Captain Eaton and the other two officers developed the land around Lake Maitland, thus establishing what we all know today as the City of Maitland . The town is now mainly a residential community, but it also has a small number of businesses such as barbershops, restaurants, and a Family Dollar store. The only control Eatonville has over what gets built is through its zoning and planning. I want you guys to vote no.". ZORA NEALE HURSTON TELLS US THAT THIS WENT QUITE SMOOTHLY, THERE WERE NO REAL CONFLICTS. Additionally, a seemingly ongoing threat of gentrification. >> THIS TOWN IS NOT FIT FOR IT. A last stand in a losing war? [1] The town is named after Josiah Eaton. If you have plans to head down to the Orlando, FL area anytime soon, you'll definitely want to carve out a little extra time to take the short trip over to Eatonville. In August 1887, 27 African American men unanimously voted for the Town of Eatonville in Orange County, Florida, to incorporate, officially establishing the oldest all-black town in the United States. All-black towns across America: Life was hard but full of promise BUT DESPITE THIS, EATONVILLE HAS NOT BEEN IMMUNE TO THE CHALLENGES THAT HAVE HISTORICALLY PLAGUED BLACK TOWNS ACROSS THE COUNT.RY POVERTY, OFTEN IN PLAIN SIGHT WITH NO GROCERY STORE TO BUY , FRESH FRUIT OR VEGGIES WITHIN WALKING TO HIS -- WALKING DISTANCE. On November 18, 1885, the south 12 acres were deeded to Joseph E. Clarke, the founding father and second mayor of Eatonville. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. 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Clark and several friends attempted to purchase a block of land to establish a "colony for colored people, but so great was However, black settlers still desired to establish and incorporate a town of their own. Editor: Carol Ross. What's different about Eatonville is perhaps the anthropologist and noted writer Zora Neale Hurston, who grew up there. Between 1865 and 1900, there were approximately 400 black towns, settlements, and enclaves. A brief history of Eatonville: The Town That Freedom Built - WESH Channel 2 2023 Cox Media Group. In 1882, two white men, Josiah Eaton and Lewis Lawrence, finally offered to sell black men a large tract of land one mile west of Lake Maitland. EATON WAS WELL KNOWNHE, AS W THE MAYOR OF MAITLAND. "More than 90% of it is about racism. You can either find yourself with an indigenous community, the Seminoles where you would be safe and you are be immersed in their society. EATONVILLE, Fla. In 1887, during reconstruction, Eatonville, FL became the first official municipality in America that had been established by freed African-Americans. Native Americans roamed the rivers and streams, including Indian Henry. Eatonville is historically remarkable. Russell and Mary Calhoun, two students of the Tuskegee Institute, formed a school in 1899. Eatonville. King to Aretha Franklin, the young local Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, The Platters, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and James Brown. EATONVILLE - Even the most sharp-eyed visitor probably would overlook many of this town's historic treasures. It's really people who had had to decide where to go, French said. >> RECENTLY FREED BLACK PEOPLE WHO MADE THEIR WAY TO CENTRAL FLORIDA OFTEN FOUND WORK IN CITRUS GROVES, AS WAS THE CASE FOR JOE CRK,LA WHO, ALONG WITH OTHERS CAME TO THE AREA WITH THE , IDEA THEYD BEGIN A COLONY FOR COLORED PEOPLE. Stands of pine and palmetto scrub separated the town site from the lakes shores. >> IT WILL SIMPLY DESTROY THE ENTIRE TOWN. Zora Neale . The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Ricket and a resident named Tony Taylor would be the first people to live in what would become Eatonville. "[8], In 1884 the Orange County Reporter wrote about the colored village at Maitland, sometimes known as Lawrence, the name of its worthy founder. . Known then as Fort Maitland, this community of white northerners employed the freedmen and their families with clearing land, planting citrus groves, and helping build infrastructure, including a railroad connecting Fort Maitland to Jacksonville. Driving by or through, you might miss it, but if you stop and take a moment, youll quickly notice this historical gem. As the towns around it grew, and its place in the economy diminished. When you walk into its post office, you cant help but feel an old-timey, small-town charm, in part because they only accept cash.One of the first homes built in Eatonville in the late 1800s thats