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 1882-83, Col. Alexander, Mrs. Stone and Col. MacDonald formed a partnership and built a ten-room Frame Vernacular two-story wooden hotel known as the Alexander House on this site. It was a resort hotel for fishing, birding and snake hunting. It was initially managed by Mrs. Bruce, and in 1895 she was replaced by Emma Boone, an experienced hotel operator from Boston. She changed the name to the Lake House, and ran it until 1903. The lower floor of the main building, constructed in 1883, was rebuilt in 1930.
The building called the Gatehouse, located just inside the gates, was built in 1908 by George D. Thayer, and was remodeled in 1948. Thayer built the house just to the west of the Gatehouse in 1910. In 1914, Sunset Cottage was built just south of the later Terrace annex.
Charles Edgerton led a group of investors who bought the complex in 1924. His son Dick took over its management. Four years later, The Gables, a new bedroom annex, was built with Jacobethan-style elements. In 1930, The Terrace was built to the south. An Olympic-sized heated swimming pool was built in 1932 between the two. In the early 1930s, the complex was incorporated as the Lakeside Inn Properties.
Architecturally, the hotel's style is classified as Frame Vernacular. Two of the later buildings, erected in 1926 and 1929, are stuccoed and have Jacobethan style elements. It has 87 hotel rooms, with meeting and banquet space for up to 150.
It was managed by Richard Edgerton beginning in 1936. In 1980, he sold it to a group of Orlando businessmen. It was featured in the 1981 movie "Honky Tonk Freeway".
The Inn has been turned into a spacious Tudor-style resort with touches of old Florida, full of gables, bays and windows, covered walkways and flower gardens. Rooms are done in Laura Ashley papers and fabrics.
A house was built here in about 1902 by the Clements family of Michigan. Charles Edgerton bought it in 1919 for use as a winter home. It was not part of the Lakeside Inn complex.
Built in 1915, this frame vernacular style building with a tin roof served as the passenger and freight depot from then until about 1950. Since 1973, it has been the office of the Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce, which began in 1918 as the Commercial Club. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first store in Mount Dora was built in 1884 on cypress pilings over the lake, at the end of what was then 2nd Ave. Its first proprietors were J.M. Alexander and G.A. Rhodes. They sold every variety of pioneer needs, with the goods being delivered by a little lake steamer which connected with the Oklawaha boats at Leesburg. The store was later moved onto the grounds of the Lakeside Inn, becoming Kumquat Cottage. In 1925, the pilings were pulled out, still in good shape after 35 years.
The settlement's second post office was in the store, replacing the first post office located at the corner of Clayton St. and 12th Ave.
The Mount Dora Yacht Club was organized in 1913 in the boathouse of H.C. Fuller. Land for construction of a club house was purchased on May 26, 1913, from Charles and Cora Fuller of Cleveland, Ohio.
The original building was completed here in the fall of 1913, and housed the oldest inland yacht club in the state of Florida. It was the social center of early Mount Dora. It burned in 1966 and was replaced by the present clubhouse.
Lake Dora was named after Dora Ann Drawdy in an 1848 government survey, prepared under the supervision of James A. Gould. She and her husband Jim had arrived in the area from Augusta, Georgia, shortly after the state was opened for homesteaders in 1846. They and their three small children traveled by wagon and oxcart with chickens, geese, and seeds, plus some livestock.
They stopped at a ridge between what are now known as Lakes Dora and Beauclair, staked out 164 acres, cut down saplings for a corral, and built a small log cabin to live in. Dora noticed an unusual tree on the property, which turned out to be a grapefruit, the budwood of which was the beginning of the grapefruit industry in Florida.
Dr. and Mrs. C.A. Carriel arrived in Mount Dora on February 1, 1954, to organize a Presbyterian church. They held their first meeting on February 7 in the Warren Apartments. The church was formally organized on May 16. On July 21 of that same year, the church bought the F.A. Whiting place at this location, and had Duane Blair draw up plans for remodeling the house into a chapel, which was later enlarged into a sanctuary. The present church building was built in the 1960s.
Previously, the site was the 1890s home of the L.T. Todd family, and later of Easter Armstrong.
Gertrude Thorne built the D. Fletcher Crane home for a sanitarium, which she sold to Prof. J.H. Crane in 1906.
