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.
This park was dedicated on January 11, 1986, to honor John "Tiger" Minor. He was Ocoee's mayor, city commissioner, Lions Club District Governor, a professional baseball pitcher, a school bus driver, and a dedicated community volunteer.
This is a portion of the first permanent road from Ocoee to Orlando. As was the standard for the main roads of the day, it was nine feet wide and paved with brick. Buses ran on it to and from Orlando in 1915.
When present State Route 50 was created in 1936 to the south, travel to and from Orlando became considerably easier.
On many old maps, the area south of downtown Ocoee is shown as Minorville, named after one of the early pioneer families that came here in 1885 from Stone Mountain, Georgia. At one time, a railroad depot for Minorville was located at the intersection of SRs 50 and 439, with William J. Minor as station agent.
Demolished in 2000, the high school was built in 1925 for a cost of $40,000 and opened for classes in 1927. It was later converted to a middle school. In 1893, there was a two-story wooden school built here.
This congregation was organized in 1883, and Brig. Gen. William T. Withers began its construction later in that decade. He died before it was completed, so Mrs. Withers finished it in his memory.
This Gothic style church building was built on land donated by Capt. Bluford M. and Lena Sims. The interior was also furnished by the Withers family, and it was dedicated on May 23, 1891. The bell was made in London and the stained glass window behind the altar was made in Belgium and carried by ship to Sanford, and by ox cart to Ocoee.
This is the oldest Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) building in continuous use in Florida.
Dr. Samuel R. Scott from Blakely, Georgia, came to Ocoee with his family in 1922. They lived for a while with the Pounds family while their home was being built at 102 Cumberland Ave. His first medical office was in a small building at the southeast corner of McKey St. and Cumberland Ave., and then had this office built. Originaly, it had a flat roof.
After Dr. Scott's death, it was rented to motorcycle, television and T-shirt businesses. It was sold in 1982 and converted to an attorney's office.
Capt. Bluford M. Sims of Georgia came to Florida in 1865. He established a homestead near Fuller's Crossing and raised cotton, corn, cucumbers, sugar cane and citrus. By 1870, he had established a citrus nursery, which may be the first one in Orange County.
His first wife was Fannie C. Roper, who died in 1879. His second wife was Lena McKey, after whom this street is named. They moved into their new two-story, eight-room house at this site in 1885.
In 1881, Sims acquired a 74-acre parcel of land from his sister Mary and her husband, Fletcher Roper. That parcel became most of what is now downtown Ocoee.
On January 14, 1924, the Woman's Club held its first meeting in Mrs. Harry Flewelling's home. For 14 years, meetings were held in the members' homes, the bathhouse pavilion at Starke Lake, and at the Ocoee Inn.
This Art Deco style clubhouse was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1938 on land donated by Eva Sims.
Brig. Gen. William Temple Withers (1825-1889) was wounded by a musket ball in the 1847 battle of Buena Vista, and remained in ill health until his doctors advised him to live in Florida for its mild climate and outdoor life. Withers was a lawyer, planter, horse breeder and horticulturalist, and left Kentucky to move here with his wife and daughters in the 1880s.
They bought a small orange grove near Starke Lake and built a comfortable frame vernacular style home with Stick style elements, plus a boathouse and bathing tank, in 1888 for a total cost of $3,700. He landscaped his home with many varieties of palm and subtropical trees and shrubs.
The boathouse was moved back from the lake shore in 1894 and converted to a cottage. Spencer Brooker and his new bride, Dolly Withers, lived there. In 1915, the cottage was rented to Hoyle and Lucy Pounds. The cottage was torn down by the city in 1985.
David O. and Margaret Francis Maguire moved to this area from Loganville, Georgia, in the 1890s. They taught school here and Mr. Maguire, with Tyrannus J. Minor, built the Citrus Exchange packing house in Ocoee. They bought this house in 1910.
