The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Black Ministers and Church Founders of Avon Park, 1920–1950: Matching the Census Schedules to the 1938 WPA Survey

Summary

Three independent bodies of record preserve the names of the clergy and lay officers who built Black Avon Park’s churches between 1916 and 1950: the federal census manuscripts of 1920, 1930, and 1950; the nine African American church inventory forms completed in August and September 1938 by Works Progress Administration fieldworker Lucy G. Crumley; and the church histories compiled in Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell’s The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976, pages 109–110).[census-1920-ed23][census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stmark][maxwell-1976]

Cross-referencing those three sources resolves the congregational identities of the Black ministers enumerated in the 1930 census and uncovers a fourth bi-vocational pastor on the 1930 Mill Quarters schedule:

  1. Elder Harry Johnson (Preacher, Holiness, age 39 in 1930 on Sheet 4A of ED 28-2; Rev. Harry Johnson, age 57 in 1950 in ED 28-8) was the founder, builder, and long-serving pastor of Emanuel Tabernacle (Emanuel Tabernacle Baptist Church Apostolic Faith (Holiness), later known as the Apostolic Church of Jesus at 914 South Carolina Avenue), which he organized on 5 June 1927 in a canary-board building in Hatchell’s Subdivision before erecting its Carolina Street sanctuary in 1928–1929.[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-emanuel][census-1950-ed-28-8][maxwell-1976]
  2. Rev. H. McNeal Harris (Preacher, Methodist, age 35 in 1930 on Sheet 1A of ED 28-2, with his wife Rosetta, 38, and daughter Helen, 19) was an ordained African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) minister serving New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church (818/900 South Delaney Avenue)—making him the earliest pastor after founder Rev. A. M. Wadell (1920) identified for New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church, which lacked a surviving 1938 WPA survey card.[census-1930-avon-park][maxwell-1976][bethel-stpete-history] Twenty-six years after his Avon Park pastorate, while serving as pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Tallahassee, Harris became a frontline leader of the 1956 Tallahassee Bus Boycott alongside Rev. C. K. Steele.[fm-34855-harris][bethel-stpete-history]
  3. Rev. Reuben (“R.”) Foreman (recorded on Sheet 6A/6B of ED 28-3 in April 1930 as Foreman, Rev. A. [or Reu. A.] with weekday occupation Sawyer, Crate Mill) was the founding pastor (1922–1934) of Saint John Baptist Church in the Mill Quarters, proving that the mill settlement’s Baptist pastor worked weekdays as a crate-mill sawyer alongside his parishioners.[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stjohn][maxwell-1976]
  4. Rev. Robert M. Rixon (Preacher, Baptist, age 45 in 1930 on Sheet 3A of ED 28-2, on B Avenue with his wife Bertha O.) was the only full-time resident Baptist clergyman enumerated in Avon Park in April 1930, residing one block from Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church (on Avenue C) during the year Saint Mark transitioned to non-resident pastor Rev. T. L. Jenkins of Davenport and St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church (on Carolina Street) completed the tenure of its founding pastor Rev. J. D. Washington (1929–1930).[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stmark][wpa-stmary]

1920: Rev. David Pete and the First Two Congregations

In January 1920, when Byrum Shockley enumerated DeSoto County Enumeration District 23 (Precinct 14, Avon Park), only two Black congregations had been organized in Avon Park: Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1916 on Avenue C (East Green Street) under Rev. G. W. Epps, and New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church, organized in 1919 or 1920 on South Delaney Avenue under Rev. A. M. Wadell.[wpa-stmark][maxwell-1976]

Across all nineteen sheets of the 1920 schedule, only one Black resident carries a ministerial occupation: David Pete, enumerated on Sheet 8A (image 0453, line 15, inside the corporate limits of Avon Park Town) as Clergyman | Church | W.[census-1920-ed23] The 1920 census schedule does not record his denomination.[census-1920-ed23]