With $700 of the proceeds of that sale, she bought the 1887 Edward Smith house at this location in 1910 from Tom Wardell. She converted it into the Villa Dora, a hotel-sanitarium. It had a lounge with a large picture window, the first in Mount Dora. She sold the hotel to Fred and Jennie Graves in 1925. The window was still intact when the hotel was torn down in 1968 to make room for the present Villa Dora Condominiums.
This was the home of H.C. Fuller, built in the early 1900s. The one-story house features crossed gables, cross-hatched shingles and a slatted diamond-shaped vent. Fuller was the first commodore of the Mount Dora Yacht Club.
McDonald St. is named after Clark W. McDonald, who homesteaded the area south of Liberty Ave. in 1875.
This home was built in 1883 for Clark W. McDonald and his wife, Helen, who came from Toledo, Ohio. It was occupied by their daughter, Annie P. McDonald Stone, before she married J.P. Donnelly. This house became an early social center of Mount Dora.
William D. Stone was the second homesteader in Mount Dora, acquiring his land on April 14, 1875. When he divorced his wife, Annie, she became the owner of his property, giving her about 200 acres. It extended westward from Tremain St. to Annie St., including most of present-day downtown Mount Dora.
This land was originally owned by Dr. W.F. Henry, who donated it on March 5, 1895, to the Mount Dora Sunday School Assembly. That organization was a predecessor of the South Florida Chautauqua, an educational, religious and benevolent institution.
A popular attraction known as Chautauqua Park was established near here later that year, including a large auditorium seating 1,500. It was abandoned after the auditorium burned down on February 27, 1905.
L.R. Heim from Connecticut acquired the property for development, named "Slyvan Shores" by Lavonne Lashar in a contest. Nine miles of streets and sidewalks were paved, based on surveys performed by Orrin Sadler. Jimmy Stout was the builder. During the Depression the Sylvan Shores Hotel housed a grocery store and barber shop downstairs, and rooms were rented out on the second floor.
Heim donated land to the city for use as an athletic field. After him were named Heim Rd. and Lake Heim, later renamed Lake TEM (for Tavares-Eustis-Mt. Dora). Heim sold the development in 1934 to Walter Drake of Hudson, Ohio. Drake's daughter, Josephine, and her husband, Henry Stein, operated it from 1936 to 1965.
This 1940s era home has been operated as the Dora Way Bed & Breakfast. Nearby is the site of one of the first orange groves in the area, planted by Doc Henry.
The citizens of Mount Dora have always been interested in attracting educational institutions to the area. In 1885, Ross C. Tremain attempted to attract the new Florida Congregational Association college, which instead settled in Winter Park as Rollins College. J.P. Donnelly and James Simpson tried to convince John B. Stetson to establish his university here, instead of DeLand. This school was established in Mount Dora in August of 1944.
In 1866, Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Donnelly set aside 2 1/2 acres to be used as Forest Cemetery. It was conveyed to the Forest Cemetery Association in 1919. At the institution of then councilwoman Esther Wyatt Bishp, the name was changed in 1953 to Pine Forest Cemetery, because there were already 28 other cities with a "Forest Cemetery", but only one other with a "Pine Forest Cemetery". It has been enlarged to about 20 acres.
The first death among the settlers was Mrs. I.M. Mabbette in 1881, but her place of burial is unknown. The first for which there is a monument is the Warburton family.
In 1875, Robert and Hannah Warburton homesteaded 160 acres, acquiring title to the property on June 10, 1876. On a wagon trip to Eustis on May 21, 1882, they stopped at Fiddler's Pond to water their horse. However, the approach to the lake was too steep, and they and their two children drowned.
This new facility replaced its former home located ten blocks to the south. It has over 40,000 volumes.
The Men's Garden Club of Mount Dora, organized in 1950, established and maintained the Charles V. Putnam Memorial Library, containing one of the best collections of books on Florida, and donated it to the Mount Dora Public Library.
This two-story frame vernacular style house was built in 1905, when the population of Mount Dora was 197. In 1992, it was saved from destruction through the efforts of the Mount Dora Historical Society. Two years later, it was moved to this location to be restored and used as the Historical Society's office.
The first homesteader in Mount Dora was David M. Simpson, who acquired 160 acres on August 10, 1874. He built his first home on S. Grandview St., later the site of the Stokely house.
In 1916, Simpson moved his residence from Donnelly St. and 8th Ave. to this location. He started Mount Dora's first dairy in 1918. He was instrumental in getting the first hard roads in the city.