In 1984, the city purchased the house and the Ocoee Historical Commission undertook the job of restoring it.
In the late 1850s, Dr. J.D. Starke settled on the shore of Lake Apopka with a company of slaves. When mosquitos made his sleep impossible, he moved eastward to this area, by the lake which now bears his name. Starke Lake was also the original name of the community, which was later changed to Ocoee, an Indian word meaning "no cold".
The town was platted by 1885 when its population was about 115. It was laid out by a real estate firm consisting of Dr. H.E. Clark, Charles J. Chun and R.B.F. Roper.
Over two-thirds of the 86 legally qualified electors were present at a meeting held on November 22, 1923, at Pounds Packing House. There, it was decided to incorporate as a town and Fred H. Maguire was selected as mayor.
This church began as a mission of the First Baptist Church of Winter Garden, which itself began in Ocoee and moved to Winter Garden in 1915.
Prior to 1920, this was one of the two Ocoee black neighborhoods. The other was Baptist Quarters, located east on Bluford Ave. and south of Orlando Rd.
The U.S. Senate election of 1920 produced a violent chapter in Ocoee's history. One candidate was white Republican judge John M. Cheney, who was rumored to be encouraging black voter registration in Ocoee. On the Sunday before the election, the Ku Klux Klan staged a silent march through Winter Garden and Orlando to warn blacks to stay away from the polls.
Mose Norman, black Ocoee farmer, was turned away from the polls when he showed up to vote. He returned with a shotgun, but was disarmed and beaten. He then went to the home of July Perry, an influential and respected black landowner. Perry obtained a note from Cheney stating that he and Norman were eligible to vote.
A group of white men burst into Perry's home, and two of the attackers (Elmer Daniels and Leo Bogard) were killed. Perry was arrested and jailed in Orlando, where a mob broke in and lynched him not far from Cheney's home by the Orlando Country Club.
In Ocoee, rampaging whites burned down black homes, churches and businesses. At least five blacks were killed, and by the end of the day, most of the rest left. The American Legion patrolled the streets for a time, to prevent further violence. By 1921, only 17 black residents remained. In 1925, there were none, and Ocoee had no black population for about the next 50 years.
This was the location of the home of July Perry, and an important site during the riot of 1920.
Sidney West of Bedford, Virginia, built this home in the early 1920s in a grove of about 15 acres. The frame is made of pine and the floors are oak. Mrs. West taught piano lessons here.
In 1965, Bill Tompkins bought the building and converted it to a funeral home. It was sold to Don Cooley in 1976, and the James Collison in 1977.
This Stick style depot was built in 1914 for the Tavares and Gulf Railroad (T&G, or "Tug and Grunt"). It served as the depot until 1960.
Passenger service ended in 1938, but produce and pulpwood continued to be shipped from Ocoee until July 31, 1969. The Seaboard Coastline Railroad formed in 1967 and absorbed T&G, and the last train service was on December 31, 1969.
The Ocoee Lions Club has used the depot for its meeings since 1979.
This property was sold by Capt. Sims to Mary Parker in 1897, and she sold it to Mrs. S.J. Davis in 1911. William P. Blakely of Tennessee bought it in 1913 and added a library room lined with hundreds of books and National Geographic magazines. He nicknamed this home "The Nook".
Blakely had arrived here in 1881, and he taught school in his home in 1903. He also ran a general store, was a county commissioner and justice of the peace, and was an active member of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.
The home was inherited by Dolly Withers Brooker in 1935, and she left it to her son, James, in 1941. After Harold and Jewel Stoutenburgh acquired the house in 1954, the tall pitched roof garage at the northeast corner of the lot was torn down, with many of the old blocks being used in the construction of the present garage.
This lot was owned by Capt. Bluford Sims, who sold it to Henry J. Bennett of England for $375 in 1886. Benjamin Luther Griffin bought it thirteen years later. He and his wife, Henrietta, had a three-room house built here of long leaf yellow pine. It was expanded as their family grew.
