The CHAPMAN Residence of Mount Dora
Historic Lake County Homes
The CHAPMAN Residence of Mount Dora
A hundred
and one years have passed since Jim and Eugenia Chapman moved into their new
home at Third Avenue and Baker Street in downtown Mount Dora. For more than a
century now, Chapman’s homeplace, perched atop an incline east of Donnelly Street,
has been an eyewitness to an ever changing - yet ever alluring – Mount Dora.
James
Jefferson Chapman,
born at Crawfordville, Georgia in 1866, first found his way to Florida as a young man
in his twenties. He explored West Apopka (now Ferndale),
Minneola on Lake Minneola, and then was off to Sanibel Island, all during the 1880s. Still uncertain
of where he wanted to settle, Jim Chapman moved out West, to the State of
Washington. For a time, he called Wenatchee home, then Seattle, but was not
yet done searching. Chapman spent a few months digging for gold in Alaska’s
Klondike before returning to Seattle where, in 1902, Jim Chapman married his cousin,
Eugenia Gertrude Chapman.
Around 1906,
the Chapman’s returned to Florida, settling first at Plymouth, Florida, Eugenia’s
childhood home, then to Zellwood, where Jim reportedly managed the Laughlin
Estate. Next, the Chapman’s moved to nearby Tangerine, and finally – answering
the Lure of Mount Dora, Jim & Eugenia Chapman relocated one final time – to
152 East Third Avenue, Mount Dora.
The
Chapman’s moved into the home in late 1919. For the next twenty years, Jim &
Eugenia enjoyed stunning Lake Dora sunsets from their front veranda, while relishing too a peace and tranquility of this lakeside hamlet, interrupted only occasionally
by the rumblings of a daily train delivering freight and passengers to their Mount
Dora. The train’s whistle blew just as the train passed the backside of their
property, for the Chapman’s backyard at that time sloped to and bordered the
railroad track.
1920 Sanborn Insurance Map
Chapman Residence on Woodland (Third) Avenue, red triangle above.
During a
century of the home’s existence at 152 East Third Avenue, even the street names
have changed. For a time, Jim & Eugenia Chapman lived at the southwest
corner of Hawley Street and Woodland Avenue. But Hawley Street then became Baker
Street, while Woodland Avenue reverted to its original name, Third Avenue, the
sole downtown artery sandwiched, since the town’s founding, between Second and
Fourth Avenues.
Mount Dora
was in its 40th year of existence when the Chapman’s purchased the
east half of “Block 12” in the town of Mount Dora. Byron M. Bruce, proprietor
of the iconic Grandview Hotel, sold the parcel to the Chapman’s on May 2, 1919.
Bruce had accumulated numerous parcels in and around Mount Dora since his own arrival
soon after Mount Dora’s founding. He had established the Bruce House Hotel in
the early 1880s, but eventually changed the name to Grandview when his hotel became
popular as a winter residence for snowbirds.
The town’s founder, Annie (McDonald) Stone-Donnelly, was no longer alive when Jim & Eugenia came to Mount Dora in 1919, although it is possible Eugenia knew of the town’s founder. If not, they no doubt would have heard of the amazing frontierswoman after arriving. Widower John P. Donnelly, Annie’s second husband and partner in developing the town of Mount Dora, was still living at that time in the Donnelly House, on Donnelly Street, across from Annie Donnelly Park.
Eugenia, also
born at Crawfordville, Georgia, relocated as a teenager to Mt. Plymouth,
Florida with her family. Eugenia’s father, John Chapman, taught school in
Plymouth, and Eugenia also taught school. A sister, Rachel Ethelyn (1876-1975), married Moses
Oscar Overstreet, at Plymouth in 1900. (Moses Overstreet became a prominent central
Floridian, involving himself in the business of turpentine, citrus fruit crate
building, and real estate).
Jim &
Eugenia Chapman were instrumental in organizing the First Baptist Church of
Mount Dora and remained active members of the church. Eugenia died in 1938,
James in 1939.
A Magic
Garden
In later
years, the Chapman residence at 152 East Third Avenue was subdivided into several
parcels by Joy Anne Ellis called “Olde Colony”. By 1974, the house, then on a smaller
lot, was acquired by Ralph and Bonnie Swanson and converted into the “Magic
Garden”, a plant store with the motto, “anything I can get in pots, we will get
it.”
Magic Garden Plant Store, 152 E. Third Avenue
Ralph had been
an Apopka High School teacher prior to venturing into the plant business, while
his wife Bonnie (Sharp) Swanson, had been a highly acclaimed actress performing
for years on stage with the Icehouse Theatre Players. In 1974, while opening
the Magic Garden plant shop, the mother of two also played the role of one of
the aunts in Mount Dora’s Icehouse Theatre’s production of “Arsenic and Old Lace”,
one of many roles Bonnie Swanson filled during more than 15 years as an
Icehouse Player.
Bonnie’s
stage performances were all featured at a newer Icehouse Theatre – at its
present location on Unser Street. But prior to 1957, earlier stage shows of the
Icehouse Players, as mentioned on page 228 of my book, ‘Mount Dore: The Lure.
The Founding. The Founders.’, were performed in the old icehouse, down by the
railroad track, behind the old residence at 152 E. Third Avenue.
My latest book on the history of Mount Dora does not include pioneers Jim & Eugenia Chapman, but more on each subject mentioned in this blog, and highlighted in red, will be found in my book.
BOOK LAUNCH
On November 1, 2021, in the Green Room of the Mount Dora Community Center at 520 Baker Street, (the 1880s orange grove site of Reverend Henry Guller), I am hosting my Mount Dora: The Lure. The Founding. The Founders. book launch from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.
Why November 1, 2021?
The Savannah Evening News of
October 29, 1886, reported that residents at Mount Dora and Sorrento
were preparing to celebrate the pending arrival of their first-ever
train. Arriving from the port at Sanford, and after nearly five years of
delays and frustration, the First Train to Mount Dora made its
approach into Mount Dora on November 1, 1886.
A month later, the railroad had completed laying track into the county seat at
Tavares.
Unlike you typical Book Launch:
After a meet and greet opportunity from 5:30 to 6:00, a special 45 minutes program has been designed to give you a taste of things to come on the pages of my Mount Dora book. Here's the program planned for guests of my book launch:
5:30 PM: Reception & Books Sales
6:05
PM: Welcome and Introductions
6:15
PM: The First Train to Mount Dora
6:20
PM: Frothingham’s Castle on the Hill
6:25
PM: Mount Dora’s First Blackout Baby
6:30
PM: Robert’s ‘Olde Lang Syne’
6:35
PM: Virginia’s ‘Person’s Unknown’
6:40
PM: Myrtle’s Historic Walk to Mount Dora
6:45 PM: Questions & Answers
5:30
PM to 7:30 PM – Book Sales and Signing
Care to know more, or to RSVP that you will be attending this exciting book launch? Simply email me at:
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