Pioneers
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John Neill and Eva Searcy
John Neill Searcy arrived in Mellonville (Sanford) by steamboat and homesteaded in the Longwood area in 1873. He first settled near the Longdale/Sky Lark/Candyland Park area before relocating to the south shore of West Lake. Mr. Searcy was originally from Tennessee and served as a sergeant in the Confederate army during the Civil War. His father (also named John) was a doctor and joined him in Longwood. They and several other prominent citizens helped build the Christ Episcopal Church on West Church Street. The church held its first service on Easter in 1882. In 1885, he married Eva Lessie Muzzy.…
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Aaron Jernigan
Martha B Jernigan Tyler (1838-1926) was quoted in Kenna Fries’ 1937 book “Orlando in the Long Long Ago” as writing: “My father was Captain Aaron Jernigan, a brave soldier. Father moved to Florida in 1843, bringing his cattle, an old white gentleman and some negroes. The following January he moved mother and us children down. We had seven hundred head of cattle. Our nearest neighbors were at Fort Reed, which was a mile from Sanford. My father settled on a place two miles and a half south of Orlando. It is now owned by Mr. Overstreet. Mr. Aurthur Quinn and…
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Mahlon Gore
Gore said in 1908 of his first encounter with Orlando: “I walked over from Sanford, taking two days to make the trip. The sand was deep and the last end of the road stretched out unaccountably long. At about the present intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Livingston Street, was a little house owned and occupied by a clergyman named Beverridge, pastor of the Presbyterian church. And a block to the east, discernible through the trees, was another, the home of E. W. Spier. No other buildings were in sight, but meeting a man on horseback, I inquired how far it…
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Frederic Henry Rand
One of the earliest settlers of Longwood was Frederic H. Rand who arrived in Longwood the year the post office was established. Like Henck he was from Boston. He purchased several large tracts of land on the west side of Longwood and planted citrus. In 1891, it was reported that he owned 40 acres of citrus, one of the largest grove owners in the Longwood area at the time. Rand helped organize the first Episcopal mission in Longwood in 1877 which constructed Christ Church on West Church Avenue in 1880. The church, which is still being used, was dedicated on…
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Edward Warren Henck
Edward Henck (1846-1930) arrived in Mellonville (Sanford) by steamboat in November 1872 from Boston. He looked at some maps of available homesteads and picked out a few promising locations. Horses were scarce, so he started walking south. He diverged from the main trail to Orlando and took a more western fork near Soldier Creek. He arrived on the southern shore of East Lake and decided to call it home. Edward put in a homestead claim for the eastern side of the section that stretches from 434 on the south to almost Longwood Hills Rd on the north, from Milwee Street…
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Josiah Benjamin Clouser
1838-1920 Concern for the health of his wife (Eliza), Josiah B. Clouser moved his family from Pennsylvania to Longwood in 1881. He saw the town in newspaper ads placed by town founder Edward Henck. He was a master carpenter, who built many of the early Longwood buildings from 1883 onward. The two homes where he lived (Clouser House and Clouser Cottage) still exist today in the central historic district. He also built the Henck House and many other still standing residences in the district. He built other notable buildings like the Longwood Hotel, Altamonte Chapel (originally Lake Brantley Union Chapel),…