The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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The Old Settlers Association and the Historical Society of Avon Park (1945–Present)

Summary

The Historical Society of Avon Park, Inc. traces an unbroken institutional lineage to October 9, 1945, when pioneer residents organized the Old Settlers Association of Avon Park (also known in local press reports as the Old Settlers’ Club or Old Settlers Organization).[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03] Drafted by founder May Walden and signed in November 1945 by five original executive committee members—May Walden, Cora Gray Wray, Byrum Shockley, Clara Davidson, and Alice Davidson—along with sixty-three charter attendees, the association’s charter bound its members to preserve the origin and history of Avon Park for future generations and to hold an annual October reunion for residents of twenty years’ standing.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03]

Over the next three decades, the Old Settlers Association functioned as both a pioneer homecoming and an active historical society. Its historians, Byrum Shockley and Cora Gray Wray, presented original monographs, compiled pioneer family registers, assembled hundreds of early photographs, and in 1951 secured archival locker space inside the new fireproof Avon Park Public Library.[aps-1948-10-15][aps-1949-10-07][aps-1950-10-20][aps-1951-10-19] In 1970–1971, the association led the community campaign to restore the historic Avon Park Bandstand on the Mile Long Mall.[aps-1971-10-28][aps-1977-09-15][maxwell-1976] Appointed in May 1975 to coordinate Avon Park’s United States Bicentennial celebration, the organization dropped its twenty-year residency rule to welcome all residents interested in local history, erected a granite monument over founder Oliver Marvin Crosby’s grave on July 4, 1976, and published Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell’s The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida under the transitional corporate name The Historical Society of the Old Settlers Association, Inc.[aps-1975-05-22][aps-1975-10-23][aps-1977-11-03][maxwell-1976] In 1978, the membership shortened its name to The Historical Society of Avon Park, acquired the 1926 Seaboard Air Line Railway station through the City of Avon Park on January 4, 1979, dedicated the Avon Park Depot Museum in May 1981, and incorporated with the Florida Department of State as The Historical Society of Avon Park, Inc. on June 25, 1981.[aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976][sunbiz-758915]

1. Founding of the Old Settlers Association (October–November 1945)

The October 9, 1945 Organizational Meeting and Charter

Although Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell’s 1976 town history gave two retrospective approximations for the organization’s beginning—1946 on page 16 (“ninety years later” after the 1856 founding of the Florida Historical Society) and 1947 on page 13—contemporary reports in The Avon Park Sun across three decades establish that the Old Settlers Association of Avon Park held its organizational meeting on October 9, 1945.[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03][maxwell-1976] Pioneer civic leader May Walden (Mrs. Kerr Walden, who had settled in Avon Park in 1913 and co-founded the Woman’s Club of Avon Park in 1919) served as acting chairman of the October 9, 1945 meeting and wrote the bylaws and Articles of Incorporation.[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03][maxwell-1976]

Article III of the 1945 charter defined the dual historical and social mandate of the organization:

“The object of this club shall be to preserve to future generations, the origin and history of Avon Park, as interesting events occur from year to year, and to provide an annual meeting, the place for ‘Old Settlers’ to gather and exchange reminiscences.”[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1977-11-03]

The Five Original Signers and the November 1945 Picnic

In November 1945, the association held its inaugural covered-dish picnic and charter signing.[aps-1957-10-10] The organization papers were signed first by the five founding members who constituted the original Executive Committee of the Old Settlers Association:[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1957-10-10]

  1. May Walden (Mrs. Kerr Walden) — Acting chairman and drafter of the bylaws.[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03]
  2. Cora Gray Wray (Mrs. Fred Elmore Wray) — Daughter of 1903 settler Captain Fred J. Gray and daughter-in-law of pioneer Avon Park photographer George E. Wray; charter treasurer and longtime historian.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1949-10-07][aps-1957-10-10][maxwell-1976]
  3. Byrum Shockley (1895–1964) — Son of 1908 settlers Rev. James B. and Sarah Woodyard Shockley at the Bunbury House on Lake Pythias, 1920 federal census enumerator for Avon Park’s precinct, and first historian of the association.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1957-10-10][maxwell-1976]
  4. Clara Davidson — Member of the founding Executive Committee.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1957-10-10]
  5. Alice Davidson — Member of the founding Executive Committee.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1957-10-10]

At the November 1945 picnic, sixty-three pioneers attended and signed the charter, resolving “to keep a record of Avon Park in order to compile a historically accurate town history.”[aps-1957-10-10] A November 1977 roll of the surviving 1945 charter signers identified six additional original signatories and their years of arrival in Avon Park: Lillian Hood (arrived 1905), Ellis Wray (arrived 1905), Mrs. L. D. (Carrie) McGibboney (arrived 1906), Mildred Wray Waddell (born in Avon Park in 1914; daughter of Cora Gray Wray, who also served as an early historian of the club), Mary Johnson Reed (arrived 1917; early secretary), and H. T. Piety (arrived 1919).[aps-1977-11-03]

