Main Street’s initial sand-asphalt paving in 1916
While the grand dual-parkway boulevard of the Mile Long Mall was initiated by a July 1920 municipal bond issue, the initial hard-surfacing of downtown Avon Park’s deep sand ruts occurred four years earlier.
A May 1917 photograph held by the State Archives of Florida captures the town’s early commercial district—including the Norton Smith Real Estate office and the Avon Park Drug Company—fronting a completed hard-surfaced roadway. According to the archive’s records, this sand-asphalt pavement was laid over a sand-clay foundation by the W. P. Kennedy Construction Company in November 1916.[floridamemory-rc17233]
This 1916 paving marks the transition from the pioneer era of pine-needle roads and elevated wooden sidewalks to automotive-grade municipal infrastructure, preceding the boom-era commercial brick blocks that would rise along the corridor in the early 1920s.
Main Street in Avon Park, Florida, featuring asphalt pavement laid by the W. P. Kennedy Construction Company over a sand clay foundation. Also captures local commercial buildings, including the Norton Smith Real Estate office and the Avon Park Drug Company. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.[floridamemory-rc17233]
References
- floridamemory-rc17233 — State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Looking down Main Street - Avon Park, Florida. 8 May 1917. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/38520
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Where this comes from
- Evidence
- corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
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- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
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Sources
- State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, Looking down Main Street - Avon Park, Florida (1917)
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