The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Founding Families and Their Descendants

The initial settlement and development of Avon Park and its surrounding colonies were driven by a core group of founding families who arrived between 1885 and the early 1890s. Their descendants and later generations continued to shape the region’s civic and physical landscape.

The Crosby Family

Oliver Martin Crosby, a Connecticut native, arrived in 1884 to study the Everglades. By 1885, he purchased a large tract of land from the Disston purchase and founded the community initially called “Lake Forest” [apcc-history][ahs-verona]. Crosby, serving as President of the Florida Development Company, was the principal promoter of the town, actively recruiting settlers from northern states and England. In 1887, he began construction of the 32-room Verona Hotel on the shores of Lake Verona, completing it in 1889 to house prospective land buyers who were transported via wagon from the Fort Meade railhead [ahs-verona]. On October 6, 1893, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Crosby donated land for the Union Congregational Church, the town’s first church structure [hmdb-first-church]. Following the 1896 land title crisis of the Florida Development Company, the Crosby family left Avon Park.

The King Family

William A. King of England was hired by Oliver Crosby to manage the development of the town [ahs-verona]. King’s wife, Mary Chinn King, joined him in Lake Forest, and the town was subsequently renamed Avon Park in honor of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, which is historically corroborated as a tradition reflecting the English settlers’ origins [apcc-history][ahs-verona]. The Kings remained a foundational family in Avon Park’s municipal and civic life.

The Pabor Family and the Pabor Lake Colony

In April 1892, William Edgar Pabor (b. 1834), a nationally known poet and journalist originally from Harlem, New York, arrived in Avon Park from Colorado with his son William Helme Pabor. They lodged at the Verona Hotel before purchasing 1,400 acres north of Avon Park from the Kissimmee Land Company to establish the Pabor Lake Colony [byrne-pabor-lake].

The Pabor family, including William’s wife Emma, daughter Pansy, and sons William H. and Charles (“Charlie”), became the nucleus of the colony. Charlie Pabor served as the mail carrier and on May 9, 1894, married Jessie Kinney, the daughter of the Avon Park postmaster [byrne-pabor-lake]. William E. Pabor served as postmaster of Pabor Lake when it opened in April 1893, and published the Pabor Lake Pineapple, a monthly promotional and agricultural newspaper. The colony was devastated by the Great Freezes of December 1894 and February 1895, which destroyed the pineapple crops. Although a wooden tramway built by the Avon Park Transportation Company reached Pabor Lake in September 1895, the colony gradually declined, and the Pabor family dispersed after William E. Pabor’s death in 1911 in Colorado [byrne-pabor-lake].

The Davidson Family

Harlan Page Davidson and his wife Adelaide arrived in Avon Park via stagecoach from Fort Meade in 1890 [davidsons-history]. Davidson was the founder, president, and superintendent of the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in Illinois, and invested in properties in the Avon Park area. He passed away in Avon Park on January 20, 1913.

His son, Col. Royal Page Davidson, a prominent educator and inventor of early military armored cars, arrived in 1892 as a newlywed with his wife Clara Colwell Davidson and his sister Alice Davidson [davidsons-history]. The family established deep roots in the community. In 1926, Col. Royal Page Davidson founded the Pinecrest Country Club (Pinecrest Golf Club) on a 129-acre parcel overlooking Lake Lotela, realizing his father’s early vision for a grand hotel and golf course in the area.

Lounge, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida

Lounge, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida, circa 1900. [loc-2024687070]

Tropical splendor, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida

Tropical splendor, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida, circa 1900. [loc-2024687071]

By the 1920s, the initial pioneer efforts had transformed Avon Park into a substantial municipal entity, as documented by the 1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Avon Park, Highlands County, Florida

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Avon Park, Highlands County, Florida, November 1920. [loc-sanborn01234-001]

As the town grew and incorporated, its municipal status was further cemented in state and federal records, including its appearance in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case American Ins Co. v. Avon Park, reflecting the complex financial and legal maturation of the city founded by these early pioneer families.

U.S. Reports: American Ins Co. v. Avon Park, 311 U.S. 138 (1940)

U.S. Reports: American Ins Co. v. Avon Park, 311 U.S. 138 (1940). [loc-usrep311138]

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. Avon Park Chamber of Commerce, History of Avon Park · secondary
  2. Avon Park Historical Society, The Verona Hotel · secondary
  3. City of Avon Park, First Church in Avon Park Historical Marker · secondary
  4. Highlands News-Sun, The Davidsons: Making history · newspaper
  5. Jason Byrne, The Lost Colony of Pabor Lake · secondary
  6. Library of Congress, Lounge, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida · archival
  7. Library of Congress, Tropical splendor, Pine Crest Lakes Club, Avon Park, Florida · archival
  8. Sanborn Map Company, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Avon Park · archival
  9. Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Reports: American Ins Co. v. Avon Park · archival

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