Avon Park Depot Museum historical marker text and dates

The metal historical marker outside the Avon Park Depot Museum (3 North Museum Avenue) offers an independent statement of the depot’s construction date and the museum’s institutional history.[hmdb-218001]

Transcription

The marker text reads:

“The Seaboard Coastline Railroad deeded the old depot built in 1926 to the City of Avon Park in 1979. the building was leased to the Historical Society of Avon Park. The Depot Museum was created and dedicated in 1981. in 1986 a railroad dining car was acquired and placed permanently next to the museum. Through the efforts of several pioneer residents and Leoma maxwell, the museum of local history was dedicated in May 1981.”

Analysis of dates

The marker asserts the Seaboard station was built in 1926. This slightly conflicts with the 1925 date supported by the building’s own National Register nomination and the known timeline of the Florida Western and Northern Railroad, which drove its final spike in January 1925 and opened service immediately.

For the museum itself, the marker establishes a clear institutional timeline:

• 1979: The Seaboard Coastline Railroad deeded the building to the City of Avon Park.
• May 1981: The museum of local history was dedicated (through the efforts of Leoma Maxwell and others).
• 1986: A railroad dining car was acquired and placed next to the museum.

The Historical Marker Database logs the marker itself as erected in 1985 by the Avon Park Historical Society. Because the text explicitly records a 1986 event (the dining car acquisition), the physical marker or its current plate must have been manufactured or updated after 1986, making the HMdb’s 1985 erection date either a typo or referring to an earlier version of the marker.

Media notes

Photographs of the marker (Dave W, March 2023) are hosted at the Historical Marker Database, but they are modern copyrighted images that fail the pre-1930 public domain rights test and cannot be ingested into the digital bundle.

References

• hmdb-218001 — The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org). Avon Park Depot Museum Historical Marker. 1 March 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=218001

Related

• Entity: Seaboard Air Line Railway station, Avon Park
• Finding: Avon Park had two railway stations, and only one survives

Where this comes from

Evidence

single-source — One source. Treat as reported, not established.

Review

unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.

Rights

society

Sources

1. The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org), Avon Park Depot Museum Historical Marker (2023)

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