In 1923, Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Maguire bought this home, which had been built by the Eckles Brothers for retired streetcar conductor George Massey. They enclosed the back and side porches and added a second floor.
Mr. Maguire grew citrus and vegetables and owned a packing house in Minorville to the south, and moved it in sections to the corner of Oakland Ave. and Taylor St. When the Town of Ocoee was incorporated in 1923, Maguire became its first mayor. He resigned that position when he and Claude Hawthorne bought the electric company from Winter Garden in 1924.
The bank organized in 1919 with capital of $25,000, and built this, the first brick business building in Ocoee. The bank's first president was Fred H. Maguire, and Dr. M.N. Jensen served as cashier. The bank closed during the Depression.
This building has also been occupied by the telephone company switchboard, a library, a hardware store, the law office of Spencer Cross, the post office, and other small businesses. While the city hall was here in the 1960s, decorative blocks were added to the front wall, which have since been covered with wood siding.
The vault has been converted to a bathroom and storage area. Plaster, stucco, paneling, and dropped ceilings are relatively recent additions.
To the west of the bank is the Marshall Block, developed by John E. Rosetta Marshall.
The Ocoee United Methodist Church bought a house here in the early 1920s for use as a parsonage. The Miami Hurricane which came through Ocoee in 1926 blew a tree down on the house. Rather than repair it, the house was taken down and the lumber was sold for about $200. In the mid-1940s, the lots were sold for unpaid taxes. At this intersection, note the date of 1925 on the manhole cover. They rarely remain in service for such a long period.
John R. "Bud" Pounds came from Stone Mountain, Georgia, in about 1885. He settled in Minorville with his wife, Mattie L. Pounds, and started a sawmill business. He had a portable sawmill which could be moved directly to each jobsite.
Capt. Bluford Sims offered Pounds this lot if he would move to Ocoee and build a home on it. He completed the house in August of 1887, making this the second-oldest remaining home in the city.
Pounds operated the first water works in Ocoee. A deep well next to the old jail on Kissimmee St. provided water pumped to the railroad and this house. The pump engine was gasoline powered, and the old steel water tank brought from Raiford was dismantled in the 1960s. The city was ready to buy the water works, but the deal literally fell through when the well caved in.
There were Methodists in this area as early as 1854. This particular church was formally organized in 1881 by physician and minister Rev. R.M. Dickenson of Danville, Virginia. A wood frame building was erected in 1891 and used for services until 1954.
An educational building was begun on December 13, 1953, and the first services were held in it on October 3, 1954. The new sanctuary was planned in 1957, but construction began on February 9, 1958. A parsonage was built on Magnolia St. in 1963, and a new fellowship building was completed in April of 1979 and dedicated as Marsden Hall.
In what is now the parking area was where the first Ocoee school was located, beginning in 1880. The students were taught by Mrs. E.D.M. Perkins in a three-sided hut beside a brush arbor.
This cemetery contains the graves of many of the important Ocoee pioneers, and after today's walk some of the names should be familiar. In and around the large vault in the center are the remains of the Bluford Sims family. Between there and the pavilion are the vaults of some of the Minors. South of the pavilion are monuments to the Maguires and the Blakelys.
Finding the Red Brick Road, by Toni Christian (Times Printing Service 1986)
Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida's Past, by Jim Robison and Mark Andrews (The Orlando Sentinel 1995)
Florida: A Short History, by Michael Gannon (University Press of Florida 1993)
The History of Public Education in Orange County, Florida, by Diane Taylor (Orange County Retired Educators Association 1990)
Oakland: The Early Years, by Eve Bacon (The Mickler House, Publishers 1974)
Orlando: The City Beautiful, by Jerrell H. Shofner (Continental Heritage Press 1984)
Pictorial History of Florida, by Richard J. Bowe (1970)
Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida, by Mark Derr (William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1989)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.