Membership Rules and Annual Schedule

Under the 1945 bylaws, membership in the Old Settlers Association was open to anyone who had resided in the Avon Park area for twenty or more years.[aps-1950-10-06][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03] Those meeting the twenty-year threshold were entitled to be called “Old Settlers” and to sign the association’s permanent registration book alongside the year they first arrived in the community.[aps-1948-10-15][aps-1977-11-03] The club charged no dues, financing its modest postage and picnic expenses through voluntary free-will offerings at the annual October covered-dish luncheon.[aps-1949-10-21][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1972-10-26]

2. Annual Reunions, Pioneer Monographs, and First Archival Space (1945–1972)

The Donaldson Park Gatherings and Historical Papers

Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the Old Settlers Association met on the second or third Wednesday of October at the Winter Guest Clubhouse and Picnic Center in Donaldson Park on the shores of Lake Verona.[aps-1948-10-15][aps-1949-10-21][aps-1951-10-19][aps-1957-10-24] Each annual assembly paired a covered-dish dinner and pioneer recognition ceremony with formal historical papers read by longtime residents:

  • Fourth Annual Assembly (October 13, 1948): Presided over by President William Hauptman, who succeeded May Walden’s initial organizing committee.[aps-1948-10-15] Charles Krause (who arrived in Avon Park in 1886) was honored as the earliest settler present.[aps-1948-10-15] Historical papers were read by Historian Byrum Shockley (“Our Lakes”), Dr. E. G. Woods, and O. C. Wilcox (“Early Days of Avon Park”), followed by an address by Rev. Herbert D. Graetz, pastor of the Union Congregational Church.[aps-1948-10-15] The members elected I. A. Cyril Baldwin (Highlands County Tax Assessor and 1880s pioneer) as president, Edith (Mrs. Max) Wild as vice president, Annye Skipper Bennett as secretary, and Cora Gray Wray as treasurer.[aps-1948-10-15]
  • Fifth Annual Reunion (October 12, 1949): One hundred fourteen members registered at the Guest Clubhouse under President Cyril Baldwin.[aps-1949-10-21] Treasurer Cora Wray reported a starting balance of $5.10, gifts of $6.75, and expenditures of $10.40, leaving $1.45 in the treasury.[aps-1949-10-21] Byrum Shockley delivered an historical paper titled “Influence of the Early English Settlers on the Culture of Avon Park.”[aps-1949-10-21] The members elected J. B. (“Jim”) Jordan as president, Edith Wild as vice president, Annye Bennett as secretary, Cora Wray as treasurer, and May Walden as historian.[aps-1949-10-21]
  • Sixth Annual Reunion (October 11, 1950): Held at Donaldson Park, where Byrum Shockley read “A History of Our Citrus Industry,” tracing citrus culture on the Lake Wales Ridge from pioneer seedling groves and the 1894–1895 freezes to modern cooperative packing houses; The Avon Park Sun printed Shockley’s treatise in full on its front page the following week.[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1950-10-20]
  • Seventh Annual Reunion (October 10, 1951): Ninety-five members attended a barbecue luncheon furnished by Demon Mandis, with Mrs. J. A. Gregor recording the minutes.[aps-1951-10-12][aps-1951-10-19] Edith (Mrs. Max) Wild (who arrived in the spring of 1892) and E. C. Stenstrom (who arrived in 1888) were recognized as the longest-resident woman and man present.[aps-1951-10-19] The club elected Oscar E. Wolff as president, F. S. Jordan as vice president, Mary Johnson Reed as secretary, and Cora Wray as treasurer.[aps-1951-10-12][aps-1951-10-19]
  • Ninth Annual Reunion (October 14, 1953): Despite high water and flooded roads that kept out-of-town members away, sixty pioneers registered at Donaldson Park.[aps-1953-10-09][aps-1953-10-16] Outgoing President W. R. England and Mrs. England presided, and Mayor E. A. DeLaney Sr. delivered the principal address.[aps-1953-10-16] Jim Jordan was elected president for a second term alongside Raymond Dilley (vice president), Leta DeLaney (treasurer), and Mrs. Fred Stevens (secretary).[aps-1953-10-16]
  • Twelfth and Thirteenth Annual Reunions (October 1956 and October 16, 1957): Fifty-eight members attended the 1956 picnic, where 91-year-old founder May Walden was photographed.[aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03] At the 13th Annual Reunion on October 16, 1957, ninety-one members registered and honored 92-year-old May Walden as the oldest member in attendance.[aps-1957-10-24] The club elected Mayor E. A. DeLaney Sr. as president, Paul Jordan as first vice president, Clifford Craft as second vice president, Mary Johnson Reed as secretary, Florence Hilton as assistant secretary, and Cora Wray as treasurer.[aps-1957-10-24] In the following year (1958), Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell was elected secretary under President DeLaney, a post she held intermittently for the next two decades.[aps-1978-10-12] Following Mayor DeLaney’s presidency, Ted J. Ward and Olin Harris each served as president before Rev. Herbert D. Graetz was elected president in 1970.[aps-1978-10-12]