Simpson moved to a home in Sylvan Shores in the late 1920s, and then to hilltop property on the Donnelly St. extension.
This church began holding services in a brush arbor. The present building dates from the 1890s, when Rev. Wiley Corley was the first pastor.
The Witherspoon Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons is one of the state's oldest active black Masonic lodges. Founded in 1898, it moved to this site in 1903 and holds its meetings on the second floor. The building also served as a schoolhouse from 1922 until 1925.
Mount Dora's first school for black children was located here on a 63 x 132 foot lot. It had one room, and burned in 1922. The Rosenwald Foundation provided a grant of $13,000 which was used to build the present four-room school building in 1926. It was named the Milner-Rosenwald Academy to honor the foundation established by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and benefactor Rev. Duncan C. Milner. It was replaced by a new building at 1250 Grant Ave. which in the 1970s was renamed as Mount Dora Middle School.
A portion of this building is the oldest church built in "East Town". It began as a brush arbor, and the frame structure built later was added to from time to time to produce the present sanctuary.
The first building used for a decade for live theater first served as an ice storage plant (built by James W. Simpson and George Patterson), a citrus packing plant, and a World War II youth center. After considerable renovation, it opened as a theater in February of 1949. The Ice House Players later had this modern building constructed.
This site formerly was occupied by the Swanson house, built in 1884. It later burned.
A house was built on this corner in about 1890, and was owned by the A.F. Atterberry family, and later by Stella Owens.
Robert N. White was one of the members of the Mount Dora Development Corp., the members of which built some of the earlier houses in the town. He lived here in this one-story home with a hipped roof and a pair of chimneys.
This was the home of Al Rehbaum, Sr., another member of the Mount Dora Development Corp. He arrived from Cincinnati via Ancona, Florida, in 1915, and ran a hardware store. In 1918, he established the Rehbaum Funeral Home. The home features a cross-gabled roof and double-hung windows.
When the former Educational Hall was outgrown, the Stedronsky family offered this site for a new library, as a memorial to former citizen George Stedronsky. The plans were drawn by Allen Arthur, and it was built by A.W. Smith and Son of Leesburg. Ground was broken in December of 1976, and the dedication ceremony took place on July 4, 1977. The library's 150 volumes in 1905 grew to 25,000 by 1981. After construction of the present library, this building became the City Hall Annex.
This was originally the home of the Hoagland family, built in 1896, and beginnning in 1952 was known as the Kilkare Convalescent Rest Home, managed by Nancy A. McWhinnie from New York City. In later years, it was used as executive rental offices.
This was the site of the post office in 1890. In the 1950s, the triplex Warren Apartments were built here. In them, the first meeting of the Presbyterian Church was held in 1954.
This was the home of J.G. (Jerome) LaDue, one of the members of the Mount Dora Development Corp. He and wife Julia bought an orange grove here which had been started by Miss Boone of the Lakeside Inn. They built their house, and Jerome died in 1924. The house features a stamped tin roof and a side bay window.
Built in the early 1880s, this was the home of Col. Alexander. He owned and operated the first general store in Mount Dora. The house features a cross-gabled roof and L-shaped porch.
This Spanish style building with Moorish arches has served as a cultural and social center since it was erected in 1929.
In 1882, Rev. Henry Guller conducted Methodist services in the circuit comprising Royallou, Round Lake, Sorrento and Seneca. The original Guller House hotel was built during the 1880s.
It was remodeled in 1920, and J.P. Donnelly bought it in 1929. He sold it to the city, which remodeled it again in 1963, and was moved to Little Lake Harris. The present city hall, using pillars from 1920, was built here with a similar design in 1963.
In November of 1882, the Stones donated this lot for the construction of a Methodist church. They lost members when the Congregational church was organized in 1883. The first sanctuary was built in 1885, but the windows were still covered with cheese cloth. In 1888, a 40-inch bell was bought for $126, and an organ was donated.
The congregation left this corner when a new sanctuary was built at 439 5th Ave. and the site was turned into a parking lot.
The first private school in Mount Dora was located in the home of Margaret Lewis. She became the first teacher in Educational Hall, as soon as it was established.
