Page 13 - Clay County: Communities, Families, & Friends 2024

13
PLACES WITH FACES
Keystone Heights
The founder and developer of the City of Keystone Heights was a
man named John J. Lawrence. John was from Pennsylvania, the
“Keystone State,” hence the name of the community. He was an
ordained minister and he brought that experience with him when he
developed Keystone Heights. He was also an avid horticulturalist and
that skill became an integral part of the development of the city. John
was living in Pennsylvania when George Sebring, the developer of
Sebring, Florida, asked him to come down and help him develop the
area. This was shortly after World War I.
While in Florida, John met J.B. Zell, a man who owned several
thousand acres around Lake Brooklyn in Clay County. The land
was perfect for John’s needs and he bought it. He invited his
brothers, Jess, Joe Lawrence and Claude Lawrence, to join him in
the Lawrence Development Company. The company headquarters
was first located in the Brooklyn Hotel, a plain wooden building
where advertising and marketing began in earnest. Some of the first
homeowners were from Meadville, Pennsylvania. John started the
first church, the Community Christian Church.
In 1925, the city incorporated an original population of only
fifty people. Today, Keystone Heights is still our least populated
community, but retains its charm and remote appeal. Keystone
Heights is a city first brought to life by the land boom of the Roaring
‘20s!
Middleburg
Much is said about the Bellamy Road, the first federal highway in
Florida that slices through Clay County, but research indicates that
more likely than not, Main Street in Middleburg was there before the
Bellamy Road was ever built.
Main Street was in Middleburg even before Middleburg was
Middleburg. It wasn’t always called Main Street though. At its
inception, it was a dirt road cutting through the wilderness and then
it was a military road. Main Street was certainly the straightest road
in the county at its time, cutting across Black Creek with the use of a
ferry on its way to Jacksonville.
The citizens along Black Creek named their settlement Whitesville,
in honor of territorial [legislature] delegate Joseph M. White. The
name was changed to Webster in honor of Daniel Webster in the
1850’s. Webster first appeared on a map in 1888, and last appeared in
1894. The area by the ferry was named Garey’s Ferry after proprietor
Samuel Garey. Eventually, the two villages grew together and became
Middleburg in 1894. Some pioneer residents were the Brannings,
Samuel Garey, the Hagans, Isaac Varnes and Ozias Buddington. By
the time the Second Seminole War started, Whitesville/Middleburg
was well established.
The citrus tree, perennially green and ornamental, still graces many
a yard here. Orange Park was named after this hope, as were other
Florida towns such as Mandarin, Orange Mills, Fruit Cove, and
Satsuma.
The Christmas
season of 1894
was warm, but
it was not to
last. Oranges
and other citrus
fruit dangled
ripe from the
trees. A howling
cold front and
deep freeze then
descended over
Clay County and
the surrounding areas. The temperature was recorded as 16 degrees
in Jacksonville. Fruit dropped, ruined, onto the ground. The trees
lost their leaves, but they were not dead. It got warm again for 6
weeks, and the trees sprouted new growth. Growers breathed a
sigh of relief, looking forward to next year’s crop.
February 1895 brought weather that, like icicles into the grower’s
hearts, dashed those hopes. It was so cold even peach trees were
killed. In Clay County, farmers turned their groves into fields for
other crops like potatoes and melons. The hotel era rapidly declined
here as railroads took tourists beyond Clay County to Henry Flagler’s
jewels of hotels in St. Augustine, Miami, and Tampa. His railroad led
to Palm Beach, which is still a wealthy snowbird hot spot.
Tocoi/West Tocoi, also mispronounced as “Decoy”
Contributed by Palmetto CDC, Inc.
Along the St. Johns River just south of Clay County is the town of
Tocoi. Researchers report that the name has its origins from the
Timucua Indian word that means “shallow landing in the river.”
Tocoi was part of St. Johns County, and West Tocoi is situated in
Clay County.
Imagine West Tocoi, a small
inland railroad terminal town
that held its own as part of the
Tampa/Jacksonville Railroad
system. At the time, passengers
heading to St. Augustine had
to take a ferry to neighboring
Tocoi, which was east of St.
Johns River to complete their
journey to St. Augustine.
“Tocoi from 1870 to 1892 was the principal route from Jacksonville
to Saint Augustine for people and freight,” according to D. W. Parker
of Tocoi.
When Henry Flagler completed the Florida East Coast Railroad
taking passengers south without having to take a ferry, Tocoi/
West Tocoi went bust. The communities of Tocoi and West Tocoi
languished with the newest railroad route, and the St. Johns RR
from Tocoi to Saint Augustine stopped operating by 1895. According
to writer D. W. Parker, local historian Pat Garlinghouse, and John
Mahoney (whose company, Tocoi Engineering, reflects the name),
the only remnant of old Tocoi are several pilings in the St. Johns
River, and the possibility of finding relics to reflect times of old in
the marshes.
Note this 1839 of Duval County map where Garey’s
Ferry and Whitesville were on Black Creek. At that
time, Clay County was not on the map as it was
still a part of a much larger Duval County.
Frozen citrus grove, Clay County, 1894. Oranges litter the ground in a picture of total
devastation.
Mandarin – Orange Mills – Fruit Cove
- Satsuma
Northerners, wanting to enjoy the
warmth of Florida as tourists and as yeoman farmers, bought up
lots all over the county with dreams of thriving citrus trees and high
returns on the dollar in the 19th century. “Orange fever” gripped
the land as groves large and small were planted all over Florida,
including here in Clay County.
Photo Credit: Clay County Historical Archives