Matching the 1930 Census Ministers to Their Congregations

By April 1930, when Avon Park’s Black population reached 928 inside the city limits (with roughly 445 more in the unincorporated precinct of ED 28-3), six of the town’s pre-World War II Black congregations were in existence: Saint Mark Baptist (1916), New Mount Olive A.M.E. (1919/1920), Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal / C.M.E. (constituted 1921, disbanded 1926, reorganized 1929–1930), Saint John Baptist (1922), Beulah Baptist (1923), Emanuel Tabernacle (1927), and St. Mary Primitive Baptist (August 1929).[wpa-stmark][wpa-mtzion][wpa-stjohn][wpa-beulah][wpa-emanuel][wpa-stmary][maxwell-1976]

1. Elder Harry Johnson (Holiness) — Founder and Pastor of Emanuel Tabernacle (1927–1950+)

On Sheet 4A of ED 28-2 (leaf 0010, Dwelling 87, Family 89, in the Castle Street and Washington Street block), enumerator Laura P. Roberts recorded Harry Johnson (head, age 39, born in Georgia) and his wife Salina Johnson (age 41, born in South Carolina), with Harry Johnson’s occupation entered as Preacher, Holiness.[census-1930-avon-park]

Eight years later, on 31 August 1938, WPA fieldworker Lucy G. Crumley interviewed Elder H. Johnson (Box 939, Carolina Street, Avon Park) for the Church Inventory Form of Emanuel Tabernacle (item 248598, full denominational title: Emanuel Tabernacle Baptist Church Apostolic Faith (Holiness), affiliated with the General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio).[wpa-emanuel] The survey card establishes his continuous pastorate from the congregation’s founding:

  • Founding in a crate-board sanctuary (1927): “The first meeting place of the congregation was in a small building made of canary boards (sides [of] orange crates), situated in Hatchell’s Subdivision, Avon Park, where they held services from June 5, 1927 to February 22, 1929, when they had their first service in their present building.”[wpa-emanuel]
  • Construction of the Carolina Street church (1928–1929): “This is a rectangular wooden building, 30 x 40 feet; painted white. This church was built by Elder H. Johnson, who organized the church, and who has been the clergyman from the date of organization to the present time.”[wpa-emanuel]
  • Records and family continuity through 1950 and 1976: In 1938, Elder H. Johnson (who had completed the fifth grade) kept the church’s Register Book of memberships, baptisms, marriages, and deaths at his home on Carolina Street, while Joe Hobbs served as Church Clerk and Mrs. Bertha Walker (918 Washington Street) kept the Sunday School and Sewing Circle records.[wpa-emanuel] Twelve years later, in the April 1950 federal census of Avon Park (ED 28-8), Rev. Harry Johnson (then age 57, born in Georgia) was still active in the Southside ministry, and twenty-seven-year-old Samuel Hobbs served as a church pianist.[census-1950-ed-28-8] In 1976, Maxwell’s centennial history recorded the congregation on the same street under its later name—Apostolic Church of Jesus, 914 South Carolina Avenue—naming Elder Harry Johnson as its first pastor.[maxwell-1976]

2. Rev. H. McNeal Harris (Methodist) — Pastor of New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church (1930) and Civil Rights Leader

On Sheet 1A of ED 28-2 (leaf 0004, row 25, at the north end of the New Part’s Black residential block), Laura P. Roberts enumerated H. McNeal Harris (head, age 35, born in Florida to a Georgia-born father and South Carolina-born mother), his wife Rosetta Harris (age 38), and their daughter Helen Harris (age 19), recording his occupation as Preacher, Methodist.[census-1930-avon-park]

Two Black Methodist congregations existed in Avon Park in 1930:

  1. Mt. Zion Methodist Church (Colored Methodist Episcopal / C.M.E., later called Mt. Olive C.M.E. Church at 900 Castle Street): Constituted in 1921 on Castle Avenue under the sponsorship of the white Methodist Episcopal Church, South, disbanded in 1926 after meeting under an open-air brush arbor, and reorganized in 1929–1930 in an unpainted wooden sanctuary dedicated on the first Sunday in January 1930.[wpa-mtzion][maxwell-1976] Both the 1938 WPA card (248615) and Maxwell (1976, page 110) name its pastor in 1921–1926 and 1930–1931 as Rev. James (“Ned”) Huggins, succeeded by Rev. G. W. Holmes in August 1937.[wpa-mtzion][maxwell-1976]
  2. New Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church (818 / 900 South Delaney Avenue): Organized in 1919 or 1920 with Rev. A. M. Wadell as its first pastor.[maxwell-1976] Because the congregation was omitted from the 1938 WPA survey cards, no pastoral name between Wadell (1920) and W. E. Johnson (1976) had previously been identified.[maxwell-1976]

Independent A.M.E. church archives and State Archives of Florida records establish that Rev. H. McNeal Harris—together with his wife Mrs. Rosetta Harris and their daughter Helen (later Mrs. Helen McDowell), the exact family enumerated on Sheet 1A of ED 28-2 in April 1930—was an ordained African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) minister and nephew of early St. Petersburg A.M.E. pastor Rev. R. B. Brookins.[bethel-stpete-history] Because Harris was an A.M.E. pastor and Mt. Zion C.M.E. Church was served in 1930–1931 by Rev. James Huggins, Harris’s April 1930 census entry identifies him as the pastor of New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church in Avon Park.[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-mtzion][bethel-stpete-history]

Following his early pastorate in Avon Park, Rev. H. McNeal Harris became one of the most prominent A.M.E. churchmen and civil rights leaders in mid-twentieth-century Florida:

  • The 1956 Tallahassee Bus Boycott: While serving as pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Tallahassee, Harris helped organize and lead the 1956–1957 Tallahassee Bus Boycott alongside Rev. C. K. Steele and the Inter-Civic Council. On 24 December 1956, following the United States Supreme Court’s bus-desegregation ruling, Harris and Steele were photographed together integrating the front seating section of a Tallahassee city bus (Florida Memory items 34854 and 34855).[fm-34855-harris] He also served as chaplain of the Progressive Voters’ League of Florida.
  • Later A.M.E. Pastorates and Presiding Eldership: Harris subsequently served as a Presiding Elder and pastored St. James A.M.E. Church in Miami, Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church in West Palm Beach (1963–1966, where he built the church parsonage and retired the mortgage), and Historic Bethel A.M.E. Church in St. Petersburg (appointed in the fall of 1965 as its twentieth pastor, his eighteenth ministerial appointment in the A.M.E. connection, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Rosetta Harris).[bethel-stpete-history][payne-chapel-history]

3. Rev. Reuben (“R.”) Foreman — Bi-Vocational Crate-Mill Sawyer and Founding Pastor of Saint John Baptist (1922–1934)

In the unincorporated Mill Quarters schedule of April 1930 (ED 28-3, Sheet 6A line 50 through Sheet 6B line 53, leaves 0056–0057, Dwelling 138, Family 141, enumerated 24 April 1930), Laura P. Roberts recorded a household head whose name reads Foreman, Rev. A. [or Reu. A.], renting his dwelling for $4 a month with his wife Lizzie J. Foreman and sons Fred, Lyrd, and James C., while his occupation column reads Sawyer, Crate Mill.[census-1930-avon-park]

Taken alone, that census line left unclear whether "Rev." was a religious title or an abbreviated given name (Reu[ben]), since the occupation column gave a crate-mill trade rather than a ministry.[census-1930-avon-park] Both the 1938 WPA Church Inventory Form for Saint John Baptist Church (248623, located in the Mill Quarters) and Maxwell’s 1976 history (page 109) supply the match:

