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).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
In 1909 or 1910, O.L. Huie of Neenah, Wisconsin, visited Florida and decided to move here. After a return to Wisconsin to sell his business, he returned to Haines City and built a store here.
In 1911, O.L. Huie of from Wisconsin bought this land. Three years later, he built the Park Hotel and a restaurant on it. The site later became the home of Flagship Bank.
This was the location of the home of the Carlton family, which was torn down to make room for the hardware store. Dick Schneider opened a hardware store next to the Carlton Building, then moved into this building and sold the business to Jennings.
This building was erected in 1920 by a Mr. Thompson to house his hardware business and Ralph Stalnaker's Studebaker Garage. It was later owned by the Makinsons from Kissimmee, then into the 1940s was the home of the A&A Food Store. Later, it became a hardware store again, owned by Dick Schneider and Bill Jackson, who later sold it to Charles Jennings, who passed it on to his daughter and son-in-law. Following that, the building housed a furniture store, antique store and a TV repair shop.
O.H. Huie bought the two lots at this corner in 1911 for $75 and sold them in 1921 for $7,500 to the Growers Commercial Bank. Growers erected a bank which opened in 1922. For a time while the yellow brick school was being built, school classes were held upstairs over the bank. The bank closed in 1931, and reopened in 1932 as the State Bank of Haines City, which had been located on Ingraham Ave. Lisle Smith served as its president. The State Bank later became the local branch of the Flagship Bank, then First Union Bank, and then this became an office building.
James Goodale of Greenburg, Indiana, had tuberculosis, perhaps caused or worsened by years of standing over vats of boiling dyes in woolen mills. In 1884, after hearing that Florida was a "Utopia for people suffering from lung diseases, jaundices, and the vapours", he bought a house and land at this site without visiting it first. The Goodales moved in, and later sold it to J.T. Miller and family.
The house was empty in the late 1920s, then was sold to Sam Seigel as a site for a clothing and variety store. J.A. Wadsworth and son dismantled it and moved it to another site, where it was lived in by the Bud Cook family of the B.C. Cook and Sons fruit company.
H.A. Parker operated a general store here in the 1890s. It had a hotel connected to it.
In about 1912, S.J. Robinson arrived in Haines City and his construction company began erecting commercial buildings and residences. Their first was Grandpa Yale's two-story house at this corner.
In 1952, Stan and Irdie Lawhorn opened a self-service drug store. Later, Stan bought out the Haines City Pharmacy and, until 1975, sold prescriptions there.
This arcade of stores was built in 1927 as the Polk Arcade, and is now known as the OK Arcade. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This home, originally owned by Hamilton Jones, was bought by the Malloy family, of the Malloy-Miller Turpentine Company.
Skip and Irdie Lawhorn bought the business of Baker Pharmacy, then located at the corner of Hinson Ave. and 6th St., and built the Corner Drug Store here in 1963 to house it.
In the early 1890s, the Samuel C. Hodgman family from Michigan became involved in the building of an Episcopal church. Mr. Hodgman did some of the woodwork himself, became a deacon and assisted in the services, sometimes run by Bishop William Crane Gray.
The first black settlers arrived in Haines City in 1902, at the time the Malloy-Miller Turpentine Company relocated here from Huston, Florida. The first black school was opened in 1915 in this church, with Mary Keaton as its first teacher.
This hotel was built in 1925-26 and was named after Ralph S. Polk, an Indiana businessman. He owned a citrus processing company and was responsible for the construction of the 10-story hotel, which opened in July of 1926. It was later renamed the Palm Coast Hotel and was operated as a rest home for the elderly. Other businesses which have been located in the building include a teen hangout, real estate office, radio station, travel agency, flower shop and dentist's office. In about 1970, it closed as a hotel and later became the home of Landmark Baptist College.
This building was the home of the Masons just before the real estate crash at the end of the 1920s. It was foreclosed upon, and later the second story was removed. The Masons are now located nearby at 47 6th St.
Frank Randall arrived in Haines City in about 1915 and had a house built across the street. It was later moved to this lot and converted to a tea room restaurant.
