The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Robert King Jr.

Robert Rutledge King Jr. (15 January 1919 – 9 April 2013) was a prominent Avon Park hotelier, civic leader, and commercial Realtor.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013][fg-robert-king-jr] Arriving in Avon Park in 1946 following military service in World War II, King and his family acquired and managed the Hotel Jacaranda until 1954, operating it in coordination with King’s Inn in Highlands, North Carolina.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013] During the 1946–1947 season, King also managed the Pinecrest Hotel and Country Club on Lake Lotela.[nrhp-00000266] For over five decades following his hotel tenure, King operated Robert King Jr. Realty, shaping post-war residential and citrus development across Avon Park and Highlands County.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Early Life, Education, and Military Service

Robert Rutledge King Jr. was born on 15 January 1919 in Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina, to Robert Rutledge King Sr. (1871–1950) and Ellie Howard (Hudson) King (1887–1976).[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] He was born alongside a twin brother, Richard Woodward King (1919–2010), and grew up in the resort and hospitality business after his father established King’s Inn at Highlands, North Carolina, in 1925.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

King attended Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, graduating in 1937, before enrolling at the University of Florida.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] At UF, he was active in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] With the American entry into World War II, King entered active service in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Captain before receiving his honorable discharge at the end of hostilities in late 1945.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

The Hotel Jacaranda and King’s Inn (1946–1954)

In 1946, the King family purchased the landmark Hotel Jacaranda at 7–23 East Main Street from Avon Park rancher and lumberman Mel Smith.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013] The acquisition established an innovative seasonal hospitality circuit: the family operated King’s Inn as an upscale summer haven in the cool elevations of the North Carolina mountains and operated “King’s Jacaranda Hotel” during the winter tourist season in central Florida.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-ed28-4]

Robert King Jr. co-managed the Jacaranda with his sister, Betty King Trowbridge (1914–1999), overseeing room operations, entertainment, and the grand dining room.[maxwell-1976][obit-robert-king-jr-2013] During the King family’s eight-year stewardship (1946–1954), the Jacaranda catered to affluent Northern winter visitors, sportsmen attending exhibition games at Head Field, and community civic clubs.[maxwell-1976][census-1950-ed28-4] In 1954, the family sold the hotel operation to the Royal Coats family.[maxwell-1976]

Pinecrest Hotel Management (1946–1947)

Simultaneously with the opening of King’s Jacaranda season, Sunbeam Corporation chairman Dr. Horace C. Wright engaged Robert King Jr. to manage the lakeside Pinecrest Hotel and Country Club on Lake Lotela for the 1946–1947 winter season.[nrhp-00000266]

King directed resort staff and guest services at the Mediterranean Revival hotel until Wright engaged seasoned Chicago hotelier Thomas Flaherty to supervise long-term operations.[nrhp-00000266] In January and August 1996, King’s firsthand operational recollections of the resort, its staff, and its prominent national guests provided key primary documentation for the National Register nomination of the Old Pinecrest Hotel prepared by Francis V. Tonello.[nrhp-00000266]

Real Estate, Civic Leadership, and Preservation

Following the sale of the Jacaranda in 1954, Robert King Jr. transitioned into full-time commercial and residential real estate, founding Robert King Jr. Realty in Avon Park.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] King worked as an active Realtor and property developer for more than 50 years, eventually joined in the firm by his son, Robert Rutledge King III (1948–2022).[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

King was deeply engaged in Avon Park civic institutions, serving as president of the Avon Park Chamber of Commerce, president of the Avon Park Rotary Club (where he was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow), and a director of the Highlands County Board of Realtors.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013] He was a lifelong active member and vestryman of the Church of the Redeemer.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Family and Lineage

King married Mariana Barrett Bush (22 November 1919 – 7 September 2007) of Avon Park, daughter of early civic leader and developer William Eve Bush and Mary deCottes Barrett Bush.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013][fg-mariana-bush-king] They had four children: Mary King Sullivan, Ann King Milton, Robert Rutledge King III, and Elizabeth King Kanan.[obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

Despite sharing a surname with founding pioneer William A. King (1853–1929), Robert King Jr.’s family was entirely unrelated to the English founding couple, having arrived in Avon Park in 1946 from South Carolina and western North Carolina.[maxwell-1976] See Finding: The Two King Families of Avon Park.

Robert King Jr. died in Avon Park on 9 April 2013 at the age of 94. He was buried in Bougainvillea Cemetery alongside his wife Mariana.[fg-robert-king-jr][obit-robert-king-jr-2013]

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. Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home, Robert Rutledge King, Jr. Obituary (January 15, 1919 – April 9, 2013) (2013) · archival
  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. 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
  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, Mariana Barrett Bush King (1919–2007), Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Find a Grave memorial 27437324 (2008) · secondary
  6. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 United States Federal Census, Highlands County, Florida, Enumeration District 28-4 (1950) · official

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