  • The 1938 WPA card for Saint John Baptist records that the congregation was organized in the Mill Quarters in 1922 as a daughter church of Saint Mark Baptist, and names its first settled clergyman as Reuben Foreman, 1922–1934 (education: Second Grade).[wpa-stjohn]
  • Maxwell (1976, page 109) likewise records for St. John Missionary Baptist Church: Rev. R. Forman, first pastor.[maxwell-1976]

In April 1930—the exact year Saint John Baptist moved its frame sanctuary across the Seaboard Air Line Railroad tracks to the east side of the road—its founding pastor Reuben Foreman lived in a $4-a-month rented house in the Mill Quarters and earned his weekday living as a sawyer at the crate mill alongside the millhands to whom he preached on Sundays.[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stjohn]

4. Rev. Robert M. Rixon (Baptist) and the 1930 Baptist Pastoral Transitions

On Sheet 3A of ED 28-2 (leaf 0008, row 2, on B Avenue), Laura P. Roberts enumerated Robert M. Rixon (head, age 45, born in Florida) and his wife Bertha O. Rixon, with his occupation recorded as Preacher, Baptist.[census-1930-avon-park]

Four Black Baptist congregations operated in Avon Park in 1930, and the 1938 WPA survey cards establish the pastoral timeline of each:

  • Saint John Baptist (Mill Quarters, 1922): Pastored from 1922 to 1934 by crate-mill sawyer Reuben Foreman (enumerated in ED 28-3).[wpa-stjohn]
  • Beulah Baptist (Fairfield Avenue, 1923): Pastored from 1923 to 1933 by its founding clergyman Rev. P. M. Scott, succeeded in 1936 by Rev. A. R. Robinson.[wpa-beulah][maxwell-1976]
  • Saint Mark Baptist (Avenue C / East Green Street, 1916): Organized in 1916 by Rev. G. W. Epps; dedicated its white-painted 40×50-foot concrete-block sanctuary on Avenue C on the fourth Sunday in July 1929; called Rev. T. L. Jenkins (who resided in Davenport, Polk County, and traveled to Avon Park to preach) beginning in 1930.[wpa-stmark][maxwell-1976]
  • St. Mary Primitive Baptist (Carolina Street, August 1929): Organized in August 1929 in a rectangular church built of unpainted canary boards; its founding pastor Rev. J. D. Washington served from 1928/1929 to 1930, followed in 1935 by Rev. E. W. Williams.[wpa-stmary][maxwell-1976]

Because Rev. T. L. Jenkins lived in Davenport and Rev. Reuben Foreman was recorded under his crate-mill trade in ED 28-3, Rev. Robert M. Rixon on B Avenue (one block from Saint Mark Baptist on Avenue C) was the only full-time resident Baptist minister enumerated in Avon Park in April 1930, during the year in which both Saint Mark Baptist and St. Mary Primitive Baptist underwent pastoral transitions.[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stmark][wpa-stmary]

Reconciling the Ten Early Black Congregations across the 1930 Census, 1938 WPA Survey, and 1976 Centennial History

Combining the nine 1938 WPA Church Inventory cards with pages 109–110 of Maxwell’s The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976) and the 1930–1950 census schedules yields a unified register of Black Avon Park’s ten pre-World War II congregations, their founding and later pastors, and the lay officers who appear in both the 1930 census and the 1938 survey:[census-1930-avon-park][wpa-stmark][maxwell-1976]