This is one of the three arcades built in Haines City during 1925. It includes the portion at 39 N 6th St., which was built in 1921 for A.H. Reagin. Upstairs was a hotel which remained in business until 1926.
In 1884, Mr. and Mrs. James Flye moved here from Maine. They built a two-story home on 3rd St. with sleeping porches on both stories. Later owners were Orren Ohlinger, then Conklin Cline, and then Dr. Shaffer bought it in 1920. It was an apartment and rooming house for a while before it was torn down.
At his livery stable here, James Flye traded with Billy Bowlegs, Tim Tiger, Chipco and Tallahassee. Flye also planted a 15-acre grove in 1887 on the west side of Lake Tracy, but it was killed by the 1895 freeze.
Harrison Jones donated a tract of land for the construction of a school in 1885. The two-story wood frame school, which doubled as a church, was built later that year and served 37 pupils.
It was replaced in 1917-18 by a yellow brick school building. At the time, any students wishing to attend high school had to travel to Lakeland or Bartow. It was known as Haines City Elementary School beginning in 1923, when a new red brick school opened. It was later remodeled for use as the city hall, including the removal of the auditorium to make room for parking. It was later replaced by this modern structure.
Behind this site was the home of F.W. Ohlinger and his wife, Martha Braley, who moved to Waverly in 1884, cleared 12 acres and planted citrus, and by 1886 had a producing grove. They developed the Ohlinger Early and Maltese Blood, two new varieties of orange. He was a teacher, farmer, lawyer, inventor and citrus grower, and received a patent for irrigation machinery.
In 1900, they moved to Haines City and built a two-story home here. F.W. opened a store on the site where Flagship Bank was later located.
This congregation organized in 1925. Early services were held in the Mar Lea Theater.
A red brick school was built here in 1922-23 by S.J. Robinson and Son Construction. It was later torn down.
This school was built in 1925-26 by Paul H. Smith at a cost of $81,500. It was designed by E.C. Hosford. It served as both an elementary and high school. Since it had the only public stage in the area, it was used for high school graduations, school and adult plays and public meetings. Later uses include the Clay Cut Centre, Senior Programs, and Community Theatre.
This congregation organized in 1890, and a little white building was erected at another location in 1909 as a Union Church. It was about 30 feet square, and had a small bell tower. When other congregations broke away and built their own, that left this as the home solely of the Methodists. The site was later the home of a Kwik Check store when the Methodists moved here.
The stained glass windows in this building date to the original construction in 1925. The educational building was added in the rear in 1949.
After Jake Jacobs died, widow Sally Jacobs moved into town and bought a little house located here, and took in roomers to support herself. Later, it was acquired by Dr. and Rev. Palmer.
In 1908, C.U. Garrett and his family moved here from Haskel, Florida, and lived several years in a tent. They built a log cabin, and then a two-story house on this site. Mr. Garrett and F.W. Ohlinger made the hand-made concrete blocks for the house, which was later acquired by descendant Joyce King and her family.
This establishment was built in 1921 as a private residence. It later served as a CPA office and an antique shop. Sisters Frances Vandiver and Diane Rook restored it to its original condition for use as a tea room and an inn in the late 1980s. For a time, it was known as the Holly Garden Inn.
The stained glass windows date to the 1920s when this sanctuary was built.
Paul Smith built this home in 1922, the first residence he constructed.
The first camphor trees were planted along this street in 1916 by the Village Improvement Society.
In 1895, Leslie Russell More and his family, originally of Potsdam, New York, moved to Orlando. Three years later, they moved to Davenport, and in 1900 arrived in Haines City. They bought a house here, formerly belonging to the H.J. McQueen family.
More had a store which closed in 1906, so he erected a small frame building in back of the house and stocked it with nonperishable foods and canned goods, plus outside gins for horse feed.
Upon the advice of his docotr, J.W. Sample moved to Florida in 1900. He and his brothers in 1907 built The Crescent, a house on this hill overlooking the lake. J.W. lived there, and so did his brothers and other northerners until their own homes were completed. Later, it was remodeled and occupied by Ruth Jones.