still standing on Taylor Street is now a museum of sorts and historical landmark.You'll see the same thing, you walk into the first mayor of Eatonvilles home and it just feels like grandmas house.You cant forget the towns annual Zora Fest, named for its most famous resident, internationally acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston, whose face is sprinkled throughout the community. King, an 85-year-old Eatonville native, resents what happened when the Orange County Public Schools started selling off parcel after parcel of the Hungerford property, getting the courts and the trustees again and again to cut the number of acres required to be used for educating Black kids, until it it's now zero. ZORA! Because Eaton was well-known. T. Michele Walker. The 160 acres (65ha) land was donated by E.C. After the end of the Civil War, formerly enslaved African Americans flocked to central Florida to work. By the early 20th Century, Eatonville had become what was originally envisioned, a community that gave African Americans the chance to live as they desired and independent of white society. Developer drops land purchase in historically Black town AND YET, SHE SAYS THAT JOE CLARK AND OTHERS, THE OTHERS WHO WERE A PART OF THIS SETTLEMENT, HAD A BIGGER DREAM. "Zora tourism" exists already, with the Zora Neale Hurston Museum. Now it's gone, too, along with 200 of those 300 acres. Incorporated in 1887, it is the first town successfully established by African American freedmen. On the front page of an 1888 edition of the Eatonville Speaker, the author tried to recruit other black families, saying Colored people of the United States! When the Hungerford School was incorporated into Eatonville, it covered 340 acres and made up 62% of the town, a dominant institution physically, culturally, and educationally. A community with a past and present that coexist and a future constantly being reimagined. [11], The Eatonville Historic District was designated and added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 3, 1998. You know, I think it has not always thrived economically. I think the story of Eatonville starts there. I-4 was slapped right through Eatonville in the 50s, but it was the countys plans to expand the citys main thoroughfare, Kennedy Boulevard, to five lanes that residents felt would destroy their towns historical character and charm. Indian Henry guided Thomas VanEaton to Mt. The remaining 100 acres (40ha) parcel was appraised in 2019 for $20 million, but the OCPS announced their intention to sell the land to a developer for $14 million on March 31, 2023. Eatons name lives on with the town in the most obvious fashion. Zora Neale Hurston, the internationally-acclaimed anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist who is best known for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, lived in Eatonville as a child and considered the locale her hometown. Vera King went to the Black public school there. But Eatonville would like to leverage something else: 100 acres of land, ten minutes from downtown Orlando, half an hour from Disney World, valued at more than $20 million in 2019, certainly worth much more now. So they fought it and won. They named the town in honor of Josiah Eaton who eventually also served as its mayor. Residents regularly visited nearby lakes for fishing, boating, and picnicking. Several are related to the town's establishment as a home for African Americans and to its most famous former resident, Zora Neale Hurston. The iconic sign, "The Town That Freedom Built." (ROBERTO GONZALEZ) Tucked between Maitland and Winter Park, just 5.28 miles to the north of Orlando, lies the town of Eatonville, the oldest incorporated African American municipality in America. Today, what was one a sprawling campus is practically empty. 15 Aug 1887 1887 - The Town of Eatonville was established as the FIRST Incorporated African-American municipality in the United States on this date. All of the major offices held by African Americans, French said. That it even happened was remarkable. Eatonville History. 