The tracks that originally divided the city also provided employment for Westside residents. A position with the railroad meant prestige and financial security. A woman living in the neighborhood remembers that, as an eight-year-old, she had difficulty falling asleep as the trains rumbled through the night in the 1940s. The frequent presence of trains would soon become a way of life for her. Even in today's jet age, Winter Park can boast two northbound and two southbound passenger trains that stop at the Morse Boulevard station. The photograph shows a passing Amtrak train from Comstock Avenue.
Schreyer, Peter -- Photographer, Executive Director of the Crealdé School of Art
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Smith Research Grant
Historic Homes -- Florida -- Winter Park
An important part of neighborhood revival is represented by the high number of Habitat homes.
African-Americans -- Florida -- Winter Park
The decorating of Mr. and Mrs. Jessie Fitzgerald's house has become an annual holiday tradition, which is appreciated by children and adults in the neighborhood.
For over a hundred years the Square has been the center of black-owned businesses in Winter Park. Today, only a few community owned businesses survive. Renewed efforts and the establishment of a historic district are being discussed by neighborhood residents.
The Westside Library Building initially was the Library of Hannibal School. The building was later used as a Westside annex of the Winter Park Public Library. In recent years the building has been incorporated into the Winter Park Community Center. It is currently used as an office for "Head Start" and other programs.
For decades the Pennsylvania Avenue business has represented a grocery store and community meeting place.
Business partners Alonzo Roberts and James Chandler have been giving haircuts at the Deluxe Barbershop for 50 and 39 years, respectfully. Original owners included James Dixon, Jr. and Bill Hardy, who operated a barbershop in the same location around the turn of the century. In March of 1995 the current owners moved across the street to the northside of the square. The newly constructed building will continue the one-hundred-year-old tradition of a continuously operated barbershop in Hannibal Square.
Like many other communities across America, Winter Park celebrates January 16th as a memorial and tribute to the famous civil rights leader. City officials, pastors and community groups march each year through the Westside neighborhood. The festivities usually culminate with musical presentations and speeches by community leaders in Shady Park near Hannibal Square.
The oldest building in Hannibal Square, "The Sands," is the only remaining Westside hotel or boarding house. These establishments once played an important role as a temporary home for seasonal workers coming to Winter Park.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawson operated the first Westside funeral home. Originally they served the community out of what is now the DePugh Nursing Home. The current tow story Pennsylvania Avenue building, which served both as a business and a residence, was constructed in the 1950s. Prior to the establishment of their business, black Westside residents had to hire funeral home services from out of town.
In the backyard of the Pennsylvania Avenue building rests a 1960s Cadillac Hearse. This was the first new professional vehicle purchased by the funeral home. Mrs. Lawson's response to a question about the car: "The Hearse has always been part of the family."
Mrs. Willie Smith photographed with part of her large family: her daughter Allie, with her husband, Joe Burns, and granddaughter.
In 1995, Mrs. Smith was ninety years old and a resident of DePugh Nursing Home. She moved to Winter Park in 1932 with her husband and four children. Her husband worked for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the young family lived in the "section houses," railroad-owned housing which stood near Webster and Pennsylvania Avenue. Rent was $2 per month. The family of two working parents and eight children later moved to their own home on Morse Boulevard.
Robert Knight represents the fourth generation owner of a restaurant started in 1926 by his great-grandparents Minnie Lee and Inez Jordan. The small restaurant was called "Baby's Lunch Box" after their daughter's nickname "Baby Young." People of "all kinds" came to eat, what is now called, "soul food." In 1959 Mrs. Jordan retired and passed the business to Lessie Moe Marsh ("Baby Young") and the restaurant was renamed "Duck Inn." As times and business improved, other family members became involved, namely Bobbie Dixon ("Lil' Bobby"), who has been working with the business for 34 years. After "Baby Young" retired in 1984, the restaurant was passed on to Ruby Dixon-Pearson, who still manages the business. With the change of times and a younger clientele, the business in1995 was transformed into a sports bar and named "Sportz Inn." Robert Knight, the new owner, proudly proclaims: "As a family, we keep the dream alive, which I proudly consider a dynasty never to be forgotten."
At the time this photo was taken, Mrs. Johnson lived half-a-block from Warner Chapel on Comstock Avenue. The two story home was built by her father after moving to Winter Park in the late 1920s from North Florida. When Mrs. Johnson was a child she often went with her father to a public planting area across Fairbanks Avenue, now the site of Holler Chevrolet. At the time, many Westside residents supplemented their food supply by growing their own produce. Mrs. Johnson's family migration from the rural South to Winter Park is typical of many African Americans looking for a better future prior to World War II. Retired for many years, Allie Johnson is still active with her church, tends to her fruit trees and enjoys her many grandchildren.
The secretary of the Ideal Woman's Club in 1994, Mrs. Blue is also the sister of Ernestine Ingram.
The president of the Ideal Woman's Club was also a member of Ward Chapel in 1995. Prior to its closing in the mid 1980s, Mrs. Ingram worked for 27 years as a sales person at Leedy's Dress Shop on Park Avenue South in downtown Winter Park. A lifelong resident, she feels that Winter Park, above all, is "a special place with a unique atmosphere."
Clubs, Events, and Organizations -- Florida -- Winter Park
Formerly the parsonage of the First Congregational Church, the building was given to the Ideal Woman's Club and moved. This building was torn down in 1996.
Born in Winter Park, she recently retired from 36 years of service as a public school teacher. Except for her college years and a brief teaching position in Sarasota, she has lived in the same Winter Park neighborhood all of her life. Growing up in the 1940s, Mrs. Anderson remembers a Winter Park with a rural character, dirt roads, hayrides in the summer and outdoor baptismal services on Lake Virginia. Carol Anderson is photographed in front of a backyard utility building at her childhood home on Lyman Avenue.
Formerly used as a separate Church, the building is now used as the dining room annex of the Flowers Temple Church of God and Christ.
Interior of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Located on 425 West Welbourne Avenue, the Church was first organized in 1911 by Reverend C.J. Smith. The current pastor is Reverend L.H. Hendrix, who has served his congregation for nearly 30 years.
Reverend M.L. Hawkins and Mrs. Allie Johnson are standing in front of Warner Chapel, located at 734 West Comstock Avenue. Mrs. Johnson's father was instrumental in the building of the wooden church in the early 1930s. She has worshiped and volunteered at the church throughout her adult life and has taught Sunday school for many years.
Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church Interior #2
Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church Interior #1