In 1912, a group of concerned citizens formed the Mount Dora Education Society. The fundraising efforts of James W. Simpson and W.F. Warden resulted in $1,500 which was used to erect this building in 1912 as a private school for winter visitors. It was named Educational Hall, and served students here until 1923, when the public school's quality was improved sufficiently to handle the needs of the children. The building was the home of the Mount Dora Public Library, when in 1917 the books were moved to its basement from the city hall.
Charles Edgerton bought the vacated building, intending to sell it to the city when it had enough money. The library was moved from the basement to the upstairs, and on February 6, 1929, the city bought it. Later, when a new library was needed, the city rejected the idea of tearing it down and replacing it on the same site, because of a lack of adequate parking.
Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Patterson of East Liverpool, Ohio, began their periodic visits to Mount Dora in the late 1890s. Early on, they stayed in the Bruce House, and then built at this location.
In 1918, Al Rehbaum, Sr. established Rehbaum's Funeral Home here. During the 1990s, it became part of the Methodist Church and used as its Christian Enrichment Center.
In 1880, the first meeting of the First Methodist Church was held in the home of Dr. Skinner at Round Lake. The first services were conducted by Rev. H. Guller. The church constitution was drawn up and adopted on December 28, 1882.
In 1903, this site was acquired for $150 for the construction of a parsonage, which was completed in 1904. The present sanctuary, although planned in 1926, was not built for 15 years. It was formally dedicated on March 16, 1941.
Russell H. True, Jr. was told by his doctor that he would live only six more months if he did not leave Kansas and move to Florida or Arizona. He came to Mount Dora in 1884, bought 2 1/2 acres at this site, built a home, and sent for his wife, Frances Lily Morris, and the rest of his family. He lived here for 20 years.
In 1881, Samuel Harrison Powers provided a log cabin and a lot, part of the 160 acres he owned on Lake Franklin, for a school. Its first teacher was Robert Warburton. Later, Powers donated an acre at the corner of 7th Ave. and Clayton St., and a new 15 x 30 foot two-story schoolhouse was built of rough lumber. Part of the present playground now occupies the site of the original school.
In the 1890s, the town's "victory bell" was housed in its tower. The bell was rung when the Mount Dora Hurricanes were victorious.
The P.T.A. was founded in 1918, and promoted the selling of bonds by the town to erect two new three-room school buildings with modern facilities. They were built here and just to the south of here.
In 1920, this lot was bought for the construction of a public school, which cost $3,250. It opened in September of 1922. Six classrooms were added in 1926, and six more in 1933. Four more classrooms, plus a gymnasium and shop were added in 1941. In 1954, the cafetorium and four more rooms were added. The swimming pool was completed the following year. In 1957, two more classrooms were added. This later became part of Mount Dora High School.
This church was being discussed as a mission as early as 1951. Its first service was held on February 5, 1956, at Mrs. Julian Hartridge's Hartridge Manor. The congregation purchased the Bardwell property here, and in 1956 remodeled it and added parish rooms. While the present sanctuary was being built, services were held in the Masonic Hall (the Donnelly house).
At this intersection was the home of L.R. Tremain, one of the members of the Mount Dora Development Corp.
The Tremain family, headed by father Ross C. Tremain, arrived in 1881 from Eustis. He purchased a homestead from David M. Simpson, and sold it off in two-acre lots. In 1891, Tremain and a son built the first orange packing house in Mount Dora. He and one of his sons went into the hardware business after the 1895 freeze, and remained in it until 1910.
The name of the town from 1880 to 1883, Royallou, was a combination of parts of the first names Roy, Ella and Louis, the children of Ross C. Tremain.
A large white stucco house was built here for L.R. Heim, the original surveyor of the Sylvan Shores development. He helped found the First National Bank and owned the town's newspaper. The Heim Field ball park is built on land he donated. This is now operated as the Magnolia Bed and Breakfast.
This was built in 1909 for Mr. Watt, who packed his oranges here for shipment to market. The home remained in the hands of his descendants until at least 2004.
This two-story home was built in 1883 for J.E. MacGowen, one of the earliest settlers in Mount Dora. It was later owned by Frank G. Fowler.
This home of H.N. Gates was built in 1883 with a stamped tin roof and an unusual second-story porch. For a time, it was also the home of Adam Hazelwood, one of the early mayors of Mount Dora.
A home was built in 1883 at this site for Dr. C.R. Gilbert, who ran the first steamboat on Lake Dora. He was also a business associate of J.P. Donnelly. The house was torn down in 2003.