2023 Cox Media Group. "Together, we commit to inspiring Life Long Learners to create a better future" Founded in 1886 200 W Lynch Street, Eatonville, WA 98328 Excerpt Mr. Lawrence has erected on this land a framed church 30x20 feet, a bell for which has been presented by the Congregational Sabbath School of Chelsea, Connecticut. Indeed, perseverance and gratitude for independence are key characteristics evident in the history of this little community in Central Florida. But then another fight, this time plans for a medical waste incinerator plant. There were 858 housing units at an average density of 871.2 per square mile (336.4/km2). . >> THERE WERE 27 AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN WHO SIGNED THAT CHARTER, AND THEY WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO MAKE SURE PEOEPL UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS ACCEPTED TO THE PEOPLE OF MAITLANDS A WELL, THAT THEY HAD THE BACKING OF PROMINENT WHITE CITIZENS. She says the fact that Eatonville even still exists is itself noteworthy. Zora Neale Hurston Analysis - 332 Words | Bartleby The median income is around $27,000 a year. Eatonville, Florida (1887- ) - Blackpast The town was founded as a Black haven, said Nathiri. Founded: August 1887. Buyers usually bought more than one lot to subsistence farm, giving freedmen the ability to own and farm their own private land. Eatonville, Fla., where Zora Neale Hurston grew up, was incorporated in 1887. Free Black people cleared land, planted groves and helped build Maitland. Thousands come to Eatonville every year for the week-long arts and humanities festival known as the Zora! According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8km2), of which 1.0 square mile (2.6km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26km2) (9.17%) is water. And so this was entirely an African American-founded Township. "By 1915, there were less than 60 incorporated Black towns in the entire United States," he said. Over 100 years ago, Eatonville looked much different as befit its location on what was then a sparsely unsettled frontier. Channel 9 spoke to Louse Franklin, whose family has owned property here for almost 100 years, regarding the imaginary line separating Eatonville from her home in Maitland. Read: We want to keep folks housed: Proposal aims to curb Floridas eviction crisis, People in Eatonville helped to incorporate the city of Maitland. This inspired newly-freed African Americans to create their own municipal corporations. It was described in two 1930s novels by Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston, "Mules and Men" and "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Eatonville was officially incorporated on October 28, 1909, after the Eatonville Lumber Company brought in more people to work in its mill. With the goal of teaching vocational skills to boys and girls, the school also helped students tend crops, raise poultry, prepare their own meals, and learn trades for income. Eatonville also became home to the areas best school for black children, the Robert Hungerford Industrial School. Zora Neale Hurston, of course, is very much featured on that wall, but also different mayors and elected officials of Eatonville. Last month, the town council met to vote on changes that would clear the way for a new "community" of more than 350 homes and apartments. Eatonville, the first incorporated Black town in America, possesses a rich traditional Black culture that has endured through generations. 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A Post Office opened at Eatonville in 1889,[10] and closed in 1918. But the developer can still buy the site and build, so long as it's something consistent with Eatonville's vision for the town's survival. Updated on: March 31, 2023 / 4:08 PM THIS TIME, FOR MEDICAL WASTE PLANT. ", Julian Johnson stated, "The streets are talking, the people are talking, and the people are angry and furious. >> AND WE CAN' FORGET THE ANNUAL ZORA FTAS, NAMED AFTER THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED OFFER ZORA NEALE HURSTON, WHOSE FA CE IS SPRING GO THROUGH OUT THE COMMUNITY, ALL OF WHICH IS BEEN, BREATHING HISTORY OF A TINY TOWN ON FREEDOM, BUILT BY FREED MEN, JUST TWO DECADES AFTER BEING EMANCIPATED. Mr Lawrence requested that the settlement use the name Eatonville. Eatonville holds a significant place in U.S. history for its self-rule during segregation that has continued to this day, its famed private school that educated generations of Black students, and the proud welcome its performance venue, Club Eaton, offered to Black musical greats including B.B. Incorporated in 1887 by twenty-seven Black men, the town served as a beacon of freedom and autonomy to Black Floridians and other Black Southerners living through the racial violence and oppression of the Reconstruction era. