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

Hotel Verona

The Hotel Verona was the first hotel and principal landmark in early Avon Park, serving for four decades as the civic, social, and hospitality center of the town[aphs-verona][maxwell-1976].

How it was advertised

The hotel was sold to New Yorkers, in New York, over Crosby’s own name and office address. Through the winter of 1889–90 The Sun carried the advertisement in at least fifteen dated insertions, in two forms. The longer one, of 14 December 1889, ran under the paper’s Winter Resorts heading:

Want a Good Time THE COMING WINTER? IF SO, GO TO AVON PARK, SOUTH FLORIDA. Hunt, fish, boat, and bathe in unfrozen lakes. Board $6 to $8 per week at HOTEL VERONA, on a lake shore. Round trip, transportation tickets, including board three weeks’ trip, only $75. Send stamp for papers with particulars. O. M. CROSBY, 99 Franklin st., N. Y.[sun-1889-12-14]

The shorter one, of 6 January 1890, kept only the terms:

WANT A GOOD TIME This winter? Then go to Avon Park, Florida. Board at Hotel Verona $6 to $8 per week. Best hunting and fishing. Boats free. Send stamp for papers to O. M. CROSBY, 99 Franklin st., N. Y.[sun-1890-01-06]

Seventy-five dollars covered the journey from New York and three weeks’ board — the whole proposition the town was built on, put in a single line of small type.

Purpose and Construction (1887–1889)

To accommodate northern homeseekers and investors arriving by stage from the railhead at Fort Meade, town founder Oliver Marvin Crosby commissioned the construction of a large lodging house on Lot 20, Block D of the initial forty-acre townsite plat overlooking Lake Verona[crosby-1888][aphs-verona].

Construction began in 1887 and reached completion in 1889, utilizing 100,000 feet of native yellow pine cut by John C. Burleigh’s steam sawmill on Lake Brentwood[crosby-1888][maxwell-1976]. Designed as a thirty-two-room frame building with broad verandas overlooking the lake, the hotel was situated on the lakefront grounds now occupied by the municipal tennis courts and recreational lawns of Donaldson Park[aphs-verona]. In March 1891, Danbury real-estate broker William J. Nichols reported in The Newtown Bee after visiting Crosby’s settlement that “he calls it Avon Park and has a small settlement, at which he has built a handsome hotel, fronting a lovely lake; both lake and hotel are known as Lake Verona.”[newtown-bee-1891-03-06]

Verona Hotel, Completed 1889

Historical photo of the Verona Hotel on Lake Verona, Avon Park, completed in 1889 and destroyed by fire in 1926. Avon Park Historical Society Archive via Internet Archive. Public domain.[aphs-verona-article]

Verona Hotel, Alternate View

An additional historical view of the Verona Hotel on Lake Verona in Avon Park, built between 1887 and 1889. Avon Park Historical Society Archive via Internet Archive. Public domain.[aphs-verona-article]

Civic and Social Center

From its opening, the Hotel Verona served as the focal point of community gatherings and promotional activities:

  • Inaugural Winter Season (1889–1890): Filled to capacity upon opening in October 1889, accommodating both prospective homesteaders and northern invalid health-seekers suffering from pulmonary ailments[maxwell-1976].
  • Thanksgiving Dinner (1892): A community Thanksgiving dinner was held in late November 1892, hosted by “mine host McCreary,” who was serving as manager of the Hotel Verona at that time[pineapple]. Exhaustive archival searches have not revealed McCreary’s given name or further biographical details in contemporary DeSoto County records, making this a single-source attribution.
  • Thanksgiving Dinner (1894): On Thanksgiving Day 1894, Crosby hosted a community-wide banquet for all resident families of Avon Park in the hotel dining hall[newssun-charm].
  • Commercial and Land Headquarters: The hotel housed visiting land prospectors, timber buyers, and citrus growers traveling through central Florida, including developer George Sebring during his founding work in southern Highlands County, northern winter guests such as Adirondack guide Charles Fenton and his wife of Number Four, New York (who wintered at the Verona for two consecutive seasons prior to Fenton’s death in September 1905), and regional businessmen such as timber buyer W. L. Conoley of Valdosta, Georgia, and phosphate pioneer Albertus Vogt of Bartow in May 1906[aphs-verona][dsc-1905-10-06][dsc-1906-03-16][dsc-1906-05-18].

