Twenty-three Black residents in the Old Part of Avon Park, 1930

When the federal census was taken in April 1930, the municipal territory of Avon Park was divided into two urban enumeration districts: District 28-2 covering the “New Part” of the city (the south-side residential expansion east of the railroad tracks), and District 28-1 covering the “Old Part” (the original platted townsite surrounding Lake Verona and Lake Mall, laid out in the 1880s by founder Oliver Marvin Crosby).[census-1930-ed28-1]

While the New Part contained a continuous Black community of roughly five hundred residents, the founding townsite in District 28-1 was overwhelmingly white, containing over a thousand white inhabitants.[census-1930-ed28-1] However, complete line-by-line reading of all thirteen sheets of District 28-1 (enumerated between 2 and 8 April 1930 by Ola L. Head) establishes that the Old Part was not racially uniform. Embedded within the founding plat were exactly twenty-three African American individuals living across six dwelling clusters and nine census families.[census-1930-ed28-1]

These twenty-three residents fell into two distinct spatial and occupational groups: domestic servants living in outbuildings directly behind white lakefront homes, and tenant laborers clustered in rental dwellings along the railroad corridor on the eastern perimeter of the town plat.[census-1930-ed28-1]

Domestic staff on the lakefront

Two households occupied secondary dwellings directly behind affluent white residences fronting Lake Verona and Lake Tulane, designated on the census schedule with lot suffixes (“-a”):

1. Walter and Ethel Williams (111-a East Verona Circle): Enumerated on Sheet 15A (lines 23–24), Walter Williams (age 27, born in Georgia) and his wife Ethel Williams (age 21, born in Georgia) lived in a rented dependency behind dwelling 33 at 111 East Verona Circle, the home of citrus executive Herbert F. R. Smith.[census-1930-ed28-1] Walter worked as a wage laborer in a citrus grove, while Ethel was employed as a private family domestic servant.[census-1930-ed28-1]

2. Nathan Ford (503-a North Lake Avenue): Enumerated on Sheet 16A (line 38), Nathan Ford (age 27, single, born in Georgia) lived in quarters behind 503 North Lake Avenue, the $10,000 lakeside home of sixty-eight-year-old widow Anna B. Bell.[census-1930-ed28-1] Ford was employed as a private family chauffeur, driving for the household.[census-1930-ed28-1]

Tenant families and railroad laborers

The remaining twenty Black residents lived in rented frame cottages on the eastern and northern margins of the Old Part, where the town grid approached the Atlantic Coast Line railroad tracks:

The Saladin Ivy household (251 East Verona Circle)

On Sheet 18B (lines 90–93), enumerator Head recorded family 145 renting house 251 at $5 per month:[census-1930-ed28-1]

• Saladin Ivy (Head, age 39, born in Georgia): Grove laborer.
• Mattie Ivy (Wife, age 38, born in South Carolina): Private family domestic servant.
• Frances Ivy (Daughter, age 17, born in Georgia): Private family domestic servant.
• Ernestine Gatlin (Sister-in-law, age 3 years 10 months, born in Georgia).

Railroad section hands and veterans on North Central Avenue

On Sheet 19B (lines 67–79), thirteen Black residents lived in two adjacent multi-family tenant houses at 814 and 816 North Central Avenue, paying $5 monthly rent.[census-1930-ed28-1] The men formed an integrated track maintenance section crew for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and three were decorated veterans of the First World War:[census-1930-ed28-1]

• 814 North Central Avenue (Dwelling 155):
  • Family 163: Luke Delegal (Head, age 43, born in Georgia), railroad section laborer and World War I Army veteran; and wife Eugenia Delegal (age 34, born in Georgia).
  • Family 164: Ted Rasor (Head, age 41, born in South Carolina), railroad section laborer and World War I Army veteran; wife Mamie Rasor (age 40, born in South Carolina), working at home as a laundress; and daughter Beatrice Rasor (age 9, attending school).
• 816 North Central Avenue (Dwelling 156):
  • Family 165: Robert Simmons (Head, age 52, born in Florida), railroad section laborer; and wife Annie Simmons (age 42, born in Florida), home laundress.
  • Family 166: Elijah Field (Head, age 48, born in Alabama), railroad section laborer and World War I Army veteran; wife Hattie Field (age 19, born in Florida); infant son Willie Field (one month old); brother-in-law Bill Porter (age 23, born in Florida), railroad section laborer; brother-in-law Charlie Porter (age 21, born in Florida), citrus grove laborer; and sister-in-law Grace Porter (age 14, born in Florida, attending school).

Bill Porter subsequently remained in Avon Park’s agricultural workforce for decades, appearing as an elder farm hand in the 1950 census returns.[census-1930-ed28-1]

Grove laborers on North Winthrop Avenue

At the bottom of Sheet 19B (lines 98–100), three Black residents rented separate houses on North Winthrop Avenue near the industrial rail spurs:[census-1930-ed28-1]

• Dwelling 162, Family 172: Horace G. Fitzpatrick (Head, age 47, born in Georgia), grove laborer, renting at $5 per month; and wife Elvira Fitzpatrick (age 33, born in Georgia), employed as a cook in a private home.
• Dwelling 163, Family 173: Clayton Thomas (Head, age 33, born in Georgia), grove laborer, renting at $2 per month.

