The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The Two King Families of Avon Park: William King and Robert King Jr.

Two prominent men named King played central roles in the history of Avon Park across different eras. William A. King (1853–1929) was celebrated as the town’s first permanent settler, early postmaster, charter alderman, county commissioner, and mayor.[fg-william-king][maxwell-1976] Decades later, Robert Rutledge King Jr. (1919–2013) operated two of the town’s premier landmark resorts—the Hotel Jacaranda and the Pinecrest Hotel—and served for half a century as a leading Avon Park Realtor and civic leader.[nrhp-00000266][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

A comparison of probate filings, vital records, federal census schedules, and oral histories demonstrates that William King and Robert King Jr. were entirely unrelated by blood or family descent. They represented two distinct families originating in different countries and arriving in Avon Park sixty years apart.

The Founding Family: William and Mary Ann King (1886–1938)

William A. King was born in July 1853 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.[fg-william-king] On 10 April 1881, he married Mary Ann Chinn (born April 1858 in Solihull, Warwickshire) in England.[fg-mary-ann-king] Recruited by founder Oliver Marvin Crosby, the couple settled at Avon Park during the founding winter of 1886–1887.[maxwell-1976]

William King established the town’s first commercial pineapple plantings in August 1887, operated a driven-well contracting business and drayage service by 1895, and secured the deed for the Church of the Redeemer in 1894.[maxwell-1976] He entered public service as Avon Park’s first postmaster (1888), a charter alderman upon incorporation under Chapter 6662 in 1913, an inaugural Highlands County commissioner upon county division in April 1921, and mayor of Avon Park in 1919 and 1925–1929.[maxwell-1976] On 11 February 1929, while serving as mayor, William King was killed when a northbound Seaboard Air Line train struck his car at the Main Street railroad crossing.[fg-william-king][maxwell-1976]

William and Mary Ann King had no children. Following Mary Ann King’s death on 25 August 1938, her estate was administered by Avon Park attorney Miss Mattie Tompkins.[maxwell-1976] Probate records confirmed that Mrs. King left no surviving children or direct descendants; her sole living relative and heir was a niece, Mrs. Charles (Bertha) Nichols of Longwood, Florida.[maxwell-1976] The founding King line in Avon Park concluded with her death.

The Hotelier Family: Robert Rutledge King Sr. and Jr. (1946–2013)

The second King family arrived in Avon Park in 1946, seventeen years after Mayor William King’s death and eight years after Mrs. Mary Ann King’s estate had settled.

This family was headed by Robert Rutledge King Sr. (1871–1950) and his wife, Ellie Howard (Hudson) King (1887–1976), natives of Anderson County, South Carolina.[fg-robert-king-sr][obit-robert-king-jr-2013] In 1925, R. R. King Sr. had established King’s Inn in Highlands, North Carolina, developing it into a renowned summer mountain resort.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Their son, Robert Rutledge King Jr., was born on 15 January 1919 in Anderson, South Carolina, alongside his twin brother, Richard Woodward King (1919–2010).[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] Robert King Jr. attended Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, and the University of Florida, where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega and the Army ROTC.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] During World War II, he served as a Captain in the United States Army.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Following his military discharge in 1946, King and his parents purchased the Hotel Jacaranda in downtown Avon Park from local rancher and lumberman Mel Smith.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013] The family operated the Jacaranda as “King’s Jacaranda Hotel” in conjunction with King’s Inn in North Carolina, creating a dual-resort operation where guests and staff shifted between the Blue Ridge Mountains in the summer and central Florida during the winter.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-ed28-4] Robert King Jr. and his sister, Betty King Trowbridge (1914–1999), actively managed the hotel for eight years from 1946 until 1954.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Simultaneously, during the 1946–1947 season, resort owner Dr. Horace C. Wright recruited Robert King Jr. to manage the lakeside Pinecrest Hotel and Country Club on Lake Lotela before Chicago hotelier Thomas Flaherty assumed long-term directorship.[nrhp-00000266]

Robert King Jr. married Mariana Barrett Bush (1919–2007), daughter of pioneer Avon Park real estate and citrus developer William Eve Bush and Mary deCottes Barrett Bush.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013][fg-mariana-bush-king] After selling the Jacaranda in 1954, King established Robert King Jr. Realty, operating as a licensed real estate broker, citrus developer, and president of the Avon Park Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] In 1996, his detailed personal recollections of the 1940s resort era were shared in personal communications with architectural historian Francis V. Tonello for the National Register of Historic Places nomination of the Old Pinecrest Hotel.[nrhp-00000266] Robert King Jr. died on 9 April 2013 at the age of 94 and was interred in Bougainvillea Cemetery alongside his wife Mariana.[fg-robert-king-jr][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Comparative Lineage Summary

Attribute William A. King Family Robert Rutledge King Jr. Family
Origin Birmingham & Solihull, Warwickshire, England Anderson County, South Carolina
Arrival in Avon Park Winter 1886–1887 (Town Founding) Spring 1946 (Post-WWII Resort Era)
Primary Figures William A. King (1853–1929)
Mary Ann Chinn King (1858–1938)		 Robert Rutledge King Sr. (1871–1950)
Ellie Hudson King (1887–1976)
Robert Rutledge King Jr. (1919–2013)
Betty King Trowbridge (1914–1999)
Key Enterprises Pineapple grove, well drilling, drayage, town governance, post office King’s Inn (Highlands, NC), Hotel Jacaranda (1946–1954), Pinecrest Hotel management (1946–1947), Robert King Jr. Realty
Civic Positions Charter Alderman (1913), County Commissioner (1921), Mayor (1919, 1925–1929) US Army Captain (WWII), President of Avon Park Chamber of Commerce, Rotary President
Children / Descendants None; sole heir was niece Bertha Nichols of Longwood, FL Four children: Mary King Sullivan, Ann King Milton, Robert R. King III (1948–2022), Elizabeth King Kanan
Kinship Unrelated Unrelated

The shared presence of both families in Bougainvillea Cemetery reflects Avon Park’s historic community burial ground rather than familial kinship.

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 (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1976) · book
  2. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Pinecrest Hotel, Old, Avon Park, Florida (reference 00000266) (2000) · official
  3. Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home, Robert Rutledge King, Jr. Obituary (January 15, 1919 – April 9, 2013) (2013) · archival
  4. Find a Grave contributors, Robert Rutledge King Jr. (1919–2013), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 108322858 (2013) · secondary
  5. Find a Grave contributors, William A. King (1853–1929), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 34592761 (2009) · secondary
  6. Find a Grave contributors, Mary Ann Chinn King (1858–1938), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 34592627 (2009) · secondary
  7. Find a Grave contributors, Robert Rutledge King Sr. (1871–1950), Silver Brook Cemetery, Anderson, SC, Find a Grave memorial 94776725 (2012) · secondary
  8. Find a Grave contributors, Mariana Barrett Bush King (1919–2007), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 27437324 (2008) · secondary
  9. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 United States Federal Census, Highlands County, Florida, Enumeration District 28-4 (1950) · official

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