Early Archival Work and the 1951 Public Library Lockers

From its earliest years, the Old Settlers Association actively collected and exhibited physical artifacts and photographs of pioneer Avon Park. A pre-reunion notice in The Avon Park Sun on October 7, 1949, observed that Treasurer Cora Gray Wray was the daughter-in-law of early Avon Park photographer George E. Wray, “the person who made most of the old photographs that you see in the windows of the local stores of the old settlers.”[aps-1949-10-07] Every October during the 1940s and 1950s, Wray and the association placed framed pioneer photographs dating back to 1890 in the front display windows of Main Street merchants—including Metcalfe’s Hardware, Touchton’s Drug Store, Wells Motor Company, and Coker’s—to stimulate public interest in local history.[aps-1949-10-07][aps-1957-10-24]

In addition to her photographic collection, Cora Wray maintained an alphabetical register book recording the genealogies and arrival dates of Avon Park’s pioneer families, while Byrum Shockley compiled a full manuscript history of the town, which The Avon Park Sun reported as newly completed in October 1957.[aps-1957-10-10][aps-1971-10-28][maxwell-1976]

Before the Historical Society acquired a building of its own, the Old Settlers Association looked to the city library for fireproof storage. In October 1949, the officers announced that they “all hope to have a room in the proposed new library building for articles of historical interest.”[aps-1949-10-07] At the 7th Annual Reunion on October 10, 1951, the association formally expressed its gratitude that space would be provided in the new fireproof Avon Park Public Library building at 116 East Main Street for lockers to house the club’s valuable papers and photographs, and voted a cash donation from its treasury to the library building fund.[aps-1951-10-19]

3. Historic Preservation, the Bicentennial, and Reorganization (1970–1978)

The 1970–1971 Bandstand Restoration and Cora Wray’s Final Meeting

In 1970, under newly elected President Rev. Herbert D. Graetz, the Old Settlers Association launched its first major architectural preservation campaign: saving the deteriorating Avon Park Bandstand on the Mile Long Mall.[aps-1971-10-28][aps-1977-09-15][maxwell-1976] Lifetime resident W. Cliff Thomas chaired a citizens’ and merchants’ fundraising committee, working with Association Treasurer Grace (Mrs. P. C.) Boney to raise $2,585 in private donations, which the Avon Park City Council matched to restore the landmark.[aps-1975-10-23][aps-1977-09-15][maxwell-1976] During the 1971 renovation, members initially proposed converting the ground floor of the Bandstand into a “mini-museum” for the association’s pioneer collections.[aps-1977-11-03]

Cliff Thomas, Chairman of the committee to restore the bandstand, and Mrs

W. Cliff Thomas, chairman of the committee to restore the Mall Bandstand, and Mrs. P. C. (Grace) Boney, treasurer of the Old Settlers Association, reviewing their balanced restoration accounts in 1971. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 190. Avon Park Historical Society.[maxwell-1976]

On Saturday, October 23, 1971, the Old Settlers Association held its 27th annual covered-dish dinner and business meeting at the Old Union Congregational Church Fellowship Hall, arranged by Grace Boney and Mrs. E. Sharpe.[aps-1971-10-28] Mel Bass chaired a panel of pioneer reminiscences featuring E. A. DeLaney Sr., Lillian Hood, Raymond Dilley, and Thelma Dilley, with pioneer banker C. E. Lanier also in attendance.[aps-1971-10-28] Secretary Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell read the minutes and presented the Bandstand Restoration Committee report on behalf of chairman W. Cliff Thomas.[aps-1971-10-28] The meeting took place on the 87th birthday of charter historian Cora Gray Wray, who made her final appearance at the association, carried into the hall in her chair by Cois Leroy (“Jack”) DeLaney and Milford Dilley (an occasion misdated from memory as October 9, 1971, in the caption on page 71 of Maxwell’s 1976 book, but fixed to Saturday, October 23, 1971, by the contemporary report and photograph in The Avon Park Sun of October 28, 1971).[aps-1971-10-28][maxwell-1976] The membership elected Rev. Herbert D. Graetz (president), Mel Bass (vice president), Leoma Maxwell (secretary), Grace Boney (treasurer), and Cora Wray (historian) for 1971–1972, and convened its 28th annual meeting the following year on October 26, 1972, at Wesley Hall of the First United Methodist Church.[aps-1971-10-28][aps-1972-10-26]

