Uncorroborated 1913 claim of a Salvation Army national home near Avon Park

A 1913 article in The New Haven Union reporting on Avon Park winter resident Harry Leigh contains a claim that “[n]ot far from Avon Park is the national home of the Salvation Army on [Deinnen?] lake.”[nhu-1913-05-04] The lake name in the article’s scan is illegible and was tentatively transcribed as “Deinnen,” with Lake Denton being the most likely intended location near Avon Park.

An exhaustive search of primary and secondary archival indices—including Chronicling America, the Library of Congress, and the State Archives of Florida—yielded no verifiable evidence of a “national home of the Salvation Army” on Lake Denton, Lake Damon, or any other lake near Avon Park in or around 1913.

The claim currently stands as an uncorroborated anomaly in the historical record. The absence of local records suggests several possibilities: the facility may have been affiliated with a different charitable group or church, the “national home” could have been an out-of-state facility misattributed to Avon Park, the project may have been an unfulfilled real estate or charitable scheme from the 1912-1913 Florida land boom, or the statement may simply reflect a typographical error or misquote by the newspaper.

References

• nhu-1913-05-04 — The New Haven Union. Winter Scenes Down at Avon Park, Florida. 4 May 1913. new-haven-union-1913-avon-park.md

Where this comes from

Evidence

single-source — One source. Treat as reported, not established.

Review

unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.

Rights

society

Sources

1. The New Haven Union, Winter Scenes Down at Avon Park, Florida (1913) · newspaper

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