch.
This is another Frame Vernacular home, with a gable roof, symmetrical facade, and entrance porch. Its painted tin roof has an uncommon rolled roof edge.
This Frame Vernacular house has a cross-gable roof, a gable extension, and an offset entrance. It was built by W.O. Cluff, one of the more active builders in Sanlando.
This is a Mediterranean Revival style home, and is part of the J.E. Martin Subdivision. It has a gable roof, shed extension, and an arched entrance opening.
This Frame Vernacular home has a gable roof, exposed rafter ends, and an enclosed entrance porch. It was remodelled to give it a Mediterranean Revival appearance with tan stucco walls and a red barrel tile roof.
Frank Haithcox named Hermits Trail for a man named Dawson, who lived in seclusion in a barn-like structure at this location. He ran a herd of cattle and discouraged visitors with a "tightly nailed gate". Dawson died in the early 1920s.
Over this stretch of road ran the "Dixie Flyer", a horse-drawn narrow gauge railway from the railroad depot to the Altamonte Hotel. It was replaced by a cement sidewalk in 1923.
This building began as the Lake Brantley Union Chapel, begun in 1882 and completed in 1885. It was located just west of the present Lake Brantley High School. Mrs. Carlos Cushing, a winter resident from Boston, persuaded her husband to start the project on land donated by George and Louise Lewton. It was designed by an architect from Boston.
The Winter Park Congregational Church sent a minister to conduct monthly services. There were also Presbyterian and Methodist congregations in the area, and they probably worshipped there. After the freezes of 1894 and 1895, the area along Lake Brantley was abandoned and a family deeded the property to Rollins College in exchange for tuition for their two daughters.
In 1905, hunters Arthur Fuller and Maxwell McIntyre found the abandoned church in the woods in good condition and proposed to move it into town. Rollins College, having done nothing with it to that point, sold it to them for $600. The church was disassembled and moved piece by piece to its present location, and services resumed in it in 1908. One of the its generous benefactors was Henry Westinghouse.
The chapel was renovated in 1927, and while work was going on services were held at the Community House. It became part of the Altamonte Community Church, which organized in 1955. The church holds its regular services in a newer brick building, but the chapel is still a popular place for weddings.
The woodwork details suggest that J.A. Clouser, prominent in early Longwood, may have been involved in the construction of the chapel.
B.A. Galloway's Winter Park Telephone Company had only three telephone numbers and six subdivisions in 1913.
In 1970, the company moved to a location north of Galloway Dr. This building was built by Jack Albershardt of Palm Properties in 1973, and was renamed the Galloway Building when it was later acquired by the telephone company.
The community was first located at Palm Springs near the Little Wekiwa River, then relocated to Snowville (population 4 in 1870) near the railroad when it came through in 1880. In 1882, the Altamonte Land, Hotel and Navigation Company bought 1200 acres and the name "Snow's Station" changed to "Altamonte Station" in 1884, presumably taking the name from the Altamonte post office on Lake Brantley.
On April 1, 1887, it took the name of the springs located near the hotel. "Altamonte" comes from the Spanish words for "high hill".
The boundaries of the city have changed many times. Benjamin F. Haines became mayor and, along with other property owners, sued to have their property excluded from the town. In 1931, Ed Mitchell won such a suit to have Associated Florist Ferneries excluded, on the ground that the town provided no municipal services to it.
In 1933, Southland Fruit Company won a similar lawsuit. So did B.F. Haines, Webber Haines (B.F.'s son), Chester Fosgate, Mable and Rudolph Haas, R.U. Tracy, and the Orienta Investment Company (owned in part by B.F. Haines). These suits removed from the town most of the land west of Lake Orienta and south of Western Ave.
The present City Hall was completed in 1973. Behind it to the east is the water treatment plant built in 1964, and to the south is the 1979 Safety Complex built to house the main fire station and police department.
Trovillion Investment Company completed this building in the 1920s. It began as the Altamonte Pharmacy, operated by C.A. Benson of Chicago. It has also housed a barber shop and the Howell and Williams grocery store and meat market.
Stylistically, it is considered Mediterranean Revival, with a stucco exterior, flat roof and parapet. The original appearance is masked by the awning and paint.
A post office building opened here in 1960 in a previous building. It was later replaced by a building at the southeast corner of Leonard St. and Longwood Ave.
In about 1953, James Cornell opened a Shell station here and named it the Town Garage. It is now the location of Zembower's Garage.