CORA WRAY, her last time to attend the Old Settlers Association meeting October 9, 1971

Charter Historian Cora Gray Wray carried in her chair by Jack DeLaney and Milford Dilley at her final Old Settlers Association meeting on her 87th birthday, October 23, 1971 (captioned October 9, 1971 in the 1976 book). The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 71. Avon Park Historical Society.[aps-1971-10-28][maxwell-1976]

Before her death (which occurred between late 1971 and October 1975), Cora Wray persuaded Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell to assume custody of her entire collection of pioneer photographs, family albums, and historical papers until a permanent museum could be established.[aps-1975-10-23][aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976] Following Wray’s death, her daughter Mildred Wray Waddell delivered boxes of these archival collections to Maxwell’s home.[aps-1978-10-12]

The 1975 Reorganization, Bicentennial Leadership, and the Crosby Monument

The year 1975 marked the decisive transformation of the pioneer reunion club into a modern community-wide historical society:

  1. Municipal Bicentennial Appointment (May 1975): In May 1975, Mayor J. Marshall Davis and the Avon Park City Council designated the Historical Committee of the Old Settlers Association of Avon Park as the official coordinating body for the city’s United States Bicentennial celebration (spanning July 4, 1975 to July 4, 1976), naming Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell as chairman, George W. Haynie as assistant chairman, Grace Boney as treasurer, W. Cliff Thomas as assistant treasurer, and Mildred Wray Waddell and Anna Belle Worden as committee members.[aps-1975-05-22] The committee secured a Florida Bicentennial Commission grant for the Mall Bandstand restoration, for which Florida Bicentennial Commission Executive Director William R. Adams later awarded the committee a permanent commemorative plaque in September 1977.[aps-1977-09-15]
  2. Name Change and Open Membership (1975): In 1975, the organization changed its operational name to the Old Settlers Historical Society (also referred to in local newspaper headlines as the Avon Park Historical Society) and abolished the original twenty-year residency requirement.[aps-1975-10-23][aps-1977-11-03] Under the amended rule, “anyone interested in the history of Avon Park was eligible for membership and entitled to be called ‘Old Settler’.”[aps-1977-11-03]
  3. The Oliver M. Crosby Grave Marker Resolution (October 17, 1975): At the annual dinner and business meeting on Friday, October 17, 1975, Florida historian and author Hampton Dunn addressed the society on historic preservation and “historical pollution.”[aps-1975-10-23] During the meeting—which paid memorial tribute to Cora Gray Wray on the anniversary of her birthday—the society passed a formal resolution to raise funds to erect a monument on the unmarked grave of town founder Oliver Marvin Crosby in Bougainvillea Cemetery, with President Rev. H. D. Graetz telling members, “As you leave drop some money in the dishpan at the door.”[aps-1975-10-23] On July 4, 1976, the society and its Bicentennial Committee dedicated the granite marker over Crosby’s grave honoring him as the “Founder of Avon Park.”[maxwell-1976]

The monument erected on Oliver M. Crosby’s grave in Bougainvillea Cemetery on July 4, 1976

Granite monument erected over the grave of town founder Oliver Marvin Crosby in Bougainvillea Cemetery on July 4, 1976, following the Historical Society’s October 17, 1975 fundraising resolution. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 58. Avon Park Historical Society.[aps-1975-10-23][maxwell-1976]

Publishing The First Hundred Years of Avon Park (1976) and Dropping “Old Settlers” (1978)

In 1976, a committee of the society—composed of Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell, Eunice (Mrs. George W.) Haynie, Grace Boney, Mildred Wray Waddell, and Katie Davis—met to organize Cora Wray’s photograph collection and prepare a pictorial history of Avon Park that would correct the errors in Horace J. Fenton’s 1958 History of Avon Park, Florida: 1886–1956 (see The Pioneer Historiography of Avon Park).[aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976] Combining Wray’s archives with newly recovered copies of Oliver M. Crosby’s and Samuel D. Lee’s 1919 Highlands Pilot serials and Crosby’s 1887–1888 books, the organization published The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida under the corporate imprint The Historical Society of the Old Settlers Association, Inc., with Rev. Herbert D. Graetz and Robert W. Burkhart serving as presidents, James Fountain as treasurer, and Avon Park Sun publisher Edward Carter providing publishing support.[aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976]