Clayton and Liberty Sts. are named for sons of Dr. Gilbert.
General Contractor and builder John H. Vrooman lived in this 1887 home with his wife, Almeda Cecelia, the daughter of Dr. C.R. Gilbert. It features a corrugated steel roof and a central chimney.
It is now operated as Christopher's Inn, a bed a breakfast establishment.
Earl Gilbert, the son of Dr. C.R. Gilbert, left this property to the city in his will. The park was named after his family.
Adjacent to Gilbert Park is Palm Island Park, which has a large picnic pavilion, an extensive children's playground, a lighthouse, fishing dock, boat ramp, and one of the most beautiful nature walks in Florida.
The Mount Dora Bowling Club was organized on April 7, 1928. The city built three lawn bowling rinks here, in a portion of Evans Park. The club's first chairman was Charles Edgerton, honored by a plaque on these grounds.
The club now has more than 300 members and is the host of major tournaments each year.
This park was established in 1926, and dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Evans in 1940.
A three-story house was built here in 1913, and originally had a working windmill on the roof. The remaining portion was for many years an antiques store.
In 1908, Charles Edson Little bought and remodeled a store on this corner, turning it into a ten-room hotel which he named after his younger son. The site is now occupied by The Frosty Mug Restaurant.
In 1882, Russell H. True, Jr. and wife, Frances Lily Morris True, arrived in Mount Dora from Kansas. Russell worked for a time in the store of Alexander and Rhodes, then bought the feed and grain store at this corner from Charles Melvin Stowe, who had come here in 1884 from Hudson, Massachusetts. After True's death in about 1905, the property was sold to M.V. Simpson, who took in Charles Edson Little of Webster, New Hampshire, as a partner.
After the death of Little in December of 1910, his wife and son Robert bought the store and ran it as Little and Little. When Robert moved north, Mrs. Little operated it with her daughter, Emma Jane Tallant.
The present building was built by Monroe Patterson in 1922 as the Mount Dora Hotel. It was operated as a hotel until 1958, when it was sold to Doris' Furniture, Inc., owned by Doris P. Morse from Crewe, Virginia. Behind the store was the city's fourth post office.
Warren C. Butts moved here from Sorrento in 1896. He operated a furniture store and undertaking business here. When the seven-man Mount Dora Development Corporation began, it had its first office here. Later, this was the site of Crane Furniture.
Mount Dora's third post office was located in this block.
In 1921, this home was built by Dr. Callahan and used by him as a home. It later became the office of Dr. Montgomery.
Reggie Parker and Stella Owens cooperated in opening a grocery store known as Storey Bros. Market, which in 1920 became Parker's Market. Its owner, R.V. Parker, came here from Crewe, Virginia.
In 1922-23, this building was erected as the town's fire house, on land deeded to the town by J.P. Donnelly. Later, five jail cells and a bathroom were added in the back so the building could double as the police station. When the new fire house was built in 1941 on Fourth Ave. between Donnelly and Alexander Sts., four cells were added in the front of this building, which continued to serve as the police station.
The new police/fire complex was built at the corner of Third Ave. and Donnelly St. in 1969, and this building became the sign shop for the traffic department of the police force. In 1978, it was turned into a museum by the Mount Dora Historical Society, officially dedicated on July 4, 1979. The Society has owned the building since 1993.
The two small rooms which now serve as the museum office and the storage room were formerly the public rest rooms, with the doors opening on the alley. The barred cells are now exhibit rooms, showing objects of historical interest which are changed periodically.
This land was sold for $45,000 to the city by J.P. Donnelly in the fall of 1924, and the park was dedicated to his wife. The park was established by the Mount Dora Woman's Club, which had been founded in May of 1919.
In 1926, the city Park Board installed two shuffleboard courts at the southwest end of the park and organized the first Shuffleboard Club. By 1960, this had grown to 22 courts.
This building was erected in 1923, and was later owned by E.C. Van Valkenberg from Smallwood, New York.
M.V. Simpson, the father of Jack Simpson, constructed this building at the end of World War I. The lumber came from Battle's lumber mill in Sorrento. M.V. Simpson retired in 1910, and sold his store to Charles E. Little.
This house was personally built in 1893 by John Phillip Donnelly for himself and the former Annie Stone, whom he married on August 27, 1891. It shows a Queen Anne style, with an octagonal turret and wraparound porch. In 1930, it became the Masonic Temple Lodge.
