The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Seaboard Air Line Station Agents in Avon Park: A. O. Kinsey and J. L. R. Kelly

Summary

The Seaboard Air Line Railway reached Avon Park on New Year’s Day 1925 and completed its Spanish Eclectic passenger and freight station on Museum Avenue the following year. Local history records the pre-merger succession of Seaboard station agents at Avon Park: A. O. Kinsey, “the agent for many years”; J. L. R. Kelly, who followed Kinsey; and Raymond K. Cook, the agent in office on 1 July 1967 when the Seaboard Air Line merged with the Atlantic Coast Line to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.[maxwell-1976]

Archival and census records establish the identities, residences, and careers of both pioneer agents. Kinsey was Amos O. Kinsey (1890–1963), a native Floridian who lived at 27 Cornell Street in Avon Park directly bordering the Seaboard tracks and served as active station agent through the 1940s and 1950s.[census-1950-kinsey][census-1950-kinsey-street] Kelly was John Ramus Light Kelly (1899–1999)—whose initials were slightly transposed in local lore as “J. L. R.”—a veteran railroad agent who managed the Seaboard station in Sebring before succeeding Kinsey at the Avon Park depot, lived into his centennial year, and rests in Lakeview Memorial Gardens.[census-1950-kelly][familysearch-john-kelly][fg-john-kelly]

The succession at the Seaboard depot

Depot operations at the Museum Avenue station spanned a distinct sequence of station agents from the arrival of the rails in the mid-1920s to the post-merger consolidation:

  1. Boom-Era Opening (1925–1930s): The Seaboard mainline through Avon Park opened for traffic on 21 January 1925, and the permanent Mediterranean Revival station was placed in service in 1926.[maxwell-1976]
  2. Amos O. Kinsey (1930s/1940s–1950s): Handled the heavy agricultural, passenger, and military freight traffic during World War II and the postwar citrus expansion as the town’s longest-tenured Seaboard agent.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-kinsey]
  3. John Ramus Light Kelly (1950s–1960s): Transferred from the Sebring Seaboard agency to assume charge of the Avon Park station following Kinsey’s service.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-kelly]
  4. Raymond K. Cook (mid-1960s–1967): Succeeded Kelly and served as the final Seaboard Air Line agent in Avon Park up to the 1 July 1967 merger date.[maxwell-1976]
  5. James N. McDugald (1967–late 1970s): Upon the corporate merger creating the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, Atlantic Coast Line agent James N. (“Jim”) McDugald exercised system seniority over Cook to win appointment as the consolidated Avon Park agent.[maxwell-1976] McDugald consolidated all passenger ticket sales and freight billing at the Museum Avenue station, leading to the decommissioning and 1970 demolition of the wooden Coast Line depot on Block 55.[maxwell-1976] McDugald served at Museum Avenue until local agency stops ceased in the late 1970s.[maxwell-1976]

Amos O. Kinsey, agent “for many years”

Amos O. Kinsey was born in Florida on 10 December 1890, a son of Lewis Luke Kinsey (1844–1928) and Marian Lavonia Townsend Kinsey (1859–1923), members of a pioneer family of the Suwannee River basin who are interred at Bell in Gilchrist County.[burval-kinsey][fg-lewis-kinsey][ssdi-kinsey] He married Ada Clemons, born in Florida on 9 September 1890.[burval-kinsey][ssdi-kinsey]

In April 1950, federal census enumerator Eleanor C. Nusbaum surveyed Avon Park’s fifth enumeration district, an area defined by the Census Bureau as bounded by State Highway 64, Main Street, the city limits, Cornell Street, and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad tracks.[census-1950-ed-28-5] On 10 April 1950, the enumerator visited Cornell Street, listing dwelling unit 147 as “No one at Home - See sheet 76 line 1”.[census-1950-kinsey-street]

On 13 April 1950, when callback enumerations were completed on Sheet 76, the Kinsey household was recorded at house number 27 Cornell Street (dwelling 147):[census-1950-kinsey][census-1950-kinsey-street]

  • Amos O. Kinsey, head, white male, age 59, married, born in Florida; employed for forty-eight hours the previous week as an agent in the railroad industry for a private company.[census-1950-kinsey]
  • Ada C. Kinsey, wife, white female, age 59, married, born in Florida; keeping house.[census-1950-kinsey]

Because Clayton A. Denmark held the Atlantic Coast Line agency on Michigan Avenue during this same period, the railroad agent Kinsey of Cornell Street was the Seaboard station agent.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-kinsey] His residence at 27 Cornell Street situated him immediately adjacent to the Seaboard main line and within short walking distance of the Museum Avenue depot. His immediate neighbor on Cornell Street was C. Parke Anderson (1888–1961), another early Avon Park civic figure.[census-1950-kinsey-street][maxwell-1976]