The name of the home came from the shape of Peninsular Dr., which forms a crescent as it follows the boundary of the Sample property southward.
This house was built in 1923 by Frank Randall. Behind it was a small house occupied by Walter T. Sasser and his wife, Millie Mae Sheffield, and a barn in which 23 mules were kept. The Sasser house was removed in 1949.
A building was erected in 1917 by S.J. Robinson, behind the later Randall house on the corner of Peninsular Dr. and Florida Ave. It was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Walter T. Sasser, who moved to Haines City from Colquitt, Georgia, in about 1920. The house was cut into two parts by Wadsworth and Son in 1949, moved here, and used by the Sassers as the office of their new grove caretaking business.
This settlement was originally called Clay Cut for this section of the South Florida Railroad, where the cut was so deep a freight train was lost from sight when it went through here. The thirty feet of solid clay slowed down the progress of the railroad, so that it looked unlikely it would meet its deadline to reach Lakeland. To speed things up, the workers laid every other crosstie between Haines City and Carter's Corner, and ran a dummy engine over it. After satisfying the deadline, they went back and completed the job.
The railroad refused to establish a station here unless it was renamed Haines City to honor a railroad official. Col. Henry S. Haines, who had been the rail chief for Gen. Robert E. Lee during the Civil War, was hired in 1865 by Henry B. Plant to work with him. They bought up bankrupt railroads throughout the Southeast, including the Florida Central and the Atlantic and Gulf Coast.
A new brick packing house was built here in 1916.
In 1884, Orren Hayes Ohlinger and his family moved to Polk County from Meigs County, Ohio. They homesteaded in what is now Waverly, then in 1900 moved to this location and lived in a house they built, called The Oaks. In 1915, they moved to Babson Park.
In October of 1902, J.T. Miller of Huston, Florida, and his wife, Mamie Thralls of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, moved here with the Malloy-Miller Turpentine Company. That company moved here from Huston and established a turpentine still at this site in 1902, bringing with them the first black community. Quarters for the black workers were set up down Palmetto St. to Lake Tracy. The Millers had the only telephone in Haines City, located in the company commissary.
In 1920, Frank Randall built a hotel on this site, known as Hammer's Hotel. This later became known as the Carlton Building.
This was the site of the Village Inn during the 1910s.
In 1917, Daniel G. Schneider and his family set up a blacksmith shop on this site. In 1919, they moved around the corner behind the later City Market and built a large two-story house.
This church was founded in 1914 in the home of Deacon J.B. Anderson by Rev. P.M. Scott. Mrs. Scott chose the name of the church. The first wooden sanctuary was built in 1916 at the corner of Elwood Ave. and 5th St. Ten years later, a stone church was built and named First Baptist Church. In 1949, it was replaced by the present structure and the original name was restored.
This congregation was founded as the St. Mark A.M.E. Church in 1915 by Rev. E.J. White. This sanctuary was rebuilt under the leadership of Rev. J.B. Blackwell, and the church became "Greater" St. Mark, in 1948-50.
This building was erected and operated as a high school for black students. After integration, this center was established to provide the community with recreation programs, reading and writing programs, child day care, and other activities.
This bridge was constructed in 1927 by Atlantic Coast Line R.R. Co. and the City of Haines City.
Wes Schultz sold Fords here, and in 1921 sold the business to Jim Higgins of Sanford, who incorporated the Haines City Motor Co.
In 1920, John R. Wadsworth and his family moved here and rented Wes Schultz's house on 3rd St. Later, they moved to this corner. Mr. Wadsworth worked at the packing house, in real estate, and in Miller's sawmill on Hatchineha Rd. He and Tom Bower established a construction company which erected nearly every house from Hinson to Ledwith Aves. between 7th and 8th Sts.
The Wadsworths later lived in the Cook house located on Lake Elsie, which was constructed in part from lumber from the Goodale-Miller house.
Leslie Russell More built a large two-story house here in 1912 with huge porches screened for sleeping. There were five rooms downstairs and four bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. It was the first Haines City home with a flush toilet and bult-in electrical wiring.
