Most cities during Florida’s wood-framed pioneer days experienced devastating fires. For example, the 1887 Great Sanford Fire destroyed most of the town’s earliest buildings. Oviedo’s struck in 1914. Thankfully, this never happened in Longwood, and because of this, there are many examples of pre-1900 buildings in the historic district. However, that fate was only narrowly avoided. On September 30, 1899, the townspeople of Longwood hurried to the scene of a blaze at the Florida Midland Railroad depot (north of The Shoppes at Longwood Station Plaza today). Sparks from a northbound freight train ignited the train platform. Since there was no…

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