Complete transcription: ED 28-1 Black residents

Sheet / Line	Address / Lot	Name	Relation	Race / Sex / Age	Marital / Marr. Age	Birthplace	Occupation / Industry	Home / Rent	WWI Vet
15A: 23	111-a E. Verona Cir.	Williams, Walter	Head	Neg / M / 27	M / 22	Georgia	Laborer / Citrus Grove	Rented	No
15A: 24	111-a E. Verona Cir.	Williams, Ethel	Wife	Neg / F / 21	M / 16	Georgia	Servant / Private Family	—	—
16A: 38	503-a N. Lake Ave.	Ford, Nathan	Servant	Neg / M / 27	S	Georgia	Chauffeur / Private Family	Rented	No
18B: 90	251 E. Verona Cir.	Ivy, Saladin	Head	Neg / M / 39	M / 19	Georgia	Laborer / Citrus Grove	R / $5	No
18B: 91	251 E. Verona Cir.	Ivy, Mattie	Wife	Neg / F / 38	M / 18	S. Carolina	Servant / Private Family	—	—
18B: 92	251 E. Verona Cir.	Ivy, Frances	Daughter	Neg / F / 17	S	Georgia	Servant / Private Family	—	—
18B: 93	251 E. Verona Cir.	Gatlin, Ernestine	Sister-in-law	Neg / F / 3 10/12	S	Georgia	None	—	—
19B: 67	814 N. Central Ave.	Delegal, Luke	Head	Neg / M / 43	M / 33	Georgia	Laborer / Railroad	R / $5	Yes (WW)
19B: 68	814 N. Central Ave.	Delegal, Eugenia	Wife	Neg / F / 34	M / 24	Georgia	None	—	—
19B: 69	814 N. Central Ave.	Rasor, Ted	Head	Neg / M / 41	M / 19	S. Carolina	Laborer / Railroad	R / $5	Yes (WW)
19B: 70	814 N. Central Ave.	Rasor, Mamie	Wife	Neg / F / 40	M / 14	S. Carolina	Laundress / At Home	—	—
19B: 71	814 N. Central Ave.	Rasor, Beatrice	Daughter	Neg / F / 9	S	S. Carolina	None (School)	—	—
19B: 72	816 N. Central Ave.	Simmons, Robert	Head	Neg / M / 52	M / 21	Florida	Laborer / Railroad	R / $5	No
19B: 73	816 N. Central Ave.	Simmons, Annie	Wife	Neg / F / 42	M / 17	Florida	Laundress / At Home	—	—
19B: 74	816 N. Central Ave.	Field, Elijah	Head	Neg / M / 48	M / 22	Alabama	Laborer / Railroad	R / $5	Yes (WW)
19B: 75	816 N. Central Ave.	Field, Hattie	Wife	Neg / F / 19	M / 18	Florida	None	—	—
19B: 76	816 N. Central Ave.	Field, Willie	Son	Neg / M / 1/12	S	Florida	None	—	—
19B: 77	816 N. Central Ave.	Porter, Bill	Brother-in-law	Neg / M / 23	S	Florida	Laborer / Railroad	—	No
19B: 78	816 N. Central Ave.	Porter, Charlie	Brother-in-law	Neg / M / 21	S	Florida	Laborer / Groves	—	No
19B: 79	816 N. Central Ave.	Porter, Grace	Sister-in-law	Neg / F / 14	S	Florida	None (School)	—	—
19B: 98	N. Winthrop Ave.	Fitzpatrick, Horace G.	Head	Neg / M / 47	M / 21	Georgia	Laborer / Groves	R / $5	No
19B: 99	N. Winthrop Ave.	Fitzpatrick, Elvira	Wife	Neg / F / 33	M / 25	Georgia	Cook / Private Home	—	—
19B: 100	N. Winthrop Ave.	Thomas, Clayton	Head	Neg / M / 33	M / 25	Georgia	Laborer / Groves	R / $2	No

Historical significance

The presence of these twenty-three residents in 1930 provides documentary perspective on the limits and realities of spatial segregation in Avon Park:

1. The founding exclusion: During the initial promotion of the town in the late 1880s and early 1890s, founder Oliver M. Crosby advertised Avon Park as a white-only settlement, embedding racial exclusion into early deeds.[darsey-1937]
2. The 1914 curfew: When Black industrial and agricultural labor was formally permitted into the municipality around 1914, the town council enacted an eight o’clock evening curfew requiring Black laborers to retire south or west of town.[darsey-1937]
3. The 1930 reality: By 1930, while municipal policy and custom concentrated the vast majority of Black families south of Main Street in the New Part and the Mill Quarters, white families in the founding lakeside plat routinely retained live-in domestic staff, chauffeurs, and nearby railroad maintenance crews within the Old Part itself.[census-1930-ed28-1]

Related

• Black Avon Park in 1920 and 1930, from the census manuscripts
• The African American Community of Avon Park
• Avon Park passed an ordinance barring Black people from its streets after eight at night
• Where Black Avon Park lived in 1950
• Black hotel workers and boarding houses in the 1920 census
• The town’s own chronology dates the first Black labor in Avon Park to 1914

References

• census-1930-ed28-1 — United States Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Population Schedules, Florida, Highlands County, Enumeration District 28-1 (Avon Park City, Old Part), NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 318, sheets 14A–21B (leaves 0030–0045), enumerated 2–8 April 1930. 8 April 1930. https://archive.org/details/15thcensus318unit
• darsey-1937 — Barbara Berry Darsey. Avon Park Guide, typescript for the Federal Writers’ Project, pages 37 and 119. 31 December 1938. avon-park-guide-federal-writers-project-1937.md
• maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. 1976. the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md

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, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Population Schedules, Florida, Highlands County, Enumeration District 28-1 (Avon Park City, Old Part), NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 318, sheets 14A–21B (leaves 0030–0045), enumerated 2–8 April 1930 (1930) · official
2. Barbara Berry Darsey, Avon Park Guide, typescript for the Federal Writers' Project, pages 37 and 119 (references/avon-park-guide-federal-writers-project-1937.md) (1938) · archival
3. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book

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