The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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C. C. Chollar

Charles C. Chollar (recorded in commercial records as C. C. Chollar) was a Minnesota-born commercial banker and railway officer who served as the inaugural Cashier of the Bank of Avon Park (1894), Secretary and Treasurer of the Avon Park Transportation Company (1895), and later Cashier of the First National Bank of Arcadia.[redwood-1894-10-18][gaz-1895][comptroller-1900]

Minnesota Origins and Background

Charles C. Chollar was the son of Henry D. Chollar (1832–1904), a pioneer lumber merchant and prominent civic figure in Redwood Falls, Redwood County, Minnesota, whose 1878 residence is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the H. D. Chollar House.[nrhp-chollar-house] Trained in Midwestern commercial banking and legal accounting, Chollar was engaged by Oliver M. Crosby in 1894 to manage the financial apparatus of the Florida Development Company’s settlements on the Lake Wales Ridge.[redwood-1894-10-18]

Arrival and the Bank of Avon Park

Chollar first visited Avon Park in June 1894 to accept his appointment with the Florida Development Company as Cashier of the Bank of Avon Park, scheduled to open for business on 1 October 1894; returning to Redwood Falls on 14 June 1894, he brought back copies of the monthly Florida Homeseeker and praised the township’s twenty-five clear-water lakes and moderate summer heat.[redwood-1894-06-21] He relocated permanently with his wife to Florida in the autumn of 1894.[redwood-1894-10-18] Following an intense October tropical hurricane, the couple traversed the twenty-mile sand trail from the railhead at Fort Meade to Avon Park, swimming their horses across flooded Bowlegs Creek and sheltering overnight at the homestead of Mrs. Henry Winegord.[redwood-1894-10-18]

Upon arrival, Chollar opened the Bank of Avon Park in temporary quarters inside the Florida Development Company offices in the Hotel Verona, pending construction of a permanent two-story bank building on Main Street.[redwood-1894-10-18] The bank operated with $20,000 in capital stock under President Oliver M. Crosby, with pioneer resident James R. Skuse making the initial opening-day deposit.[redwood-1894-10-18][gaz-1895] The 1895 Florida Railroad Gazetteer and State Business Directory listed Chollar as cashier and as an independent banker.[gaz-1895]

Railroad Promotion

On 5 January 1895, Chollar was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Avon Park Transportation Company, formed to construct a 40-mile wooden-railed tramway connecting Avon Park northward to the Plant System at Haines City.[plp-1892-1897] He served on the executive board alongside President Clark D. Knapp, Vice President Oliver M. Crosby, and Superintendent John C. Burleigh.[plp-1892-1897]

Subsequent Career at Arcadia

Chollar remained in Avon Park through at least June 1896, when The Redwood Gazette reported that he was at Avon Park recovering from a severe illness.[redwood-1896-06-04] Following the Great Freeze of 1894–1895 and the insolvency of the Florida Development Company, Chollar moved to the DeSoto County seat at Arcadia, while commercial banking in Avon Park transitioned to private storekeeper firms.[maxwell-1976][comptroller-1900] In 1900, he became the inaugural Cashier of The First National Bank of Arcadia (National Charter No. 5534, capitalized at $50,000) under President Ziba King.[comptroller-1900] In Arcadia, Chollar was active as a commercial banker and investor, co-founding the town’s first municipal telephone system in 1901.

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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Sources

  1. The Redwood Gazette, quoting the Avon Park Idea, A Perilous Trip — Charles Chollar has One From Ft. Meade to Avon Park, The Redwood Gazette (Redwood Falls, Minn.), 18 October 1894, page 2, quoting the Avon Park Idea (1894)
  2. The Redwood Gazette, The Redwood Gazette (Redwood Falls, Minn.), 21 June 1894, page 5: C. C. Chollar accepts position as Cashier of the Bank of Avon Park (1894) · newspaper
  3. The Redwood Gazette, The Redwood Gazette (Redwood Falls, Minn.), 4 June 1896: Charles C. Chollar recovering from illness at Avon Park (1896) · newspaper
  4. Belden Publishing Company, Florida Railroad Gazetteer and State Business Directory, 1895 (1895)
  5. National Park Service / Minnesota Historical Society, H. D. Chollar House, Redwood Falls, Minnesota, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (NRHP #80002130) (1980)
  6. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Treasury Department, Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1900, Vol. 2 — First National Bank of Arcadia, Florida (Charter No. 5534) (1900)
  7. William E. Pabor & Edgar A. Pabor, The Pabor Lake Pineapple (1892–1897) (1897)
  8. 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

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