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

The Scenic Highlands Sun, Gilbert Freeman, and the Hetherington Consolidation (1925–1946)

During the Florida land boom of the 1920s and the Great Depression that followed, Avon Park supported a vigorous and competitive commercial press. At the center of that era stood The Scenic Highlands Sun, established as a daily newspaper during the peak of the boom by Tampa newspaperman Gilbert "Bert" Freeman.[maxwell-1976] Over two decades, the Scenic Highlands Sun served as the flagship of an Avon Park–headquartered publishing group, navigating economic collapse, editorial management transitions, and an industry consolidation in 1934 under veteran Florida editor William Michael "Bill" Hetherington that directly bridged the town\x27s pioneer press to the modern Avon Park Sun.[maxwell-1976][broadcasting-1938]

Founding as a Land Boom Daily (c. 1925)

In the early 1920s, Gilbert Freeman, a former associate editor of the Tampa Morning Tribune, entered the Highlands County publishing market by purchasing the Highlands County Pilot, a weekly newspaper founded in late November 1919 by George W. Adams.[maxwell-1976][loc-pilot]

As speculative real estate development surged in 1924–1925, Freeman expanded his operations to provide daily coverage. Capitalizing on the town\x27s promotional branding as the "City of Charm" and its surrounding scenic ridge lakes, Freeman launched The Scenic Highlands Sun as a daily newspaper.[maxwell-1976] The daily Sun reported on municipal improvement bond issues, hotel construction (including the Hotel Jacaranda), and agricultural marketing throughout the Lake Wales Ridge.

Following the collapse of the land boom in 1926–1927, advertising and subscriber revenues contracted sharply. Freeman adapted by reorganizing his two Avon Park titles into a cooperative semi-weekly schedule: The Highlands County Pilot published on Tuesdays and The Scenic Highlands Sun published on Fridays, providing continuous community coverage while curtailing operational overhead.[maxwell-1976]

The Comptroller\x27s Departure and C. H. Pardee\x27s Editorship (1933–1934)

In the general election of November 1932, Avon Park attorney and state representative Col. James Martin Lee was elected State Comptroller of Florida.[maxwell-1976] When Lee relocated to Tallahassee to take office on 1 January 1933, Gilbert Freeman accompanied him to serve as assistant state comptroller.[maxwell-1976]

To ensure the uninterrupted publication of his Highlands County newspapers, Freeman placed accountant Charles H. (C. H.) Pardee in charge of the plant as editor and business manager.[maxwell-1976] Pardee, who had moved to Avon Park from Hagerstown, Maryland in 1925 and later held a post as state examiner, directed the editorial and business operations of both the Pilot and the Scenic Highlands Sun through 1933 and into early 1934.[maxwell-1976]

The Hetherington Consolidation of 1934

In early 1934, Freeman leased the publication of the Highlands County Pilot and The Scenic Highlands Sun to William Michael ("Bill") Hetherington.[maxwell-1976] Hetherington came from a prominent Florida newspaper family: his father, M. F. Hetherington, was editor of the Lakeland Evening Telegram and author of the History of Polk County, Florida (1928), and the younger Hetherington had previously edited The Dade City Banner (1914) before entering banking and journalism in Highlands County.

Prior to taking the lease on Freeman\x27s papers, Hetherington had edited a rival Avon Park weekly, The Avon Park Times.[maxwell-1976] The Times had been founded in 1929 by the Schaefer-Broking Printing Company under editor Hayden Williams, whom Hetherington succeeded in February 1930.[maxwell-1976] Schaefer-Broking had subsequently sold The Times to William Beckett, who published it while Hetherington managed its editorial page.[maxwell-1976][brooksville-1934-06-14]

In 1934, Beckett sold The Avon Park Times directly to Gilbert Freeman, bringing all three active Avon Park newspaper titles under unified ownership.[maxwell-1976] Hetherington executed a comprehensive consolidation:

  1. Consolidation: The titles and subscription lists of The Scenic Highlands Sun, The Avon Park Times, and The Highlands County Pilot were merged into a single strong weekly newspaper, published as The Scenic Highlands Sun (frequently referenced in town simply as The Avon Park Sun).[maxwell-1976]
  2. Phaseout of The Pilot: The separate publication of the Highlands County Pilot was phased out between 1934 and 1935, leaving The Scenic Highlands Sun as the town\x27s primary commercial organ.[maxwell-1976][loc-pilot]
  3. Editorial Operations: Hetherington served as editor and publisher, while his wife, Hettie Hetherington, directed society reporting and local community features.[maxwell-1976]

The Avon Park Media Group and Radio WTAL (1938)

By the late 1930s, the Avon Park plant served as the printing and corporate headquarters for an integrated regional media enterprise directed by the Freeman family. Federal regulatory records compiled in the 1938 Broadcasting Yearbook document that Gilbert Freeman\x27s media group operated three Highlands County weeklies from Avon Park:

  • The Scenic Highlands Sun (Avon Park)
  • The Highlands County Pilot (Avon Park legal imprint)
  • The Lake Placid News (Lake Placid)[broadcasting-1938]

Stock ownership in the publishing company was held in equal blocks of ten shares each by Vera Freeman, G. C. Rankin, and J. C. Cardwell.[broadcasting-1938] This publishing base in Avon Park supported Freeman\x27s expansion into radio broadcasting, including the founding and operation of station WTAL in Tallahassee under Florida Capitol Broadcasters.[broadcasting-1938]

During this period, the Scenic Highlands Sun was designated by state authorities to publish official county notices, including Highlands County delinquent tax lists, and was quoted by out-of-state exchange newspapers as a chronicler of Florida citrus and economic developments.[sauk-centre-1937-05-06]

Sale to John H. Perry Publications and the Modern Avon Park Sun (1946)

Gilbert Freeman passed away in Tallahassee in November 1944 while serving in the State Comptroller\x27s office.[broadcasting-1938] Following his death, Bill Hetherington continued publishing the Scenic Highlands Sun under an agreement with the Freeman estate for two additional years.[maxwell-1976]

In early 1946, the Freeman estate and Hetherington sold their equity to W. C. Cleary, a former newspaper publisher from Dunedin, Florida.[maxwell-1976] Cleary retained ownership for only a brief period before reselling the publication in May 1946 to John H. Perry Publications, an expanding Florida newspaper syndicate that also owned The Sebring News.[maxwell-1976][loc-apsun]

Perry modernized the operation by consolidating physical printing at the Sebring press plant, establishing an editorial bureau in Avon Park, and formally renaming the publication the Avon Park Sun (beginning 3 May 1946; LCCN sn78001441).[loc-apsun]

In July 1949, John H. Perry appointed Bill Hetherington editor and publisher of The Sebring News, with Hettie Hetherington serving as associate editor; the couple directed the county\x27s flagship paper for twenty-two years until their joint retirement in 1971.[maxwell-1976]

The Avon Park Sun continued publication until 29 June 1988 (Volume 69, No. 26). The paper\x27s final volume numbering, counting back 69 years to 1919, confirms that throughout its successive titles—the Highlands County Pilot (1919–1934), The Scenic Highlands Sun (1925–1946), and the Avon Park Sun (1946–1988)—the publication maintained an unbroken genealogical line spanning nearly seven decades of Highlands County journalism.[loc-apsun][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. 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)
  2. Broadcasting Publications, Inc., Broadcasting 1938 Yearbook: Directory of U.S. Broadcasting Stations and Newspaper Ownership (1938)
  3. Sauk Centre Herald, Sauk Centre Herald (Sauk Centre, Minn.), 6 May 1937, page 5, quoting the Scenic Highland Sun (1937)
  4. Library of Congress, U.S. Newspaper Directory, Highlands County Pilot (Avon Park, Fla.), LCCN sn95026910 (2026)
  5. Library of Congress, U.S. Newspaper Directory, Avon Park Sun (Avon Park, Fla.) 1946-1988, LCCN sn78001441 (2026)
  6. The Brooksville Journal (Brooksville, Fla.), Editorial page, The Brooksville Journal, 14 June 1934, page 2, quoting the Avon Park Times on Comptroller J. M. Lee (1934)

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.