Congregation (1938 WPA / 1976 Name) Year Founded (WPA / 1976) Location (1938 / 1976) Founding Pastor 1930–1938 Pastors 1976 Pastor Lay Officers Matched in 1930 Census / 1976 Book
Saint Mark Missionary Baptist Church 1916 / 1916 Avenue “C” / 251 E. Green St. Rev. G. W. Epps (1916) Rev. T. L. Jenkins (1930–1938+, lived in Davenport); possibly Rev. Robert M. Rixon (residing on B Ave., April 1930) Rev. J. R. Daughtry Clerk Daisy Seasor (Mrs. Daisy Adria Ceaser, arrived c. 1910 with ACL railroad construction crew); Fin. Sec. Isaac Smith; SS Sec. Hannah Burney; G.A. Sec. Wilma Lee Sims
New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church 1919–1920 / 1920 818 / 900 S. Delaney Ave. Rev. A. M. Wadell (1920) Rev. H. McNeal Harris (enumerated April 1930, ED 28-2 Sheet 1A, row 25) Rev. W. E. Johnson — (no 1938 WPA card)
Mt. Zion Methodist (Colored M.E.) / Mt. Olive C.M.E. Church 1921 (reorg. 1929) / 1924 Castle Ave. / 900 Castle St. Rev. James (“Ned”) Huggins (1921–1926, 1930–1931) Rev. James Huggins (1930–1931); Rev. G. W. Holmes (Aug. 1937–) Rev. J. B. Fields Steward B. Moody; WMS Sec. Rosetta Adams; SS Sec. Francis White
Saint John Missionary Baptist Church 1922 / 1918 Mill Quarters / 1590 S. Delaney Ave. Rev. Reuben (“R.”) Foreman (1922–1934) Rev. Reuben Foreman (1922–1934; enumerated April 1930 in ED 28-3 Sheet 6A/6B as crate-mill sawyer); Rev. Cleve Luter (1937–) Rev. A. Ousley Clerk Perry Sharp (Perry Sharpe, roomer in ED 28-3 Sheet 7A in 1930); SS Sec. Gertrude Hicks; BYPU Sec. Thelma Bryant; WHMS Sec. Grace Fletcher
Beulah Missionary Baptist Church 1923 / 1922 Fairfield Ave. / 1017 S. Delaney Ave. Rev. P. M. Scott (1923–1933) Rev. P. M. Scott (1923–1933); Rev. A. R. Robinson (1936–) Rev. C. L. Carter Deacon Willie Childs; Clerk Estelle Dickson; Fin. Sec. Willie Mae Williams; SS/BYPU Sec. Jerelene Tillman; WMS Sec. Clara Foster
Emanuel Tabernacle / Apostolic Church of Jesus 5 June 1927 / 1939 Carolina St. / 914 S. Carolina Ave. Elder Harry Johnson (1927–1950+) Elder Harry Johnson (enumerated April 1930, ED 28-2 Sheet 4A, and April 1950, ED 28-8) Elder T. J. Brown Clerk Joe Hobbs (compare 1950 church pianist Samuel Hobbs); SS/Sewing Sec. Bertha Walker (918 Washington St.); Lillie B. Dasher; Beater Rogers
St. Mary Primitive Baptist Church Aug. 1929 / 1948 Carolina St. / 202 Third St. Rev. J. D. Washington (1928/29–1930) Rev. J. D. Washington (to 1930); Rev. E. W. Williams (1935–) Rev. T. J. Jackson Clerk Lizzie Coldman (815 Carolina Ave.); SS Sec. Marshall Lowe (1007 Fairfield Ave.); Janie Johnson
Church of Christ (Negro) 1932 / 1938 Carolina St. / 1102 S. Carolina Ave. Rev. Wigger (1932–1934) [1976: Rev. Jerry Giles] Rev. Wigger (1932–1934); E. C. Myers (1936–, Haines City) Rev. J. D. Reeves Clerk Lee Nelson (Rt. 1, Box 82)
Church of God by Faith June 1932 / 1939 Second St. / 221 Second St. Elder Edward Fields (1932–1934) [1976: Elder Baker] Elder Edward Fields (1932–1934); Elder Frank Harris (1934–) Elder C. M. Fogle Clerk Ella Johnson (Fairfield Ave.); SS Sec. Daisy Brockington (Mill Quarters; compare 1930 Jake & Rosa Brokington); Willing Workers Sec. Minnie Luckis (Minnie Lucas, wife of Edwin R. Lucas in 1930 ED 28-3 Sheet 3A, Fairfield Ave.)
Church of God in Christ Aug. 1937 / — Mill Quarters / 1314 S. Carolina Ave. Elder M. B. Blackshear (1937–) [1976: Elder Clarence C. Black] Elder M. B. Blackshear (1937–, Sebring) Elder Clarence C. Black Clerk Neoma Miller (Mill Quarters, in whose home the church was organized in 1937)

