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

Arthur Winthrop Sargent (1853–1937)

Arthur Winthrop Sargent (known locally as “Prof. Sargent” and later as “Judge” Sargent) was a pioneer educator, newspaper editor, builder, and magistrate in Avon Park.[maxwell-1976][census-1900-desoto-ap] Born in Massachusetts in October 1853, Sargent settled in Avon Park in November 1892 with his wife Matilda “Maud” Ross Sargent (1856–1926).[dsc-1905-10-06][census-1900-desoto-ap][fg-ross] For more than four decades he participated in the town’s civic institutions, serving as editor and publisher of The Avon Park Idea (1895–1898), erecting Sargent’s Hall and the pioneer post office building on Main Street, and holding continuous office as Justice of the Peace for DeSoto County District 14 from 1903 through 1916.[maxwell-1976][fl-secstate-1903-1904][fl-secstate-1915-1916]

Pioneer Educator and Sargent’s Hall

In the early settlement period, Sargent taught in local classrooms, earning the community title “Prof. Sargent.”[maxwell-1976] Following the arson fire that destroyed the pioneer two-story public school building on South Forest Avenue on the night of 4 December 1895, Sargent made his private commercial building, Sargent’s Hall on North Lake Avenue, available for public instruction.[maxwell-1976] Classes resumed there on 6 January 1896 with forty-one pupils under instructors Arthur C. Lincoln and Anna M. Lincoln, preserving instructional continuity until the new frame school opened on Forest Avenue in October 1897.[maxwell-1976]

Sargent’s Hall also served as the community’s primary social and civic meeting house prior to the erection of the Brickell Building and the incorporation of the town in 1913.[maxwell-1976] It hosted town debates, Board of Trade gatherings, and meetings of the Avon Park Horticultural Society, including the 12 May 1906 convention that debated steam automobile freight transit to Wauchula.[dsc-1906-05-18][maxwell-1976] Sargent also entertained town assemblies by playing recordings on his Zon-o-phone phonograph.[maxwell-1976] In February 1906, he was one of the thirty-one civic property owners who signed the legal petition to extend the Avon Park Special Tax School District.[dsc-1906-02-02]

The Avon Park Idea (1895–1898)

Following the departure of founder A. L. Blue in the wake of the Great Freeze of 1894–1895, management of Avon Park’s local weekly newspaper, The Avon Park Idea, was assumed by Sargent in partnership with Gonzales of Fort Myers.[maxwell-1976] The contemporary notice gives the initial as E.: the Pabor Lake Pineapple of March 1897 reports the paper “now owned, edited and published by E. Gonzales, who has been connected with it since it was established by the Avon Park Town Co., to boom the town.”[plp-1897-03] Operating from a small office near the Verona Hotel, Sargent and Gonzales sustained the publication through the severe post-freeze depression until 1898, reporting on agricultural recovery, pineapples, and cattle drives across the interior ridge.[maxwell-1976]

Two decades later, Sargent’s pioneering editorial service remained recognized in Florida journalism. In mid-April 1916, Judge Sargent and his wife represented Avon Park at the annual convention of the Florida Press Association held in Kissimmee, an event noted in the regional press alongside Pete Ruhl’s departure from the Avon Park Press for Sebring.[dsc-1916-04-20]

Commercial Storefronts and Postal Buildings

Around 1904, when his family member Marion W. Sargent was appointed postmaster of Avon Park, Arthur Sargent maintained a fancy goods and notions counter alongside the postal boxes in a Main Street commercial frame building, where he also advertised in 1905 and 1906 as local agent for Edward B. Crossman & Co. tailors.[dsc-1905-08-18][dsc-1905-11-10][maxwell-1976] During a severe electrical storm in August 1905, lightning struck a tall pine near Sargent’s residence, tore out a corner of his house, and splintered the stove woodwork inside without injuring the family.[dsc-1905-08-18] R. L. Polk & Co.’s 1907 Florida State Gazetteer listed Sargent as proprietor of a general store as well as Justice of the Peace.[fl-gazetteer-1907]