Robert W. Burkhart and James Fountain checking the list of sponsors for The First Hundred Years of Avon Park

Robert W. Burkhart, president of The Historical Society of the Old Settlers Association, Inc., and James Fountain, treasurer, reviewing the list of publication sponsors for The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 244. Avon Park Historical Society.[maxwell-1976]

By October 1978, as Leoma Maxwell reported in The Avon Park Sun, the membership voted to simplify its title once more:

“Since most of the original Old Settlers have passed on our organization has agreed to drop that part of our name and become The Historical Society of Avon Park.”[aps-1978-10-12]

4. Acquiring the Seaboard Depot and State Incorporation (1976–Present)

The Campaign for the 1926 Seaboard Station (1976–1979)

When the neighboring community of Lake Wales dedicated its restored Atlantic Coast Line depot as the Lake Wales Depot Museum on July 3, 1976, leaders of the Old Settlers Historical Society turned their attention from the Mall Bandstand to Avon Park’s closed 1926 Seaboard Air Line Railway station (then owned by successor Seaboard Coast Line Railroad) at Main Street and Museum Avenue.[aps-1977-11-03]

As President Rev. Herbert D. Graetz reported to more than sixty members at the 32nd Annual Meeting on October 27, 1977 at the Congregational Church Fellowship Hall, Fred Jahna made the society’s initial contact with railroad officials when Mr. Glover of the Lakeland office visited Avon Park, and citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin Jr. traveled to Virginia to meet personally with Seaboard Coast Line President W. Thomas Rice to request that the depot be donated to the City of Avon Park for a museum.[aps-1977-11-03] On August 12, 1977, Mayor J. Marshall Davis received word from Seaboard attorney J. T. Arnold and Florida Division Superintendent J. Arnold in Jacksonville that the railroad was prepared to deed the station building and grounds (extending from Main Street to 30 feet north of the depot and from 15 feet east of the track centerline to Michigan Avenue) to the city, provided the city removed the trackside concrete platform and roof overhang to maintain a 15-foot clearance, erected a safety fence along the active right-of-way, and sealed the west trackside doors.[aps-1977-11-03][aps-1977-11-10]

D. M. Earnest, Fred Garrett and J. W. (Billy) Martin at the Old Settlers Historical Society annual meeting, November 2, 1977

Pioneer descendants D. M. Earnest, Fred Garrett, and Highlands County Tax Assessor J. W. (Billy) Martin examining an archival scrapbook at the annual meeting of the Old Settlers Historical Society in autumn 1977. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida (1976), page 206. Avon Park Historical Society.[aps-1977-11-03][maxwell-1976]

At the October 27, 1977 annual meeting, Lake Wales Museum director Mimi Hardman and curator Katie Huzabee advised the Avon Park society on federal CETA staffing grants, historic preservation funding, and museum governance.[aps-1977-11-03] On Friday, November 4, 1977, the board of directors of the Old Settlers Historical Society met in Mayor Davis’s office at City Hall and nominated Jane Barben, Ben Hill Griffin Jr., and Fred Jahna to the City Council as the core committee to oversee the conversion of the Seaboard depot into a museum.[aps-1977-11-03][aps-1977-11-10] In October 1978, while the society awaited the formal deed transfer, Avon Park Sun publisher Edward Carter donated the newspaper’s historic Linotype typesetting machine and printing press—hauled from the Sun building by Keith Bagwell, Eugene Flint, and Joe Gant—to be stored by Leoma Maxwell as one of the future museum’s centerpiece industrial exhibits.[aps-1978-10-12]

On January 4, 1979, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Superintendent John W. Thomas formally presented the depot deed to Mayor J. Marshall Davis in a public ceremony featuring the Avon Park High School Band, and the City of Avon Park leased the landmark to the Historical Society.[maxwell-1976]

Museum Dedication, 1981 Florida Corporate Filing, and Modern Expansion

Following two and a half years of structural renovation and exhibit installation, the Avon Park Depot Museum at 3 North Museum Avenue was formally dedicated in May 1981.[hns-2021-frontiersman] One month later, on June 25, 1981, the organization filed its permanent charter with the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, as a Florida Not For Profit Corporation under the legal name THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AVON PARK, INC. (Document Number 758915, FEI/EIN 59-2302474; reinstated May 28, 1996, with principal office at 3 North Museum Avenue and mailing address at P.O. Box 726, Avon Park, FL 33825).[sunbiz-758915]