Frank Haithcox was the chief operating officer of the Altamonte Homes Company. He built his home here, not far from the entrance to Sanlando. During the Depression, the company became defunct and Haithcox lost most of his interest in Sanlando. Overstreet Investment Company foreclosed on it and took over its operation.
L.D. Blackford opened a grocery store near here in the early 1950s, and Raymond Rock's hardware store was just to the west of it.
C.W. Seymour operated a grocery store located close to Altamonte Ave. in the 1940s. Seymour added a bar and package store, which later became the Rendezvous Lounge and then the Linc-Inn Lounge.
After B.C. McIntosh, Jr. returned from the war in 1945, he opened a Texaco station here and named it the Altamonte Garage. It was later the home of the Seminole Glass Co.
The volunteer fire department was incorporated in 1952. The town provided this site for a municipal building to serve as the fire station and city hall.
This facility opened in 1964 and was soon rendered insufficient as a result of rapid community growth. In 1972, it was replaced by a new regional plant on Keller Rd. with a 7.5 million gallon capacity.
This area in the 1920s was known as the "colored section", with the remainder of the town reserved for white residents. Building permits were only to be issued to individuals in their own color's section.
In 1927, Banks Ford built a brick and block store here, at the center of the black business section. Downstairs was a drug store and confectionary, and upstairs was a beauty parlor. Next door was Bush's cafe, with living quarters in the back.
Nearby was Clayton Thomas' bar and cafe, a Masonic lodge which doubled as a school, and a hotel known as the Big House.
This street was formerly known as East St., and was renamed in honor of Conder Merritt. He owned a bar and a popular movie theater near here.
Merritt and 80 others sued to have their land excluded from the town in 1951. The city provided no opposition and the property owners won. As a result, 80 acres of land and a majority of the town's black residents left Altamonte Springs.
This church was organized in 1914. This building was erected in 1947-49 while Rev. H.L. Bradley was the pastor.
The present sanctuary, rebuilt in 1966 by Rev. Eugene J. Orr, replaced an older structure at this site. This road, now called "Marker", was formerly named "Market" St.
The Rosenwald School for the black children of Altamonte Springs, Woodbridge and Forest City opened here in 1931. Students who reached the upper grades were bused to Crooms High School in Sanford. It is now a learning center for exceptional children.
This church was previously located near the railroad tracks in 1935. It was then relocated to this corner of Marker St. and Williams St., named for Rev. B.T. Williams, the pastor here. The sanctuary was rebuilt in 1964-73.
Here, on the railroad siding across the street from the station, stood a store operated until 1905 by Roswell S. Fuller. He also served as postmaster. The railroad tracks ran behind the store.
Arthur H. Fuller took over the storekeeper's job from Roswell S. Fuller in 1905, and built a new store at this intersection. Gas pumps were installed in 1913. By 1917, it had the first pay telephone in the town. The building was later acquired by Henry Hansen, and was demolished in 1968.
The south side of this portion of SR 436 was rezoned from residential to commercial in 1950.
This is believed to be the oldest building still operating as a restaurant in Altamonte Springs. It was built by the Ben A. Barnwell family in 1971 and operated as Barney's Bar-B-Q until it was acquired by Bubbalou's in about 2000.
Not far from here was the Prairie Lake Drive-In, built by James Partlow and Associates. The town moved its boundary eastward by annexing it. Outdoor movies dropped in popularity and the drive-in was demolished in 1988. Prairie Lake Plaza was built in its place.
Near here was Club 436, operated by Banks Ford, and Morris Foster's bar and package store. Almost directly behind Club 436 was a beautiful beach frequented by blacks from all over Central Florida.
In 1882, Snow's Station was a 48-minute train ride from Orlando. Sanford was 52 minutes away.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad closed the passenger depot in 1931, but the train would still stop for prominent individuals arriving to winter here. The express office remained open with R.R. Butler as its agent.
A History of Altamonte Springs, Florida, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Tabby House 1995)
Early Days in Seminole County, Florida, by Arthur E. Franke, Jr. (Seminole County Historical Commission 1988)
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Senitnel 1995)
Historic Properties Survey of the City of Altamonte Springs, Historic Properties Associates, Inc. (1992)
Orlando: A Century Plus, by Baynard H. Kendrick (Sentinel Star Company 1976)
Orlando: The City Beautiful, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Continental Heritage Press 1984)
Webb's Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida, by Wanton S. Webb (W.S. Webb & Co. 1885)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules