FREDERICK INMAN, M.D. AND FLORENCE VILLA
In 1887 Dr. Frederick William Inman and his wife Florence Jewett Inman came to the area from Akron, Ohio. He was born in Parkman, Ohio in 1840 and would go on to serve as a surgeon during the Civil War. Later Dr. Inman became an investor in the American Cereal Company that later became the Quaker Oats Company. His father-in-law Mendall Jewett had purchased a large tract of land north of the Winter Haven village. In 1882 Inman came to the area with Jewett and became enamored with its beauty and potential for growing crops. It was the winter of 1886 and Mrs. Inman’s health prompted her physician to recommend a warmer climate. The Inmans returned to the Lake Spring area and camped there on their first visit.
The visit proved good for Mrs. Inman’s health, and the couple elected to return to this area to make their home. Dr. Inman ultimately purchased the Jewett land (which extended from Lake Spring east to the vicinity of Lake Buckeye). In 1887 they constructed a 10-room home on the lake’s north shore. He eventually named the area we know as “Florence Villa” in honor of his wife.
Their first house was located on or about the present site of the Spring Lake Shopping Center and attracted frequent visitors from the north ... so much so that Dr. Inman kept expanding the house until it was later converted to the “Florence Villa Hotel.” In its day this hotel was considered one of inland Florida’s finest resorts. It featured a beautiful golf course on the site of what is now the Stately Oaks subdivision and Spring Haven Retirement Center. It also offered a small boat tour of lakes Spring and Mirror. The lakes were connected naturally by a “run” of high water near the present canal. The hotel would eventually grow to 120-rooms leading the Inmans to build a new home on property just north of present day St. Joseph Catholic Church.
Dr. Inman was very interested in the potential for various crops in this area, and he continually experimented with the growing of citrus, tomatoes and even pineapples. Among his many successes he founded the Florence Villa Packing House. Decades after his death he would be recognized for his pioneering work in the fledgling citrus industry.
Due to the commerce associated with the Inman’s citrus and hospitality enterprises, the Florence Villa area thrived. The hotel proved so popular that the railroad built the Florence Villa Station. The community incorporated years later in 1917 but eventually merged with Winter Haven in 1923.
Dr. Inman, wife Florence and her sister Dr. Mary Jewett (subject of a later installment) were generous pioneers who loved this area. As a testament, the family donated the “Inman Park” property, which serves as the northern gateway to our community. The park, beautifully restored by the City of Winter Haven, contains their final resting place.
There are no direct descendants of Frederick and Florence Inman, but many relatives have continued to call Winter Haven home.
WINTER HAVEN APPROACHES 1900 … ONE CHURCH, ONE SCHOOL AND TWO DEVASTATING FREEZES
As Winter Haven approached the turn of the 20th Century, the 1890s would prove challenging. Newly named and eager to grow, the town was quite small. In March of 1891 the Bartow “Advance Courier” ran this short note about Winter Haven. “The town has one church, a monument to the Baptists of the community, who share its use with the Presbyterians. They have one school of thirty pupils taught this past season by Miss Annie Gibbons. Mrs. H. B. Clayton keeps the only hotel.” Records are incomplete but it is thought this may have been the “Central Hotel.”
Fresh from naming the city, P.D. and Anna Eycleshimer moved across Lake Howard and purchased land from the base of Avenue D to the railroad property (behind our current City Hall) and north to Lake Silver. He grew tomatoes. He built a large home on the northeast block of the intersection of Avenue D and Sixth Street (Highway 17). This block is currently home to a CVS Pharmacy.
Agriculture and the climate were the big lure. Dr. Inman was encouraging guests at the Florence Villa Hotel to consider relocating. Many bought land and planted citrus intending to relocate later. By 1893 the city had a small canning plant that put up guavas, tomatoes and other products. Mr. J. B. Briggs is reported to have grown a 300-acre field of tomatoes. By some estimates, 125,000 crates of tomatoes were shipped from Winter Haven during the winter of 1893-94. The city was called “the greatest shipping point for tomatoes anywhere” leading some to claim title as “The Tomato Capital of the World.”
However, Mother Nature would prove fickle when on December 27, 1894 a disastrous freeze “froze citrus nearly to the ground” and wiped out all fruit and vegetable crops as well. Six weeks later, arctic cold again descended on the area on February 7, 1895 and the mercury hovered in the low twenties for two days. Trees that were budding and a second crop of vegetables were destroyed.
Winter Haven was not looking like a winter haven.
The story was told of one family that lived near Lake Hartridge that was so disheartened the morning of the second freeze that they “left for the north not taking anything but their clothes.” The breakfast coffee pot and dishes were still on the table.
As the 20th Century approached, growth was slow. Mrs. F.A.K. Harris wrote, “Many left but only the most resolute stayed. They began to raise vegetables. They pruned their groves and many trees took on growth. Some went into the cattle business. Work was scarce and times were very hard.”
Progress at the time included the opening of a broom factory operated by a Mr. Stanley. Dr. Inman had a large crop of peaches, which he sold in carloads. For one year (1896-97) Winter Haven had its first newspaper called the “Lake Region Gazette.” It was owned and edited by Miss Marguerite L. Verdier. After a year’s trial she decided to discontinue the publication noting “… she had had some useful experiences; had made some friends, some enemies but no debts…” No copies of the Gazette are known to exist.
Information sources included discussions with family members, The History of Winter Haven by Josephine Burr, Florida Citrus Hall of Fame and The News Chief.
Next month: The Early African American Development/ Henry Tandy
Bob Gernert is a student of Winter Haven history and founded the Museum of Winter Haven History at the historic Women’s Civic League building on Lake Howard. If you have questions or information to share, please email bobgernert@gmail.com or telephone 863-206-6855.
HOLIDAY SIDEBAR: JINGLE BELLS FACTS INCLUDE WINTER HAVEN
Here are a few interesting notes about the familiar holiday standard, Jingle Bells.
• Its original name was “One Horse Open Sleigh”
• It wasn’t written as a Christmas song. Indeed some verses may have been too risqué for the era.
• Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space. Nine days before Christmas in 1965, Gemini 7 crew members performed the song with “Wally” Schirra playing a tiny harmonica accompanied by Tom Stafford shaking a handful of small sleigh bells they had brought along for the space voyage.
• The song’s composer, James Lord Pierpont spent his final years in Winter Haven, Florida dying there in 1893. He is buried in Savannah, Ga.