Kinsey died in Avon Park on 14 May 1963, aged seventy-two.[burval-kinsey][ssdi-kinsey] Ada Kinsey survived him by nine years, dying in Avon Park in October 1972.[ssdi-kinsey][fg-ada-kinsey] Both are buried in Section 2 of Bougainvillea Cemetery.[fg-amos-kinsey][fg-ada-kinsey]

John Ramus Light Kelly, his successor

The “J.L.R. Kelly” of local tradition was John Ramus Light Kelly (recorded in federal census schedules as John R. L. Kelly), born in Gilchrist County, Florida, on 2 February 1899 to William David Kelly and Mary Frances Light.[familysearch-john-kelly][fg-john-kelly] In 1921, he married Doris J. Jefferson (born 23 July 1902), daughter of William L. Jefferson of Thonotosassa in Hillsborough County.[fg-doris-kelly]

During the early postwar era, Kelly was stationed down the line in Sebring. In the April 1950 federal census for Highlands County (ED 28-15, sheet 74, lines 3–6), the Kelly family was enumerated at 14 Hickory Street in Sebring:[census-1950-kelly]

  • John R. L. Kelly, head, white male, age 51, married, born in Florida; employed for forty-eight hours the previous week as a railroad agent for a private company.[census-1950-kelly]
  • Doris J. Kelly, wife, white female, age 47, married, born in Florida; keeping house.[census-1950-kelly]
  • Doris Joyce Kelly, daughter, white female, age 21, single, born in Florida.[census-1950-kelly]
  • Gloria Beatrice Kelly, daughter, white female, age 13, single, born in Florida; attending school.[census-1950-kelly]

As the Seaboard’s agent at Sebring in 1950 while Kinsey held the Avon Park post, Kelly subsequently advanced up the line to take the Avon Park agency upon Kinsey’s retirement in the late 1950s.[census-1950-kelly][maxwell-1976] Kelly operated the Avon Park station until handing over the agency to Raymond K. Cook prior to the July 1967 corporate merger.[maxwell-1976]

Following his railroad career, Kelly remained in Avon Park for the rest of his life. His daughter Gloria Beatrice Kelly Drew (1936–1990) and wife Doris J. Kelly (who died 1 July 1994) predeceased him.[fg-doris-kelly][fg-john-kelly] Kelly lived to celebrate his centennial, dying in Avon Park on 2 July 1999 at the age of one hundred.[fg-john-kelly] He is buried alongside his wife and daughter in the Garden of Everlasting Life (Block 419) at Lakeview Memorial Gardens in Avon Park.[fg-john-kelly][fg-doris-kelly]

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, pages 127 and 247 (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
  2. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census of Population and Housing, Florida, Highlands County, Avon Park, Enumeration District 28-5, sheet 76, lines 1–2 (image 43290879-Florida-199119-0030) (1950) · official
  3. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census of Population and Housing, Florida, Highlands County, Avon Park, Enumeration District 28-5, sheet 13, line 8, dwelling 147 (image 43290879-Florida-199119-0013) (1950) · official
  4. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census Enumeration District Descriptions, Florida, Highlands County, ED 28-5 (Avon Park City, Commissioner's District 1) (1950) · official
  5. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census of Population and Housing, Florida, Highlands County, Sebring City, Enumeration District 28-15, sheet 74, lines 3–6 (image 43290879-Florida-199129-0055) (1950) · official
  6. FamilySearch contributors, John Ramus Light Kelly (1899–1999), FamilySearch Person Profile LY11-YF1 (2026) · secondary
  7. Find a Grave, Amos O. Kinsey (1890–1963), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 50444111 (2010) · secondary
  8. Find a Grave, Ada C. Kinsey (1890–1972), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 50444236 (2010) · secondary
  9. Find a Grave, Lewis Luke Kinsey (1844–1928) and Marian Lavonia Townsend Kinsey (1859–1923), Bell, Gilchrist County, Find a Grave memorials 7263629 and 7263627 (2026) · secondary
  10. Burval family genealogy, Amos O Kinsey, in the Townsend Family of Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky, citing William Thomas Townsend, Addendum to "The Townsends of Marlboro 1764–1980" (1989) (2026) · secondary
  11. United States Social Security Administration, via LocateAncestors, Social Security Death Index entries for Amos Kinsey (10 December 1890 – May 1963) and Ada Kinsey (9 September 1890 – October 1972, last residence Avon Park 33825) (2026) · official
  12. Find a Grave, John Ray L. Kelly (2 February 1899 – 2 July 1999), Lakeview Memorial Gardens, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 76938652 (2026) · secondary
  13. Find a Grave, Doris J. Jefferson Kelly (23 July 1902 – 1 July 1994), Lakeview Memorial Gardens, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 76938596 (2026) · secondary

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