The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
Menu
Admin Sign-In

Founding-era surviving structures of Avon Park and the Bandstand

Popular accounts frequently describe the octagonal Victorian bandstand in the Mile Long Mall as the oldest surviving structure connected to the founding era of Avon Park.[maxwell-1976] This assertion derives from a contraction of the 1990 National Register of Historic Places registration form for the Avon Park Historic District, which observed that the 1897 bandstand is the oldest contributing resource within that specific commercial district.[nrhp-avon-park-district] However, a systematic architectural and documentary census of early structures across the municipality establishes that the bandstand is neither the oldest building in Avon Park nor the only pre-1900 structure standing.

The Oldest Surviving Municipal Building: Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (1894)

The oldest documented building standing anywhere in Avon Park is the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, located at 20 East Pleasant Street at the corner of North Verona Avenue.[maxwell-1976]

Erected in 1894, three years before the bandstand was built on Lake Verona, the Carpenter Gothic frame sanctuary features board-and-batten heart pine siding, steeply pitched gables, lancet arched stained-glass windows, and decorative interior trusswork.[maxwell-1976] The site was acquired through a nominal one-dollar deed sent from Wales by John C. Davies to charter parishioner William King, the town’s inaugural permanent settler.[maxwell-1976] The chapel survived the catastrophic Great Freezes of December 1894 and February 1895, the arson fire of 4 December 1895 that consumed the town schoolhouse where its organ was stored, and the major hurricanes of 1926 and 1928.[maxwell-1976]

Because the 1990 National Register Historic District nomination was drawn as a narrow, linear corridor restricted to Main Street from South Delaney Avenue to U.S. Highway 27, the Church of the Redeemer sat two blocks north of the surveyed boundary and was not cataloged in that inventory.[nrhp-avon-park-district] The original 1894 sanctuary stands today in active ecclesiastical stewardship.[maxwell-1976]

The Oldest Commercial Structure on Main Street: 22 East Main Street (1894)

Inside the National Register Historic District itself, the bandstand is not the sole surviving nineteenth-century building. Facing the Mall at 22 East Main Street, immediately east of the historic 1908/1939 Spinks Chamber of Commerce building, stands a single-story frame vernacular commercial storefront.[nrhp-avon-park-district][maxwell-1976]

In the 1990 National Register nomination, this building was inventoried under the commercial name “Avon Park Book Exchange” with an estimated construction date of “c. 1915.”[nrhp-avon-park-district] However, official parcel and tax appraisal records maintained by the Highlands County Property Appraiser (parcel ID A-22-33-28-010-0420-0042 / 28332201004200042A, Block 42) record its Actual Year Built (AYB) as 1894.[hcpao-22-main]

This tax assessment corroborates local pioneer history documented by Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell in 1976:

“It is thought that the oldest building on Main Street, in its original condition, is the small house next to the Chamber of Commerce. It has known the greatest variety of businesses within its walls. It first housed a funeral parlor, operated by Lloyd Correll. Next was Gray’s shoe shop and Roberts pressing club. Mrs. H. R. Currie and her mother, Mrs. Rogers, had a novelty store and sewing shop. Mrs. Saylor, known as ‘Aunt Sue’ opened the Avalon Tea Room which she later sold to Mrs. L. C. Stewart, who operated it for many years.”[maxwell-1976]

Pioneer undertaker and musician Lloyd Correll conducted his mortuary and retail supplies from this building during the late 1890s before moving into newer brick blocks nearby.[maxwell-1976] The building features original wood wall framing, single drop siding, and a gable roof, retaining its historic 1894 vernacular footprint directly on Main Street.[hcpao-22-main]

The Main Street Bandstand (1897): Form and Role

The Main Street Bandstand was constructed in 1897 on the western shoreline of Lake Verona, positioned in front of Oliver M. Crosby’s Verona Hotel.[nrhp-avon-park-district][maxwell-1976] It served as an open-air pavilion for concerts by the Avon Park Concert Band, civic assemblies, and a recreational lake lookout.[maxwell-1976]

Its historic movements and alterations are well documented:

  1. 1897–1912: Stood on the Lake Verona shore with enclosed ground-floor drop siding, sash windows, and an entrance door beneath an open upper bandstand deck bounded by balustrades.[nrhp-avon-park-district]
  2. c. 1912: Relocated by the Ladies Civic League to a vacant lot at the northwest corner of Main Street and Lake Avenue following the arrival of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, at which time its lower enclosed siding and sash windows were removed to form an open ground-level archway.[nrhp-avon-park-district][maxwell-1976]
  3. 1920: Utilized by the Avon Park Volunteer Fire Department to shelter its single hand-drawn chemical fire cart beneath the lower open platform.[sanborn-1920]
  4. 1922: Relocated into the central landscaped median of the newly widened Mile Long Mall between Forest and Lake Avenues.[nrhp-avon-park-district]
  5. 1976: Restored to its 1922 open pavilion configuration as Avon Park’s official United States Bicentennial Project.[maxwell-1976]

The bandstand is accurately characterized not as the town’s oldest surviving building, but as the oldest surviving civic, recreational, and outdoor pavilion structure of pioneer Avon Park, and the oldest architectural structure situated within the Mile Long Mall.[nrhp-avon-park-district]

Fate of Other Founding-Decade Structures (1885–1896)

The survival of the Church of the Redeemer, 22 East Main Street, and the Bandstand is exceptional when measured against the fate of all other major buildings constructed during Avon Park’s first decade:

Structure Built Location Historical Significance Fate
Verona Hotel 1887–1889 West shore, Lake Verona 32-room heart-pine resort; social and commercial center of pioneer townsite Heavily damaged by fire in 1926/1927 and razed; site is now Donaldson Park.[maxwell-1976]
Little Blue School House 1888 Midway (West Main) near Bell St. Town’s first purpose-built public school and civic hall Replaced in 1892 by new school; structure subsequently removed.[maxwell-1976]
Bunbury House 1889 Lake Pythias shoreline J. H. Nettleton design for George Bunbury; later Shockley family homestead Stood in 1937 per WPA guide; demolished during postwar lakefront development.[darsey-1937]
Union Evangelical Church 1890–1892 106 North Butler Avenue First organized church sanctuary in Avon Park Original wood chapel replaced and enveloped by modern sanctuary additions.[maxwell-1976]
Avonian Block (Masonic Temple) 1893 Verona Avenue at Lake Verona 3-story brick block; bank, stores, offices, and hotel annex Razed in 1961 for municipal parking and the National Guard armory.[maxwell-1976]
Avon Park Public School 1893 South Forest Avenue at Walnut St. 2-story frame graded school Completely destroyed by arson fire on 4 December 1895.[maxwell-1976]
William King Pioneer Home 1892 East shore, Lake Verona 2-story residence with 20-acre grove and windmill irrigation Acquired by John Phillips; later demolished during lakefront redevelopment.[maxwell-1976]
Oliver M. Crosby Residence 1893 Next to Church of the Redeemer Private family residence of town founder; later Helen Mann home Acquired by First Baptist Church and torn down in early 1970.[maxwell-1976]
William Reck House c. 1890s Lots 3–5, Block 4, Verona Circle 2-story frame pioneer dwelling; later Stephenson mortuary Relocated to Verona Ave in 1955; demolished for commercial parking expansions (1960–1991).[sanborn-1920]
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer 1894 20 East Pleasant Street Carpenter Gothic chapel built by King and pioneer communicants Survives intact; oldest standing building in Avon Park.[maxwell-1976]
Commercial Storefront 1894 22 East Main Street Lloyd Correll undertaking parlor, shoe shop, and Avalon Tea Room Survives intact; oldest standing commercial building on Main Street.[hcpao-22-main][maxwell-1976]
Avon Park Bandstand 1897 Lake Verona / Mile Long Mall 2-story octagonal open pavilion and musical venue Survives intact; oldest civic pavilion and oldest Mall structure.[nrhp-avon-park-district]

References

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. Stephen A. Olausen and Barbara E. Mattick, Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation / National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Avon Park Historic District (ref. 90000486) (1990)
  2. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida: 1870–1970 (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976)
  3. Sanborn Map Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map: Avon Park, DeSoto County, Florida, November 1920 (references/sanborn-1920-avon-park.md) (1920)
  4. Highlands County Property Appraiser, Highlands County Property Appraiser, Parcel A-22-33-28-010-0420-0042 (22 E Main St, Avon Park) (2026)
  5. Barbara Berry Darsey, Avon Park Guide, typescript for the Federal Writers' Project (references/avon-park-guide-federal-writers-project-1937.md) (1938)

Something here wrong, or incomplete? The Society would rather know. Tell a volunteer.

Have a question about this record?

← Back to collection

Ask A.P.

Ask the archive

    Try asking:

    0 / 500

    A.P. answers only from the Society's own archive and cites what it used. Questions are not linked to you; search history is stored on your device only (how it works).Ask a volunteer for anything it cannot answer.