J.P. Donnelly, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, laid out the town and served as its first mayor. He had homesteaded 160 acres in 1879, and by marrying the former wife of William D. Stone, he doubled his holdings. A building on the campus of the Montverde Academy is named after him, as thanks for his generous contributions.
This home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
While Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Else were traveling from Philadelphia to Tampa in 1890, they stopped off briefly in Mount Dora and decided to remain. They bought a tract here from J.P. Donnelly for the cost of $1,950. It included an 11-room two-story house, 40 orange trees, and a horse barn. They called their winter home Else Villa.
Later owners included the Backus family and Caroline McMurray.
This was built as the Phillips Boarding House in the late nineteenth century. It was bought by Ed and Debbie Seabrook in 1990, and is now a bed and breakfast.
An organizational meeting of the Congregational Church was chaired by Rev. S.B. Andrews of Winter Park on December 27, 1883. Early services were held in the hall over a store at the corner of Donnelly St. and 4th Ave., and in the school near 7th Ave. Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Donnelly donated land, and the church building was sufficiently complete in 1887 to hold services.
It shows a Victorian Revival style, with an entry tower, octagonal bell cupola, and an elongated steeple. The one stained glass window dates to 1887.
In 1929, the name was changed to the Community (Congregational) Church. During that year, former president and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge spent a few weeks in Mount Dora and atended this church.
Additions were made to the church in 1916-17 and 1935. In 1940, a new church and parsonage were built, and in 1951 a school was added. In 1958-59, transepts were added, along with an addition to the educational building. Part of the church was painted pink, along with much of the city, for the 1980 movie "Honky Tonk Freeway".
In the early 1930s, Mount Dora had a young men's club called the P.S. Club. It lasted for three years, and had its headquarters in the loft of Daniel H. Bishop's barn near here. That barn was later torn down to make room for a new post office.
In 1885, John and Eliza Hicks arrived here from St. Johns, Michigan. They bought the old "Doc" Henry grove on the west shore of Lake Gertrude, and had their home built on this corner. Named "Bishop Gate", it was built by J.P. Donnelly in 1886. It was maintained by their daughter, Ida Hicks Rawson Bishop, as a winter residence.
In 1945, Daniel H. Bishop from Seattle, Washington, and wife, Esther Malusky Bishop from Cleveland, Ohio, converted the home into The Bishop's Gates Apartments.
The building was razed in 1981 it to make room for a parking lot.
A home was built here in the 1900s, and originally had a captain's watch.
In November of 1882, Byron M. Bruce and his wife, Caroline, arrived here from Elyria, Ohio. Three years later, they built a hotel at this corner and called it the Bruce House. It had a nice view of the lake.
In 1934, Charles Edgerton bought it for $8,000, and turned it over to his son, Richard, to manage. They renamed it the Grandview Hotel, and Richard ran it until 1935. In 1936, its operation was taken over by David and Blanche Edgerton. It was later sold to Karl Broome.
This was built in 1922 as a movie theater. Prior to then, Mary A. Lee and Fred Harding used to show movies in the city hall. Luckily, David S. Simpson completed the Princess and transferred the equipment there shortly before the city hall burned. In 1925, the screen and projector were sold, and eventually became the property of MCM Theaters, who operated at this location until 1972.
The ticket office here was level with the sidewalk, and on either side were shops, a quick-lunch on one side and a music store on the other. In the late 1920s, the projector caught fire in the middle of the night and burned out the shops and theater front. While repairs were being made, a temporary open-air theater was set up in back of the present Wingler Building, with a screen on its north wall.
The Princess was rebuilt with a Spanish style front, and began to show "talkies" in 1947. In 1965, the Spanish front was replaced with a mansard roof, and was sold soon after as part of the settlement of the Simpson estate.
It was renovated for use as a shopping complex in the 1970s and 1980s.
This structure was built in 1925, and opened as a hotel in 1947. It was owned by H.J. Simpson and managed by Blanche Simpson Erlick.
James W. Simpson bought the Whitney property at this corner, including the site of Kimball's Garage, and in 1925 erected this brick building, also known as the Shamrock Building. During the same year, he helped organize the Mount Dora Bank and Trust Co., of which he became the president.
Its first office was in a small concrete block structure on the east side of Donnelly St. It later moved into this location and the bank's name was changed to the First National Bank of Mount Dora. It operated here until 1964, when it moved to another location at 7th Ave. and Donnelly St.
