Highway 434
-
Frain House
Look beyond the overhang and new facade of the 434 Animal Hospital, squint a little bit, and you can clearly see the outline of an old farm house. It was built as a farmhouse in 1922 by Oscar Frain with his young wife Nancy Hooker Frain. Nancy was born in 1895 on the old Hooker Homestead (near Milwee Middle) and lived until 1985. Oscar was much older than Nancy, having been a friend of her father, and he died in 1944 at 87-years old. Then six-year-old Spencer Whitehead, who is related to early pioneers the Hooker family, moved into the…
-
Lake Evergreen
Lake Evergreen in Longwood is a small but formidable barrier that for almost 70 years has prevented Highway 434 from being a straight shot through Longwood. The lake is located between Grant and Oxford. Longtime residents have long called the spring fed lake “bottomless” and observed how its water level barely budges even in droughts. Somewhere around 1950 State Road 434, then called Molnar Avenue between 427 and 17-92, was being paved. In an oral history with pioneer resident Andy Jones told of how the road builders brought the stakes up to the side of the lake. They planned to…