Circa 1908, Sargent constructed a dedicated two-story frame commercial structure on East Main Street arranged specifically for postal operations on the ground floor.[maxwell-1976] In October 1910, his daughter, Mrs. Fannie P. Reeves (later Mrs. Glen Spinks), was appointed postmistress, serving in that capacity for seventeen years.[maxwell-1976] The building, which became known as the Spinks Building, housed the federal post office until 1922 and was acquired in 1939 by the City of Avon Park to house the local Chamber of Commerce.[maxwell-1976]

Justice of the Peace (1903–1916)

Sargent served as the commissioned Justice of the Peace for District 14 of DeSoto County (the Avon Park district) for over thirteen consecutive years.[fl-secstate-1903-1904][fl-secstate-1915-1916] Commission records in the biennial reports of the Florida Secretary of State confirm his commissioning on 28 July 1903, with successive re-commissions extending his judicial tenure through January 1917.[fl-secstate-1903-1904][fl-secstate-1915-1916]

While local residents and regional newspapers customarily accorded him the courtesy title of “Judge Sargent,” his jurisdiction was that of an elected district magistrate rather than County Judge of DeSoto County.[fl-secstate-1915-1916][dsc-1916-04-20] In his capacity as Justice of the Peace, Sargent conducted preliminary magistrate hearings, handled local civil disputes, and impaneled coroner’s juries to investigate sudden or accidental deaths, such as the November 1916 inquest into a drowning casualty in Lake Verona.[dsc-1916-11-30] He concluded his judicial service at the close of 1916, succeeded in District 14 by G. L. Crews.[fl-secstate-1915-1916]

Family and Burial

The 1900 Federal Census recorded Arthur W. Sargent (age 46, born October 1853 in Massachusetts) and his wife Maud Ross Sargent (age 43, born November 1856 in Illinois) residing in Avon Park Precinct 11.[census-1900-desoto-ap] Maud’s mother, Elizabeth Ross (1829–1899), died in Avon Park on 25 April 1899 and was buried in Bougainvillea Cemetery, adjacent to the Sargent family burial ground.[fg-ross] Arthur Winthrop Sargent died in Avon Park in June 1937 at the age of eighty-three.[fg-ross]

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. W. E. Pabor, editor and publisher, The Pabor Lake Pineapple, March 1897, page 4: the Avon Park Idea now owned, edited and published by E. Gonzales (references/pabor-lake-pineapple.md) (1897) · newspaper
  2. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (../documents/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976) · book
  3. United States Census Bureau / USGenWeb Archives transcription, 1900 Federal Census, Precinct 11, Avon Park, De Soto County, Florida (2003) · archival
  4. Find a Grave contributors, Elizabeth Ross (12 May 1829 - 25 Apr 1899), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Find a Grave memorial 34619969 (2009) · secondary
  5. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 18 August 1905, page 8: Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park Locals (1905) · newspaper
  6. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 6 October 1905, page 8: In Avon Park Thirteen Years — A Retrospect and An Outlook (1905) · newspaper
  7. The De Soto County News, The De Soto County News, 10 November 1905, page 5: Avon Park Locals (1905) · newspaper
  8. The De Soto County News, The De Soto County News, 2 February 1906, page 1: Avon Park Special Tax School District Petition (1906) · newspaper
  9. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 18 May 1906, page 8: Department of The South Florida Sun, Horticultural Meeting (1906) · newspaper
  10. The De Soto County News, The De Soto County News, 20 April 1916, page 5: Avon Park Column on State Press Convention and Pete Ruhl (1916) · newspaper
  11. A. W. Sargent, Justice of the Peace / The De Soto County News, The De Soto County News, 30 November 1916, page 1: Inquest by Justice of the Peace A. W. Sargent (1916) · newspaper
  12. R. L. Polk & Co., Florida State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907–1908 (1907) · book
  13. Florida Secretary of State, Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, 1903–1904 (1905) · official
  14. Florida Secretary of State, Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, 1915–1916 (1917) · official

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.