This building was erected in 1895, and was the site of Mount Dora's first drugstore. During World War II, it was a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. It was later operated as the Lamppost Inn.
This business was established in 1934 by Robert E. Lee, who arrived in Mount Dora that year from Orlando.
Beginning in 1932, this was the home of the Kimball Garage, owned by Harvey Kimball from Washington, DC. Later, it became an antiques store.
Gertrude Thorne arrived in Mount Dora from Toronto, Canada, shortly after the 1895 freeze. In 1896, she established the Rest-a-While Tea and Gift Shop on Donnelly St. near the Dora Hotel. She ran that until she sold it to Carrie True in 1915.
The building was owned by Mrs. T.N. Lewis, who replaced the first structure with the present brick one, and Mrs. True ran the shop until her death in 1947. It was then sold to Mrs. C.C. Dooley, and then to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Groves, who arrived from Charleston, South Carolina, in 1942.
The brick structure is now covered with wood siding.
L.W. Horsley came to Mount Dora from Lincolnton, South Carolina, in 1932. In 1955, he opened his jewelry shop at this location. It later moved to 432 Donnelly St.
Dr. T. Newton Lewis arrived in Mount Dora in 1899 from Adrian, Michigan. He had exchanged his practice, home and furniture, for that of Dr. William Dodge of Mount Dora. Both were satisfied with the trade. Lewis ran the drug store on Donnelly St.
When that frame building was torn down, he and his brother John T. Lewis built a rusticated block building here. This later became the site of Gilliard's Department Store, opened in 1947 by Robert Silkworth and J.D. Gilliard from Pontiac, Michigan.
In 1959, L.L. Landis came to Mount Dora from Ohio and opened a barber shop here.
A small one-story concrete block building was for a time used here as a post office. In 1948, it became the real estate and insurance office of John Alden Murray, who moved to Mount Dora from Spring Lake, New Jersey, in 1938.
In 1918, the telephone company moved its switchboard into a frame building at this site. It burned down in 1920, but within seven days the company established another switchboard in the Simpson Building.
Beginning in 1947, this was the site of the Mount Dora Publishing Co., owned by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Reese, which printed the Mount Dora Topic.
This building was erected during the 1920s for use as a hotel, and continued as such into the late 1970s. It has since been remodeled for restaurant, office and retail use. One of its later names is The Renaissance.
The first city hall, a two-story frame building located here, was the home of the original library, minstrel shows, basketball games, and other entertainment activities. J.P. Donnelly had donated the land, and it was built in 1904 almost entirely of volunteer labor. It burned down on February 22, 1922.
Madeline Milner, librarian of the Illinois State Normal School in DeKalb, had come to Mount Dora to take care of her father. While she was here, she took over the cataloguing of the books in the library, then located in a small room in the city hall.
A home was built here in the 1880s by Mr. Hill, who was a partner in Mount Dora's first hardware store.
Charles Edgerton had this home built in 1928, using materials and plans ordered from the mail order catalogue of Sears, Roebuck & Co. He sold it to Stanton M. Childs, a New York City office furniture designer. Recent usage has been as a gift shop.
This land was donated to the city by Stanton M. Childs, and in his honor, it was named Childs Park. In the 1890s, it was the site of the R.C. Tremain and Son Store, which sold hardware and groceries.
A Guide to National Register Sites In Florida, (Florida Department of State 1984)
About Some Lakes and More in Lake County, by Walter Sime (1995)
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 History Through Its Places: Properties In the National Register of Historic Places, by Morton D. Winsberg (Florida State University 1988)
Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, (University of Florida Press 1989)
Guide to the Small and Historic Lodgings of Florida, by Herbert L. Hiller (Pineapple Press, Inc. 1991)
History of the First Methodist Church, Mount Dora, Florida, by Frances Irene Cobb (1941)
Lake County, Florida: A Pictorial History, by Emmett Peter, Jr. (The Donning Company 1994)
Memories of Mount Dora and Lake County 1845-1981, by David Edgerton (1983)
Memories of Mount Dora From Then Until Now, by David R. Edgerton (Link Stationery & Printing 1993)
Mount Dora Historic Tour, by Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce
The Story of Mount Dora, Florida, by R.J. Longstreet (Mount Dora Historical Society 1960)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.