In the decades since its 1981 opening, the Historical Society of Avon Park has expanded the Depot Museum campus to include a static Seaboard System caboose, the Highlands Express 1980 CSX dining car, a library and archival research room housing the digitized Avon Park Sun collection and pioneer scrapbooks, and—beginning in April 2021—an adjacent 1,800-square-foot addition built to house the Florida Frontiersman Museum and the Avon Park Baseball Museum.[hns-2021-frontiersman]

5. Chronological Roster of Documented Officers and Milestones (1945–1981)

Date Institutional Name Key Officers & Committee Leaders Primary Milestone
Oct. 9, 1945 Old Settlers Association of Avon Park Acting Chairman: May Walden (bylaws drafter) Organizational meeting held; Articles of Incorporation drafted with 20-year residency rule.[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1957-10-10][aps-1977-11-03]
Nov. 1945 Old Settlers Association of Avon Park Original Executive Committee Signers: May Walden, Cora Gray Wray, Byrum Shockley (historian), Clara Davidson, Alice Davidson First covered-dish picnic; 63 pioneers sign the charter resolving to compile an accurate town history.[aps-1948-09-10][aps-1957-10-10]
Oct. 13, 1948 Old Settlers Association Outgoing Pres.: William Hauptman; Incoming Pres.: I. A. Cyril Baldwin; VP: Edith Wild; Sec.: Annye Skipper Bennett; Treas.: Cora Wray; Historian: Byrum Shockley 4th Annual Assembly at Donaldson Park; papers read by Byrum Shockley, Dr. E. G. Woods, and O. C. Wilcox; Charles Krause (1886) oldest resident.[aps-1948-10-15]
Oct. 12, 1949 Old Settlers Association Pres.: J. B. (“Jim”) Jordan; VP: Edith Wild; Sec.: Annye Bennett; Treas.: Cora Wray; Historian: May Walden 5th Annual Reunion (114 registered); Shockley reads paper on English settlers; officers announce plan for archival space in proposed new library.[aps-1949-10-07][aps-1949-10-21]
Oct. 11, 1950 Old Settlers’ Club / Association Pres.: J. B. Jordan; Historian: Byrum Shockley 6th Annual Reunion at Donaldson Park; Shockley reads “A History of Our Citrus Industry.”[aps-1950-09-29][aps-1950-10-20]
Oct. 10, 1951 Old Settlers’ Club / Association Pres.: Oscar E. Wolff; VP: F. S. Jordan; Sec.: Mary Johnson Reed (acting: Mrs. J. A. Gregor); Treas.: Cora Wray 7th Annual Reunion (95 attend); club secures space for archival lockers in the new fireproof Avon Park Public Library and votes donation to library fund.[aps-1951-10-12][aps-1951-10-19]
Oct. 14, 1953 Old Settlers Association Outgoing Pres.: W. R. England; Incoming Pres.: Jim Jordan; VP: Raymond Dilley; Sec.: Mrs. Fred Stevens; Treas.: Leta DeLaney 9th Annual Reunion (60 registered during high water); Mayor E. A. DeLaney Sr. is principal speaker.[aps-1953-10-09][aps-1953-10-16]
Oct. 16, 1957 Old Settlers Association Pres.: Mayor E. A. DeLaney Sr.; 1st VP: Paul Jordan; 2nd VP: Clifford Craft; Sec.: Mary Reed; Asst. Sec.: Florence Hilton; Treas.: Cora Wray 13th Annual Reunion (91 registered); 92-year-old May Walden honored; Byrum Shockley completes town history manuscript; Leoma Maxwell elected secretary in 1958.[aps-1957-10-10][aps-1957-10-24][aps-1978-10-12]
1960s–1970 Old Settlers Association Presidents: E. A. DeLaney Sr., Ted J. Ward, Olin Harris, Rev. Herbert D. Graetz (elected 1970); Bandstand Chair: W. Cliff Thomas Rev. H. D. Graetz becomes president in 1970; W. Cliff Thomas and Grace Boney lead $2,585 fundraising drive to restore the Mall Bandstand.[aps-1971-10-28][aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976]
Oct. 23, 1971 Old Settlers Association Pres.: Rev. H. D. Graetz; VP: Mel Bass (and Jack DeLaney); Sec.: Leoma Maxwell; Treas.: Grace Boney; Historian: Cora Wray 27th Annual Meeting at Union Congregational Fellowship Hall; Cora Wray attends final meeting on her 87th birthday; Bandstand restoration report given.[aps-1971-10-28][maxwell-1976]
May–Oct. 1975 Old Settlers Historical Society / Avon Park Historical Society Pres.: Rev. H. D. Graetz; VP: Jack DeLaney; Sec. & Bicentennial Chair: Leoma Maxwell; Asst. Chair: George Haynie; Treas.: Grace Boney; Asst. Treas.: W. Cliff Thomas Named official City Bicentennial coordinator (May 1975); drops 20-year residency rule; passes Oct. 17, 1975 resolution after Hampton Dunn talk to fund Oliver M. Crosby grave monument.[aps-1975-05-22][aps-1975-10-23][aps-1977-11-03]
1976 The Historical Society of the Old Settlers Association, Inc. Presidents: Rev. H. D. Graetz, Robert W. Burkhart; Treas.: James Fountain; Historical Committee: Leoma Maxwell, Eunice Haynie, Grace Boney, Mildred Waddell, Katie Davis Dedicates Oliver M. Crosby monument in Bougainvillea Cemetery (July 4, 1976) and publishes The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida.[aps-1978-10-12][maxwell-1976]
Oct.–Nov. 1977 Old Settlers Historical Society Pres.: Rev. H. D. Graetz; Historian: Mildred Waddell; Museum Committee: Jane Barben, Ben Hill Griffin Jr., Fred Jahna 32nd Annual Meeting (Oct. 27, 1977) hears Lake Wales Museum director Mimi Hardman; board nominates Barben, Griffin, and Jahna (Nov. 4, 1977) to convert Seaboard depot into museum.[aps-1977-11-03][aps-1977-11-10]
Oct. 1978 The Historical Society of Avon Park Pres.: Rev. H. D. Graetz; Sec.: Leoma Maxwell Organization drops “Old Settlers” from its name; Avon Park Sun publisher Edward Carter donates historic Linotype and printing press for the future museum.[aps-1978-10-12]
Jan. 4, 1979 – June 25, 1981 The Historical Society of Avon Park, Inc. Mayor J. Marshall Davis; Seaboard Supt. John W. Thomas; Society Board of Directors Seaboard Coast Line deeds 1926 depot to City (Jan. 4, 1979); Avon Park Depot Museum dedicated (May 1981); incorporated with Florida Division of Corporations as Doc. #758915 (June 25, 1981).[maxwell-1976][sunbiz-758915][hns-2021-frontiersman]

