The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Founding of Walker Memorial Hospital and Charles H. Walker

Between 1946 and 1948, the community of Avon Park converted a vacant 1920s resort hotel on the northeast shore of Lake Lillian into the town’s first general hospital.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] The campaign united local civic leaders, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and federal surplus property authorities, led by Avon Park citrus grower and civic leader Charles H. Walker.[levey-2016][adventhealth-75] When Walker died suddenly of a heart attack in October 1947 after guaranteeing the final funds necessary to fulfill federal terms, the facility was named in his memory as the Walker Memorial Sanitarium and Hospital.[fenton-1958][levey-2016]

Highland Lakes Hotel on Lake Lillian

Highland Lakes Hotel (on Lake Lillian), Avon Park, Fla. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 162. Avon Park Historical Society.[maxwell-1976]

Postwar hospital shortage and the Lake Lillian site

For decades, Avon Park residents traveled long distances to larger medical centers in Tampa or Orlando for major surgical procedures and acute hospitalization.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] Following the Second World War, civic organizations and local officials prioritized establishing a permanent community hospital within northern Highlands County.[levey-2016][adventhealth-75]

Community attention focused on the former Highlands Lakes Hotel and Casino situated beside Lake Lillian, several miles north of central Avon Park.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] Built during the 1920s land boom by the Highlands Lakes Development Company, the three-story Mediterranean hotel had closed after the 1929 stock market crash.[maxwell-1976] During World War II, the United States government used the facility as headquarters and cadet barracks for the Lodwick Aviation Military Academy, adding a two-story barracks structure to house military flight trainees.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] At the conclusion of hostilities in 1945, the military vacated the site, leaving substantial buildings in sound structural repair standing idle under the jurisdiction of the War Assets Administration.[levey-2016]

The Adventist acquisition and the $150,000 campaign

In 1946, Avon Park city attorney Stephen Colquitt Pardee, Sr. arranged initial discussions between local civic leaders and representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which operated an extensive network of medical institutions including the Florida Sanitarium in Orlando.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016]

In March 1947, Adventist medical officials visited Avon Park to inspect the Lake Lillian grounds and buildings.[levey-2016] Impressed by the tranquil lakeside environment and existing construction, the Church negotiated with the federal government to acquire the surplus war asset.[levey-2016] In June 1947, the War Assets Administration transferred the hotel property to the Florida Sanatorium and Benevolent Association—an Adventist healthcare subsidiary—at a 100 percent discount, effectively gifting the surplus federal facility to the non-profit organization.[levey-2016][adventhealth-75]

The transfer was conditioned on the requirement that the local community raise $150,000 by October 1947 to remodel the hotel interior and install modern hospital equipment.[levey-2016][adventhealth-75] For its part, the Adventist Church committed $400,000 in institutional capital and operational support toward developing the hospital.[adventhealth-75]

Charles H. Walker’s leadership and sudden passing

To coordinate the community drive, local organizers established the Ridge Area Hospital Association (also known as the Ridge Hospital Association) and selected citrus executive Charles H. Walker as its chairman.[fenton-1958][levey-2016][adventhealth-75]

Walker was one of Avon Park’s foremost agricultural and business figures. He was president of the local citrus growers’ association, a former president of the statewide Florida Citrus Exchange, and had served as receiver for the collapsed Pittsburgh-Florida Citrus Growers Association, reorganizing its assets into the Avon Florida Citrus Corporation.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] He had also served as an original director on the board of the Barnett National Bank in Avon Park upon its opening in 1930.[stlouis-fed-1930]

Under Walker’s energetic leadership, the association conducted a comprehensive fundraising canvass across Highlands County.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] Local merchants, grove owners, and civic groups subscribed substantial contributions. When the October 1947 deadline approached with approximately $50,000 still needed to satisfy the federal terms, Walker personally secured the balance to guarantee the project’s completion.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016]

Just days after achieving the goal and satisfying the government deadline, Walker suffered a sudden fatal heart attack in October 1947.[fenton-1958][levey-2016] In tribute to his pivotal role and final civic effort, the hospital association and the Adventist Church resolved to dedicate the institution as the Walker Memorial Sanitarium and Hospital.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016]

Dedication on January 6, 1948 and opening

On January 6, 1948, approximately 5,000 citizens from across Central Florida gathered on the grounds beside Lake Lillian for the formal dedication of Walker Memorial Sanitarium and Hospital.[adventhealth-75] United States Senator Claude Pepper delivered the principal dedication address.[adventhealth-75]

The hospital admitted its first patients on January 7, 1948, and commenced full departmental operations in the spring of 1948.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016] Dr. C. J. Larsen arrived as the first medical director, joined by Dr. Donald C. Hartwell, local physician Dr. H. W. Coleman, and Dr. Samuel A. King.[maxwell-1976]

The hospital’s opening spurred adjacent institutional development on Lake Lillian:

  • The 1920s casino built over the water was converted in 1947 into a sanctuary for the revived Avon Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, which held services there for three decades until erecting a new church on the site in 1979.[maxwell-1976]
  • The Church established an elementary day school, Highlands Lakes Junior Academy (opening with four pupils), which later became Walker Memorial Academy, continuing to honor Walker’s name.[maxwell-1976][levey-2016]

Walker Memorial Hospital

Walker Memorial Hospital modern wing. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 164. Avon Park Historical Society.[maxwell-1976]

Campus growth, relocation to Sebring, and demolition

During the 1960s and 1970s, the facility modernized its physical plant. A multi-million-dollar construction program culminated in the dedication of a new two-story hospital wing on March 11, 1973, expanding patient capacity to 99 beds, followed by an eleven-suite physicians’ office building in 1975.[maxwell-1976] The facility eventually dropped “Sanitarium” from its name, operating as Walker Memorial Hospital and Walker Memorial Medical Center.[adventhealth-75]

By the 1990s, expanding regional healthcare needs outgrew the Lake Lillian property. In 1997, Walker Memorial Hospital relocated ten miles south to a newly built medical campus at 4200 Sun ’n Lake Boulevard in Sebring, changing its name to Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center.[levey-2016][adventhealth-75] In January 2019, the health system rebranded the facility as AdventHealth Sebring, which operates as a regional tertiary and teaching hospital affiliated with South Florida State College.[adventhealth-75]

Following the 1997 relocation, the original 1920s boom hotel building on Lake Lillian sat vacant. Severely battered by hurricanes during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the historic structure was demolished in 2007, closing eighty years of continuous architectural history on Lake Lillian.[levey-2016]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
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unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
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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. Horace J. Fenton, History of Avon Park, Florida: 1886–1956 (Held at the Avon Park Historical Society Depot Museum, Avon Park, Florida) (1958) · book
  3. Elaine Levey, The man who delivered Avon Park its own hospital (2016) · newspaper
  4. Highlands News-Sun, AdventHealth Sebring celebrates 75 years (2023) · newspaper
  5. Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve Directory of National Banks: Barnett National Bank of Avon Park (1930) · official

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