|
 The people
of Eustis, on the east shore of Lake Eustis, took their time
deciding on a name. First it was Highlands, then Pendryville, and
finally Lake Eustis, itself named about 1825 for General Abraham
Eustis.
General Eustis,
prominent in the Seminole Wars, had skirmished with the Indians on
the south shore, near present-day Tavares. In 1876, A.S. Pendry
homesteaded and set out a citrus grove. In 1877 he opened the
Ocklawaha Hotel. The post office in the lobby carried the sign
Pendryville".
Before railroads came in
the 1880s, Eustis was a busy port for steamers plying Lakes Harris,
Eustis, Dora, and Griffin. In 1883 the "Lake" was dropped and the
town became just Eustis.
The first homes were
those of D.W. Herrick, A.D. Herrick, and Henry Key. In 1881 Clifford
and Smith built the first general store in the building later
occupied by A.D. and C.D. Miller.
A big year was 1878 when
the town's first telegraph line connected Eustis, Leesburg, and
Sanford. The railroad arrived in 1880, the first train coming from
Astor to Fort Mason, where passengers and freight made lake steamer
connections to Leesburg, Helena, Yalaha, Bloomfield, Lane Park and
Tavares.
Bertie Clifford was the
first baby born before Eustis was incorporated in 1883, and Edith
Hutchins the first baby of the newly incorporated town. D.W. Herrick
was the first mayor.
Guilford David Clifford
was a man with a big heart. Although his Eustis dream home was
designed in 1894, the Big Freeze of 1894-1895 postponed its
completion until 1911. Says Eustis historian Louise Carter, "Even
though the freeze brought the town's economy to a standstill, Mr.
Clifford kept his lakefront general store open and extended credit
until people could recover." According to an 1887 business
directory, the Clifford Store on Lake Eustis sold "groceries,
hardware, building material, fertilizers, stoves, crockery,
glassware, hay and grain. And the opera house, on the second floor,
was a cultural center of Eustis and a wide swath of Central Florida.
The eighteen-room house
at the corner of Bay Street and Bates Avenue was worth waiting for:
Today it houses the Eustis Historical Museum and Preservation
Society, and takes visitors back to the gracious Lake County
lifestyle of one hundred-odd years ago.
The historical
information provided on this page was obtained from the book
entitled "Lake County Florida - A Pictorial History" by Emmett Peter
Jr. This book is available from the City of Eustis Library, 120 N.
Center Street, Eustis, Florida 32726. |