References

  • aps-1948-09-10 — The Avon Park Sun. Notice of Old Settlers Association Executive Committee Meeting. 10 September 1948. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1948-10-13 reel)
  • aps-1948-10-15 — The Avon Park Sun. Baldwin Heads Old Settlers; Fourth Annual Assembly and Picnic Held Wednesday. 15 October 1948. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1948-10-22 reel)
  • aps-1949-10-07 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Plan Reunion Oct. 12th. 7 October 1949. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1949-09-30 reel)
  • aps-1949-10-21 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Hold 5th Annual Reunion; 114 Register at Guest Club House. 21 October 1949. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1949-10-14 reel)
  • aps-1950-09-29 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Plan Annual Picnic Oct. 11. 29 September 1950. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)
  • aps-1950-10-06 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Meet Next Wednesday in Donaldson Park. 6 October 1950. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)
  • aps-1950-10-20 — Byrum Shockley (The Avon Park Sun). A History of Our Citrus Industry (Read before the Old Settlers’ Club Oct. 11, 1950). 20 October 1950. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)
  • aps-1951-10-12 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Elect O. E. Wolff President at Annual Gathering. 12 October 1951. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-09-28 reel)
  • aps-1951-10-19 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Enjoy 7th Annual Picnic; Vote Donation to Library Fund. 19 October 1951. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-09-28 reel)
  • aps-1953-10-09 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers To Meet Wednesday at Donaldson Park. 9 October 1953. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-10-09 reel)
  • aps-1953-10-16 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Elect Jim Jordan President at Ninth Annual Meeting. 16 October 1953. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-10-16 reel)
  • aps-1957-10-10 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Plan 13th Annual Picnic Wednesday, Oct. 16. 10 October 1957. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1957-10-10 reel)
  • aps-1957-10-24 — The Avon Park Sun. Ninety-One Register At Old Settlers Picnic; Mayor E. A. DeLaney Elected President. 24 October 1957. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1957-10-24 reel)
  • aps-1971-10-28 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Association Holds Annual Covered Dish Dinner and Meeting. 28 October 1971. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1971-10-28 reel)
  • aps-1972-10-26 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers To Hold 28th Annual Meeting Tonight at Wesley Hall. 26 October 1972. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1972-10-26 reel)
  • aps-1975-05-22 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Historical Committee Named To Coordinate Bicentennial Celebration. 22 May 1975. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1975-05-22 reel)
  • aps-1975-10-23 — The Avon Park Sun. Historical Society To Raise Funds For Crosby Grave Marker. 23 October 1975. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1975-11-29 reel)
  • aps-1977-09-15 — The Avon Park Sun. Mrs. Maxwell Receives Bicentennial Plaque. 15 September 1977. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-09-15 reel)
  • aps-1977-11-03 — Lew Miller and Betty Amburn (The Avon Park Sun). Old Settlers Work For Museum / Your Ideas Needed. 3 November 1977. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-11-03 reel)
  • aps-1977-11-10 — The Avon Park Sun. Old Settlers Meeting. 10 November 1977. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-11-10 reel)
  • aps-1978-10-12 — Betty Amburn and Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell (The Avon Park Sun). Leoma Maxwell Helps To Organize City’s History. 12 October 1978. Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1979-10-11 reel)
  • maxwell-1976 — Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell. The First Hundred Years of Avon Park, Florida. 1976. documents/the-first-hundred-years-of-avon-park_leoma-bradshaw-maxwell_1976.md
  • sunbiz-758915 — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations. Florida Division of Corporations Filing: THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AVON PARK, INC. (Document No. 758915). 25 June 1981. https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=EntityName&directionType=Initial&searchNameOrder=HISTORICALSOCIETYAVONPARK%207589150&aggregateId=domnp-758915-7e940b63-6784-4821-8176-2eb38068437f
  • hns-2021-frontiersman — Highlands News-Sun. Historic Depot building new Florida Frontiersman Museum. 28 April 2021. https://www.midfloridanewspapers.com/highlands_news-sun/historic-depot-building-new-florida-frontiersman-museum/article_a2e2c618-a7ba-11eb-8c5a-2bf9a6bf4f56.html

