This historic school and church dates back to 1887 when Father Swembergh, the first missionary of the Diocese of St. Augustine to reside in this area of Florida, organized a congregation. Swembergh worked as a resident priest and took over the four-year-old Central Florida missions in Maitland and Sanford that began in 1882 by Father McFaul. McFaul was a priest from St. Louis and was called to Orlando in 1886. When Father Swembergh arrived, he held mass at Doyle’s Hall which is still a part of the school today.
Constructed in 1902, Sanford Grammar School operated for decade as a public school. It was originally established as Sanford High School and operated as such until 1911 when it became a grammar school. In 1984 the school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and educational significance. For a time, the building housed the Margaret K. Reynolds Student Museum. In 2012, the University of Central Florida operated the building as the Public History Center, where students could hone their history skills. UCF also continued to run the museum. Unfortunately, the building was forced to close in 2015 when UCF terminated its lease. Without the university, the city could no longer afford to keep the building open. As of April 2017, it is not clear what the status of the building is today.
Built in 1910 and today the Florida Hotel, this historic building was once the Fernald-Laughton Memorial Hospital, which operated from 1919-1955. It was built as a home for George Fernald, a native of Boston and co-founder of a hardware company, and his family. After George passed away in 1919, his wife, whose maiden name was Laughton, decided to sell the house to the city so it could become a hospital. It became a boarding house hotel in 1955 and has essentially remained so ever since. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. During the 1980s, there was an effort to close the hotel because it tended to attract transients.
The Milane Theater opened as a "silent movie house" in August of 1923
The city of Sanford Fire Department is a fire station located in Florida, and is one of the oldest fire stations in the state. This city has three fire stations that have provided service to the citizens located in Sanford since 1873. Fire Station 31 is located at the address 109 Palmetto Ave, Sanford Florida, and the building was built in 1995. The station was then relocated, and since has not been used as a real fire station since 1974.
The Sanford Museum opened in 1957 as The Henry Shelton Sanford Memorial Library and Museum. The building was expanded in 1974 and again in 1993. The Sanford Family Collection, including the library and papers of city founder Henry S. Sanford, was donated to the city by Sanford’s daughter Carola Sanford Dow. On display are European and American paintings, furniture, personal objects and books from 1820-1890.
The Mediterranean Palace style building at 1000 East 1st Street in Sanford, Florida has seen its share of owners since the 1920’s land boom. It was first named the Hotel Forrest Lake after the mayor of Sanford who had it built with some partners for $500 million. The problem was, hardly anyone came. After it failed in 1927 it was renamed the Mayfair Inn. The New York Giants Baseball Club owned it for a while, then it changed hands once again to become the Sanford Naval Academy. It now serves as the international headquarters of the New Tribes Mission, an organization that distributes bibles to third world remote villages in their native tongue. This building has a limited written history about it. The land boom in Florida began to slow down, right before the Great Depression, but the city of Sanford also went bankrupt before that for another reason. The culprit for this was none other than the mayor of Sanford and Seminole County Bank president Forrest Lake himself. As a significant contribution to the development of the city of Sanford, the building also became a symbol of political corruption and greed which financially ruined not only Sanford, but the newly formed Seminole County as well. The main focus of the history of this building is Forrest Lake, and his corrupt political impact on all of Seminole County, Florida. Forrest Lake moved to Sanford from South Carolina at age 17. Seven years later he was elected Mayor for the first of 11 non-consecutive terms. After the freeze of the late 1890’s destroyed the citrus industry for a time, the city switched over from citrus to celery. In 1898, after the Spanish-American War, Lake went to Santiago, Cuba to learn more about ice and the preservation of vegetables to open an ice house. After returning to Sanford he was elected mayor again. During this time Lake, Bob Holley, editor of the Sanford Herald at the time, and other prominent Sanford businessmen wanted to break off from Orange County to be their own autonomous county and be the county seat. Lake was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1910 and made sure he was appointed to the County Division Committee, joining his friend State Senator Donegan from Osceola County. During the election of 1912, the Orlando Sentinel got word of a possible separation from Orange County and confronted the two committee members. Both Lake and Donegan denied support of any such split, yet secretly nudged a bill through Congress. With no opposition, the Governor routinely signed it in 1913. The outraged Orlando Sentinel then published an article about Forrest Lake being a liar and a cheap politician unfit for office. It was common for newly formed counties to have a county bank, so while in the state legislature, Lake applied for and was granted a charter to create the Seminole County Bank. Having accomplished what he set out to do he returned to Sanford and was appointed bank president by a board of businessmen and was also elected mayor again. The trust given to Lake was about to corrupt him. Political corruption was not uncommon for developing communities all throughout Florida. Bank failures were happening all over the state due to too many communities relying on one industry or crop, not enough bank regulation and restrictions, and poor management. During Lake’s first few years as mayor there were some improvements such as a seawall, and paved roads and the hotel he built for himself with unsecured loans to himself from his bank. Loans were made unsecured to land owners with little or no collateral. Lake claimed to finance all this by selling bonds to New York investors at 95 cents on the dollar. This was discovered to be actually less than 90 cents on the dollar. In June 1927 a principle and interest payment of $270,000 was due on the bonds. The bank only had a little over $80,000. A group called the Taxpayers League got involved and Lake was eventually convicted on 19 counts of embezzlement and theft of over $353,000 dollars. The city was left bankrupt with $1,000,000 in debt, right before the Great Depression. Sentenced to 14-16 years hard labor, all of his convictions were overturned by appeal because of faulty jury selection except one which he served almost 4 years beginning in 1931. After prison he returned to Sanford, hated and living on the streets with others struggling during the 1930’s. He died 5 years later in the very hospital he promised to build with those bonds, with a few small lines in the Sanford Herald about “Forrest Lake, businessman dies”. A few businesses closed for the day…… In 1971, the city of Sanford finally paid off the “Lake bonds”.
Fort Mellon, previously known as Camp Monroe, shaped and influenced its surrounding areas more than many people may know. The Fort was erected in 1836 as Camp Monroe as a staging area for troops and supplies during the Second Seminole war. Many troops of the United States army have been pushing further and further south into heavily populated Seminole Indian territory. The fort was strategically placed on the shore of Lake Monroe which stretches sixteen miles and flows into the St. Johns River. Some notable military figures that were at Camp Monroe/Fort Mellon include generals Jesup, Hernandez and Eustis with colonels Harney, Twiggs, and Fanning, many of which local towns or lakes have been named after.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour is perfect for a long walk or short drive and includes some of the leading landmarks and museums of Sanford including the Orange County Regional History Center and the Sanford Museum. Visitors to the city should also consider the nearby and historic Dr. P. Phillps House.