Renovation, Ownership, and the Avon Hotel

Crosby enlarged the structure in 1893. In 1900, Dr. J. M. McCartney and Dr. Mary McCartney of Rochester, New York, purchased the property, managing it as a health resort while retaining public lodging operations under manager Samuel Brown[maxwell-1976]. For the 1905–1906 winter season, W. H. Dart took over as manager of the Hotel Verona, cleaning and refitting the building in October 1905 and announcing plans to engage a pianist, a violinist, a governess, and a barber for winter guests[dsc-1905-10-20]. In 1906, the building was expanded to three full stories with wrap-around porches[maxwell-1976].

In 1919, builder D. B. Farnell added a north wing. During the 1920s land boom, the property was renamed the Avon Hotel, operating as the largest commercial lodging house on the Lake Wales Ridge under proprietors including Henry Lander and the Avon Park Golf and Country Club, with Mrs. Mary E. Wilcox managing in 1924[maxwell-1976].

The Fire of 2 February 1927

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on 2 February 1927, a fire broke out in the boiler room of the three-story frame structure[star-1927-02-02][keowee-1927-02-09]. Despite the response of the Avon Park Fire Department assisted by mutual aid companies from Sebring, Frostproof, and Wauchula, the hotel was completely destroyed[star-1927-02-02].

Thirty-six registered guests evacuated without loss of life. Proprietor R. C. Holmes estimated the total property loss at $100,000, noting that the building had been remodeled and redecorated at a cost of $50,000 the preceding spring[star-1927-02-02][keowee-1927-02-09]. Timbers salvaged from the site were repurposed in subsequent lakefront construction, including Arthur Hatchel’s West Beach Hotel on Lake Lotela[maxwell-1976].

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. O. M. Crosby, in The Sun (New York), The Sun, New York, 14 December 1889, page 10, Winter Resorts: advertisement for Avon Park and Hotel Verona (1889) · newspaper
  2. O. M. Crosby, in The Sun (New York), The Sun, New York, 6 January 1890, page 5: advertisement for Avon Park and Hotel Verona (1890) · newspaper
  3. The Newtown Bee (Newtown, Conn.), The Newtown Bee (Newtown, Conn.), 6 March 1891, page 6: William J. Nichols on O. M. Crosby's Avon Park and Lake Verona (1891) · newspaper
  4. O. M. Crosby, Common Sense About Florida: Lake Forest and Avon Park (1888)
  5. Avon Park Historical Society, The Verona Hotel: The early years of Avon Park (2026)
  6. Avon Park Historical Society, Avon Park..the Beginning..the Verona Hotel. (2019) · secondary
  7. Elaine Levey, Highlands News-Sun, From The Archives, History of the 'City of Charm' (2026)
  8. Associated Press, in the Evening Star, Florida Hotel Burns, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 2 February 1927, page 1 (1927) · newspaper
  9. Associated Press, in the Keowee Courier, Fire Demolishes Hotel at Avon Park, Fla., Keowee Courier (Pickens Court House, S.C.), 9 February 1927, page 7 (1927) · newspaper
  10. Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (references/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md) (1976) · book
  11. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 16 March 1906, page 8: Avon Park department (1906)
  12. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 6 October 1905, page 8: Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park Locals (1905) · newspaper
  13. O. R. Thacher (department editor), The De Soto County News, Arcadia, Fla., The De Soto County News, 20 October 1905, pages 7 and 9: Department of The South Florida Sun, Avon Park Locals (1905) · newspaper
  14. 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, Avon Park Locals (1906) · newspaper
  15. W. E. Pabor and E. A. Pabor, editors and publishers, Pabor Lake Pineapple (Pabor Lake, Avon Park, DeSoto County, Florida), October 1892 to September 1897 (1897)

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.