The Glenada Hills Land Company and S. Colquitt Pardee (1925–1926)

At the climax of the Florida real estate boom in 1925 and 1926, Avon Park civic leader and attorney Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. (1886–1951) organized the Glenada Hills Land Company to develop a planned residential community situated between Avon Park and Sebring overlooking Lake Glenada.[lambertville-1926-05-06][maxwell-1976]

Subdivision Design and Regional Geography

The Glenada Hills tract was platted along South Highlands Avenue (the arterial ridge corridor connecting Avon Park and Lake Glenada). The design departed from the standard rectangular grid of early Avon Park, featuring:

• Circular Park and Clubhouse: A central circular park reserve flanked by a community clubhouse intended for social gatherings and prospective buyer receptions.[maxwell-1976]
• Mediterranean Revival Architecture: Several early stucco residences were erected in the popular boom-era Spanish and Mediterranean styles, designed to harmonize with the ridge landscape.
• Topographical Elevation: The development advertised frost drainage, lake breezes, and frontage along the ridge heights overlooking Lake Glenada and surrounding citrus groves.

Northern Promotion and Sales Network

To secure capital and homeseekers, Pardee established an active sales agency in the Mid-Atlantic states. In May 1926, Pardee traveled to New Hope, Pennsylvania, establishing a regional marketing partnership with local real estate operators D. B. Oblinger and Clinton Oblinger.[lambertville-1926-05-06]

The Lambertville Record (serving western New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania) reported on 6 May 1926:

S. Colquitt Pardee, president of the Glenada Hills Land Company of Avon Park, Florida, has been visiting New Hope and vicinity in the interest of the development. Sales are being handled through D. B. & Clinton Oblinger, offering ridge properties with modern municipal improvements and lake frontage.[lambertville-1926-05-06]

The Collapse of the Boom and Long-Term Legacy

The timing of the promotional campaign coincided with the nationwide collapse of the Florida land boom in late 1926. Following the catastrophic September 1926 Miami and Lake Okeechobee hurricane and the ensuing banking crisis, out-of-state lot sales plummeted.

Construction on the larger projected civic improvements halted. While several early stucco homes and clubhouse structures survived, the unfinished parcels reverted to acreage or low-density citrus tracts, later known locally as the Pardee Subdivision and Glenada Hills neighborhood.[maxwell-1976]

Biographical Context of the Pardee Family

Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. arrived in Avon Park from Maryland in the early 1920s, establishing a law practice that shaped the municipality for three decades:

• Municipal Counsel: Served seventeen years as Avon Park City Attorney, representing the city in landmark bond validation, debt refinancing, and municipal boundary cases during the 1930s and 1940s.[maxwell-1976]
• Civic Property Holdings: Acquired and renovated the historic Avonian Block / Masonic Temple on Main Street and maintained offices shared with attorney Mattie W. Tompkins.
• Walker Memorial Hospital (1946): Following World War II, Pardee initiated and organized the civic conference with Seventh-day Adventist representatives that secured the purchase of the vacant Highland Lakes Hotel on Lake Damon, raising $150,000 in local matching funds to establish Walker Memorial Hospital.[maxwell-1976]
• Legal Dynasty: His son, Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Jr. (1912–1987), joined the practice, serving as City Attorney in the late 1940s and counsel of record in the contested 1951 municipal election case (Gough v. State ex rel. Sauls).[findagrave-pardee-sr]

References

• lambertville-1926-05-06 — The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.). The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.), 6 May 1926, page 8 — Glenada Hills Land Company promotion. 6 May 1926. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn88071060/1926-05-06/ed-1/?sp=8
• 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
• findagrave-pardee-sr — Find a Grave contributors. Find a Grave memorial 35833661, S. Colquitt Pardee (1886-1951), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park. 2 September 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35833661/s-colquitt-pardee

Related

• Entity: S. Colquitt Pardee, father and son
• Finding: Avon Park’s banks, 1894 to 1929
• Report: the land boom and bust at Avon Park
• Report: Avon Park in the outside press, 1916-1941
• Report: the Avon Park election of 1951

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. The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.), The Lambertville Record (Lambertville, N.J.), 6 May 1926, page 8 — Glenada Hills Land Company promotion (1926)
2. 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
3. Find a Grave contributors, Find a Grave memorial 35833661, S. Colquitt Pardee (1886-1951), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park (2026)

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