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. The Avon Park Sun, Notice of Old Settlers Association Executive Committee Meeting (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1948-10-13 reel)) (1948) · newspaper
  2. The Avon Park Sun, Baldwin Heads Old Settlers; Fourth Annual Assembly and Picnic Held Wednesday (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1948-10-22 reel)) (1948) · newspaper
  3. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Plan Reunion Oct. 12th (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1949-09-30 reel)) (1949) · newspaper
  4. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Hold 5th Annual Reunion; 114 Register at Guest Club House (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1949-10-14 reel)) (1949) · newspaper
  5. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Plan Annual Picnic Oct. 11 (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)) (1950) · newspaper
  6. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Meet Next Wednesday in Donaldson Park (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)) (1950) · newspaper
  7. Byrum Shockley (The Avon Park Sun), A History of Our Citrus Industry (Read before the Old Settlers' Club Oct. 11, 1950) (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1950-10-11 reel)) (1950) · newspaper
  8. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Elect O. E. Wolff President at Annual Gathering (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-09-28 reel)) (1951) · newspaper
  9. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Enjoy 7th Annual Picnic; Vote Donation to Library Fund (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-09-28 reel)) (1951) · newspaper
  10. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers To Meet Wednesday at Donaldson Park (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-10-09 reel)) (1953) · newspaper
  11. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Elect Jim Jordan President at Ninth Annual Meeting (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1953-10-16 reel)) (1953) · newspaper
  12. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Plan 13th Annual Picnic Wednesday, Oct. 16 (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1957-10-10 reel)) (1957) · newspaper
  13. The Avon Park Sun, Ninety-One Register At Old Settlers Picnic; Mayor E. A. DeLaney Elected President (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1957-10-24 reel)) (1957) · newspaper
  14. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Association Holds Annual Covered Dish Dinner and Meeting (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1971-10-28 reel)) (1971) · newspaper
  15. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers To Hold 28th Annual Meeting Tonight at Wesley Hall (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1972-10-26 reel)) (1972) · newspaper
  16. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Historical Committee Named To Coordinate Bicentennial Celebration (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1975-05-22 reel)) (1975) · newspaper
  17. The Avon Park Sun, Historical Society To Raise Funds For Crosby Grave Marker (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1975-11-29 reel)) (1975) · newspaper
  18. The Avon Park Sun, Mrs. Maxwell Receives Bicentennial Plaque (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-09-15 reel)) (1977) · newspaper
  19. Lew Miller and Betty Amburn (The Avon Park Sun), Old Settlers Work For Museum / Your Ideas Needed (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-11-03 reel)) (1977) · newspaper
  20. The Avon Park Sun, Old Settlers Meeting (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1977-11-10 reel)) (1977) · newspaper
  21. Betty Amburn and Leoma Bradshaw Maxwell (The Avon Park Sun), Leoma Maxwell Helps To Organize City's History (Avon Park Historical Society Newspaper Archive (1979-10-11 reel)) (1978) · newspaper
  22. 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
  23. Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Florida Division of Corporations Filing: THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AVON PARK, INC. (Document No. 758915) (1981) · archival
  24. Highlands News-Sun, Historic Depot building new Florida Frontiersman Museum (2021) · newspaper

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