References

  • census-1920-ed23 — United States Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, population schedules, Florida, DeSoto County, enumeration district 23 (Precinct 14, Avon Park), NARA microfilm T625 roll 217, Sheet 8A (image 0453). 15 January 1920. https://archive.org/details/14thcensusofpopu217unit
  • census-1930-avon-park — United States Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration districts 28-1, 28-2 and 28-3 (Avon Park), NARA microfilm T626 roll 318. 24 April 1930. https://archive.org/details/15thcensus318unit
  • census-1950-ed-28-8 — United States Bureau of the Census. Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950, population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration district 28-8, Avon Park city. 1 April 1950. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/303137208
  • wpa-stmark — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Saint Mark Baptist Church, Avon Park. 7 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248624
  • wpa-beulah — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Beulah Baptist Church, Avon Park. 7 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248578
  • wpa-stjohn — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Saint John Baptist, Avon Park. 21 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248623
  • wpa-mtzion — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Mt. Zion Methodist Church, Avon Park. 1 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248615
  • wpa-emanuel — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Emanuel Tabernacle, Avon Park. 31 August 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248598
  • wpa-stmary — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: St. Mary Primitive Baptist, Avon Park. 14 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248622
  • wpa-cogbf — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of God by Faith, Avon Park. 31 August 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248588
  • wpa-cogic — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of God in Christ, Avon Park. 1 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248592
  • wpa-churchofchrist-negro — Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida. Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of Christ (Negro), Avon Park. 1 September 1938. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/248581
  • maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida, pages 109–111. 1976. references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md
  • fm-34855-harris — State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Reverend C. K. Steele (on left), and Reverend H. McNeal Harris protesting segregated bus seating in Tallahassee (24 December 1956), item 34855. 24 December 1956. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/34855
  • bethel-stpete-history — Historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Our History — Historic Bethel A.M.E. Church, St. Petersburg, Florida. 1 September 2026. https://historicbethelstpete.org/our-history/
  • payne-chapel-history — Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Our History — Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church, West Palm Beach, Florida. 1 September 2026. https://paynechapelame.com/our-history/

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
society

Sources

  1. United States Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, population schedules, Florida, DeSoto County, enumeration district 23 (Precinct 14, Avon Park), NARA microfilm T625 roll 217, Sheet 8A (image 0453) (1920) · official
  2. United States Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration districts 28-1, 28-2 and 28-3 (Avon Park), NARA microfilm T626 roll 318 (1930) · official
  3. United States Bureau of the Census, Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950, population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration district 28-8, Avon Park city (1950) · official
  4. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Saint Mark Baptist Church, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  5. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Beulah Baptist Church, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  6. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Saint John Baptist, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  7. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Mt. Zion Methodist Church, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  8. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Emanuel Tabernacle, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  9. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: St. Mary Primitive Baptist, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  10. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of God by Faith, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  11. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of God in Christ, Avon Park (1938) · archival
  12. Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey; State Archives of Florida, Historical Records Survey, Church Inventory Form 1938: Church of Christ (Negro), Avon Park (1938) · archival
  13. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida, pages 109–111 (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976) · book
  14. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, Reverend C. K. Steele (on left), and Reverend H. McNeal Harris protesting segregated bus seating in Tallahassee (24 December 1956), item 34855 (1956) · archival
  15. Historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Our History — Historic Bethel A.M.E. Church, St. Petersburg, Florida (2026) · secondary
  16. Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Our History — Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church, West Palm Beach, Florida (2026) · secondary

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