The house was pulled back one block to the later site of the Florida Power building, and served there as the American Legion home. Later, John R. Wadsworth moved the house to Lake Hamilton and converted it into a rooming house.
Leslie More built a new store building here in 1912 and sold shoes, yard goods, patent medicines, parasols, food, caskets and, on Sunday, ice cream.
H.O. Estes had Francis Kenard design and S.J. Robinson and Son erect, this building which opened on March 15, 1924, containing the 22-room Van Buren Hotel, L.P. Middlebrook and Company Mercantile, Carter's Smart Shop, Mave's Bakery and the Crystal Cafe. Initially, rooms let for $1 per night and meals started at 25 cents.
Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Mathis arrived in Haines City in 1916, and lived on the corner of Ingraham Ave. and 7th St. They later moved to the corner of 8th St. Mr. Mathis reopened the Van Buren Hotel to provide living quarters for the first professional baseball club that would spend spring training here. In 1943, this was renamed as the Pines Hotel, after Jack Pines, a nephew of then-owner Philip Berkovitz. In 1961, rooms let for $8 a week for a single, $12.50 for a double.
This was the early location of the State Bank of Haines City, prior to its move to the corner of Jones Ave. and 6th St. During the early 1920s, it had capital of $20,000. Upstairs was the law office of D.J. Byrnes.
In 1922, S.J. Robinson & Son Builders erected this for W.C. Lockhart. It initially was the real estate office of George Langston and the Highlander Restaurant operated by Mama and Papa Jaeger. Papa (Ernest) died in 1933 and Mama (Wanda) kept the restaurant going until 1942. The real estate office became a fish market. Other tenants included part of the Western Auto store, a night club and the Moose lodge.
Leslie Russell More, on a business trip in Baltimore, was impressed with a beautiful grocery store. Upon his return to Haines City, he and S.J. Robinson erected this two-story red brick building with store space downstairs and office upstairs.
Next to this store in 1917 was the Brotchie Jewelry Shop, then Yale's Dress Shop, then the Angle real estate office, then Long's Grocery, then Cook's Bakery, then the wooden two-story post office.
The land on which the first station was built was donated by Mr. Hinson. Lakeland grew faster than did Haines City because Lakeland offered free land to the railroad for its yards. In 1900, the post office was located in the depot, with James Goodale as the postmaster. In the 1910s, the Johnny Schmidt Garage & Hardware Co. was located here, with the Bowen Hotel located next door.
The Atlantic Coast Line built a new red brick depot here in 1925. Beautification of the adjoining Railroad Park became the responsibility of the Woman's Club.
African Americans in Florida, by Maxine D. Jones and Kevin M. McCarthy (Pineapple Press, Inc. 1993)
Black Florida, by Kevin M. McCarthy (Hippocrene Books 1995)
Century In the Sun: A History of Polk County, Florida, by Ed McNeely and Al R. McFadyen (Polk County Centennial Committee 1961)
Crooked Lake-Babson Park Rediscovered, by Louise Quinn (Cody Publications 1990)
Florida Bed & Breakfast Guide, by Valerie C. Bondy (Queen of Hearts Publications 1995)
Florida Historic Stained Glass Survey: Sites of Historic Windows in Public Facilities in the State of Florida, by Robert O. Jones (Florida Members of the Stained Glass Association of America 1995)
Florida's Fabled Inns, by Louise K. Frisbie (Imperial Publishing Company 1980)
From Beginnings to Boom, by Bernice More Barber (Cromer Printing, Inc. 1975)
Guide to the Small and Historic Lodgings of Florida, by Herbert L. Hiller (Pineapple Press, Inc. 1991)
History of Polk County, Florida, by M.F. Hetherington (The Mickler House 1971)
History of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association (1888-1988), by Altermese Smith Bentley (The Mickler House 1988)
Wish You Were Here: A Grand Tour of Early Florida Via Old Post Cards, by Hampton Dunn (Byron Kennedy and Company 1981)
Yesterday's Polk County, by Louise K. Frisbie (E.A. Seeman Publishing, Inc. 1976)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.