The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Pioneer Homestead Entries and Land Plats of the Avon Park District, 1912–1916

Between 1912 and 1916, federal land filings and county court proceedings documented the legal and spatial settlement of the greater Avon Park district during its transition from an unincorporated agricultural colony in DeSoto County to an incorporated municipality[dsc-1916-01-06][dsc-1915-04-29].

The Charlie W. Waller Homestead Entry (1912–1916)

On 18 March 1912, pioneer settler Charlie W. Waller of Avon Park filed Homestead Entry No. 010327 at the United States Land Office in Gainesville, Florida, for an 80-acre tract described as:

$$\text{South Half of the South-West Quarter (S½ SW¼) of Section 21, Township 33 South, Range 27 East}$$

This parcel was situated immediately west of the Avon Park town limits, lying across the Lake Wales Ridge transition into the pine flatwoods along the Hardee-Highlands boundary[dsc-1916-01-06].

Under the provisions of the federal Three-Year Homestead Act of 1912 (Public Law 62-179, 37 Stat. 123), which reduced the required residency from five years to three, the United States Land Office issued formal public notice on 11 December 1915 that Waller would submit final three-year proof of continuous cultivation and residence before the Clerk of the Circuit Court at Arcadia on 27 January 1916[dsc-1916-01-06].

Waller’s final homestead proof was attested by two prominent pioneer citizens of Avon Park:

  • D. R. Skipper (Dempsey R. Skipper): A member of the pioneer cattle-ranching family that settled along Charlie Creek and later established Avon Park’s banking and mercantile enterprises[dsc-1916-01-06][maxwell-1976].
  • R. H. Jacobs: A pioneer settler of the Berea and Avon Park communities whose family established early agricultural holdings in northern DeSoto County[dsc-1916-01-06][maxwell-1976].

The entry demonstrates that homesteading of public domain lands in the western range (Range 27 East) remained active through the 1910s, directly complementing the private corporate subdivisions in Range 28 East.

The 1915 Chancery Proceedings and the Section 22 Townsite Plat

From April through June 1915, the Circuit Court of DeSoto County published a series of statutory chancery notices in The De Soto County News concerning title to residential and commercial real estate within the platted townsite of Avon Park, with a designated rule day of 3 May 1915[dsc-1915-04-29].

The legal descriptions in the proceedings establish the exact survey alignment of the early townsite blocks:

  1. Lot 2, Block 7: Described as lying within the North-East Quarter (NE¼) of Section 22, Township 33 South, Range 28 East[dsc-1915-04-29].
  2. Lot 4, Block 6: Described as lying within the South-West Quarter of the South-East Quarter (SW¼ SE¼) of Section 22, Township 33 South, Range 28 East[dsc-1915-04-29].

These descriptions confirm that the original townsite plat—surveyed in the late 1880s under Oliver M. Crosby and the Florida Development Company—was structured on a uniform rectangular lot-and-block grid that straddled multiple quarter-sections of Section 22[dsc-1915-04-29][maxwell-1976]. Section 22 formed the commercial, civic, and transportation spine of Avon Park, carrying Main Street, the Mile Long Mall, the Atlantic Coast Line right-of-way, and the municipal lakefronts[maxwell-1976].

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. The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 6 January 1916, page 18: United States Land Office notice (1916)
  2. The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 29 April 1915, page 7: Notice in Chancery (1915)
  3. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976)

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