As we go about our busy lives, driving to work, picking up kids from school or meeting friends for dinner, we often overlook the fact that we're surrounded by living history. Some of this history is in the shape of commercial structures that have been around for a hundred years or more, right here in East Polk County.
Just south of Bartow, off U.S. Highway 17, in what is now known as the Homeland Heritage Park (249 Church Ave.), is home to the oldest standing structures left in Polk County. They still remain as part of a 5-acre site.
One of the buildings is the old Homeland Schoolhouse, built in 1870. It was the first school to hit the area and boasted the largest enrollment in the county by 1888.
Originally named Bethel Academy, many local community activities were led there, including an annual get-together night where children from the community would perform poetry and sing. Methodist services also were held in the school until the 1920s. The school originally had only one room. It eventually expanded into four by 1921.
A trademark school bell that sat atop the building originally was purchased with proceeds from box suppers. It now resides in the foyer of the Polk County Public Schools building in Bartow.
A folding-door partition was used to separate events, and it made national news as "a new-fangled modern idea," according to a journalist from Georgia. "According to him, the idea was new and inspired," Hart McKillop says in a speech he gave before the Polk County Historical Association on the Historical Aspects of Homeland in September 1985.
The building still stands today, built from "rock hard, unturpentined heart pine, saw milled by Henry Wilson (a local community leader) and his father," McKillop says. The school closed in 1956 due to a drastic decline in enrollment and was abandoned in 1982.
Sally Mellor of the Polk County Democrat newspaper wrote a story about it in 1984, which helped spur support of Bartow and Fort Meade residents to protest the sale of the property. On March 26, 1985, the Polk County School Board and the County Commission came together to preserve the now "historical monument" and what is now known as Homeland Heritage Park.
Other buildings in the park include the old Homeland Methodist Church, built in 1887, and an old English log cabin and barn, built in 1888. For details about Homeland Heritage Park, call 863-534-4370.
In Winter Haven, the oldest public structure, the Women's Civic League Fountain, still remains in Central Park. It's been there since 1914.
But what is most likely the "oldest commercial building in Winter Haven," according to Bob Gernert Jr., the executive director of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce, has been here just shy of 100 years, and was named the Times Square Building in 1958 when the News Chief held a renaming contest.
The prize? A $25 savings bond presented by then-Mayor Hunter Hyer, and his son, Jay. Steve Griffith, whose father helped found the Gessler Clinic and whose children are fifth-generation Winter Haven residents, was 11 years old when he won the contest.
"My family had just come back from New York City, where I'd visited Times Square. I saw the big clock on the top of the building and got the idea to name it the Times Square Building," Griffith says.
Before it was the Times Square Building, or Arabella's Ristorante, it was a one-story bank founded by Henry Snell in 1909. Snell Bank officially opened in 1911 and eventually became Exchange National Bank. The building eventually became three stories by 1920.
In 1955, it became a string of many different businesses, including Thelma's Dress Shop, Mario's Restaurant, the Times Square Bistro and the Blue Guitar Nightclub. Arabella's opened in the "five-bricks-thick" structure in 2008.
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The Woman's Club of Winter Haven, repainted a bright pink color 12 years ago, opened in 1923. The color is meant to pay homage to the original "handsome pink edifice," says Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Gernert Jr.
Paul Crate / News Chief |
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As for the rare McClintock clock model, which was placed atop the building in 1925, it has since been taken down for refurbishing. According to a one-time president of Exchange National Bank, it "never kept good time."
Also in Winter Haven, the Woman's Club building came shortly after the Times Square Building. It was founded in 1913, and the lot off Lake Howard was purchased for only $2,000. The building, which officially opened in 1923, was purchased for $50,000. Reportedly, "business closed the day of the opening," according to Gernert. "There was such a celebration."
The now bright-pink building is an homage to the original "handsome pink edifice" repainted pink 12 years ago by volunteers. Gernert has since taken full responsibility, and sometimes flack, for its brigh- pink color, which critics say is too loud for the area. "The shade of pink was chosen by me," he says. He hopes, like everything in Florida, "time will soften its color." He's since vowed never to pick the shade again.
The Woman's Club building acted mainly as a civic center, where a stage and balcony held everything from cotillions, to proms to wedding receptions and piano recitals.
"Everyone who's lived here for a while seems to have a memory that took place in that building," Gernert says.
Sadly, the building was hit hard by the string of hurricanes of 2004, but community volunteers, organizations and the city of Winter Haven pitched in to help repair it. It now stands more beautiful than ever, just off Lake Howard on Pope Avenue, N.W.
The Woman's Club sold the building to the city in 2001 for $10. It is now used as the Museum of Winter Haven History, which opened in January 2006. It soon will be made into a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and can be rented for large events.
You may just find yourself taking a moment to ponder these places and their history during a busy day the next time you pass one by.