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. You've done the people wrong, over and over. Deneige Broom is back at Channel 9 for her second tour of duty. It's sitting in a very sweet position geographically.". Read: 3 bullets hit her: Orange County deputy shoots dog while attempting to serve warrant at another home, Hurston rose to fame during the Harlem Renaissance. Eatonville lies between two lakes; to the north is Lake Sabelia and to the south is Lake Bell. The History and Legacy of Eatonville, Florida's Pioneering African I think that was protective. Now, the town is determined to thrive. Lawrence convinced Captain Josiah Eaton, a neighbor and friend, to sell him 22 acres, which Lawrence subdivided. >> NAMING THE TOWN AFTER JOSIAS EATON, ONE OF THOSE PROMINENT WHEIT CITIZENS, CERTAINLY DIDNT HURT GIVEN THE HOSTILE RACIAL , CLIMATE AND VIOLENCE AGASTIN BLACKS AT THE TIME. ", And Lilly Shaw told the council members, "We're gonna be outnumbered. George Gibbs Center for Economic Prosperity, Durden Center For The Advancement of Liberty, Durden Center for the Advancement of Liberty. Aug. 15, 1887 - Eatonville becomes one of first all-black towns in U.S. The Town that Freedom Built: The story of Eatonville, Americas first official black town. Here's how to get it. The Eatonville Speaker newspaper printed an invitation in 1889: Colored People of the United States! Zora Neale Hurston, of course, is very much featured on that wall, but also different mayors and elected officials of Eatonville. The Best 4th of July Mattress Sales 2023 to Shop This Holiday Weekend, Saatvas 4th of July Sale Includes Up to $500 Off GH Institute Experts' Top-Tested Mattresses, Lululemon's Sale Section Has up to 61% Off Its Bestselling Products for 4th of July, Lowe's Fourth of July Sale for 2023 Includes Major Discounts on Appliances. "There was a lot of resistance from the surrounding communities," said Everett Fly, a landscape architect, "because if they could incorporate, that meant that they could vote. "Land is economic justice. Legacy: After the Civil War, freed black slaves began establishing communities to escape the indignities of racism. Eatonville really begins as a dream of people like Joe Clark, he was a previous enslaved man from Georgia.. It is part of Greater Orlando. The vast majority are African American. Indeed, immediately after the Civil War and especially after the end of Reconstruction, laws called black codes were passed throughout the South to drastically limit freedmens rights. As the towns around it grew, and its place in the economy diminished. And despite being an overwhelmingly Black town, racism still penetrated their community, like when Ku Klux Klan members showed up at one of the towns parades in the middle of the day without their masks. "If we aren't careful, Eatonville is going to be extinct," she said. On March 31, after the prospective purchaser of land from the former Hungerford Prep property withdrew their bid and terminated the purchase agreement, Orange County Public Schools released a statement saying that the sale is not moving forward. THOSE WERE THEIR WORDS. Incorporated in 1887, it is the first town successfully established by African American freedmen. And how many of those are left? VIDEO: Eatonville: The town that freedom built, a history of Americas first incorporated Black town, Police arrest 16-year-old in connection to Monday night DeLand shooting, Orange County deputies investigate Tuesday night shooting, victim found in car, The Florida Mall in Orlando announces wave of newcomers to open later this year, OIAs Terminal C getting new pedestrian with help of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Owner of Seminole Towne Center mall in Sanford owes more than $800K in property taxes. Twelve of these works are at the Maitland Art Center in the adjacent town of Maitland. Males had a median income of $21,719 versus $21,328 for females. Clark would become Eatonville's mayor. Founded in 1887, Eatonville was among the early all-Black incorporated municipalities established in the decades after the end of slavery in the U.S. Around 1,200 Black towns or settlements. Described as where wildlife abounds and where the slightest frosts are almost unknown, this article advertised Eatonvilles low land prices and how freedmen could acquire them: five and ten tracts can be bought for five and ten dollars an acre lots to actual settler (colored): 44 x 100, can be bought for thirty-five dollars [in] cash; and fifty on time. Early developers like Mayor Clarke, who would eventually become postmaster and a general store owner in Eatonville, encouraged blacks around the state to move into the town.