Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map showing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
What is now a municipal parking lot formerly was the site of the office of the Growers Association.
In 1908, S.E. Mays erected this brick block with ten stores downstairs and offices upstairs. It was the largest brick building in Plant City. A later tenant was Black's Department Store.
W.B. Herring organized a bank in August of 1912, and its office was located here. During the 1930s, this was the site of Wright Furniture and Hardware.
This was completed in 1906 and in the late 1930s, this housed the office of the Peninsular Telephone Company. Next door to the north is the Wright & Simmons Building, built in 1901. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places.
John C. Eskridge and his family lived in a house located here before World War I. He and his son, Joe R. Eskridge, started the Plant City Foundry, making structural steel beams for brick buildings and castings for the Roux and Warnell mills.
In 1903, an ice and electric plant was opened on E. Haines St. by the Plant City Ice and Power Company. In 1916, it was renamed the Plant City Public Service Company. Seven years later, ownership was transferred to Tampa Electric Company. The ice portion of the operation shut down in 1952, and Tampa Electric built a new office here in 1961.
This was the site of the sanctuary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the oldest church in Plant City. The congregation had been organized in Ichepuckesassa in 1850 by Rev. Samuel Knight. They later moved to Shiloh, where a 1 1/2 story sanctuary was built near the Shiloh Cemetery, the first building in the area with stained glass windows. The 70-member congregation moved to Plant City in 1885 and had their church here until 1902.
Elders C.B. Stephenson and George I. Butler erected a tent in 1904 on the later site of the high school to provide a place for church services. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church organized on October 16, 1905, and built a sanctuary on the north side of Calhoun St. to the west of the railroad tracks.
From 1912 to 1930, the church used another sanctuary built on Tarver St., and then in 1930 built the present one at this location. It later was the home of Iglesia Bautista La Fe.
Episcopal services in Plant City were held before 1889. During that year, a church was built on the east side of Wheeler St., between Mahoney and Reynolds Sts., where there was later a parking lot for the Hillsboro Bank.
This sanctuary was built in 1952, with the first parish hall and classrooms being added in 1954. The present parish hall was added in 1963.
This was the home of Dr. J.W. Alsobrook, and later of Victor Smith. It is on the state historic site register.
This church was built in 1953. The congregation had organized on May 27, 1946.
This cemetery was established on March 18, 1884, with three acres donated by Berrian Platt. During the following year, the Shiloh Baptist Church was built nearby, and the cemetery was owned by the church's trustees. In 1885, the church moved to Plant City and was renamed the First Baptist Church of Plant City in 1910.
During 1886 and 1887, Plant City suffered a yellow fever outbreak and many of its victims were brought here because there was no cemetery in Plant City. In 1975, ownership of the cemetery was conveyed to Plant City.
When this cemetery was established, some of the early settlers moved their dead from Shiloh Cemetery to the north.
This home was built in 1905 for Dr. D.M. Griffin. He made house calls and traveled to the Everglades to provide medical services to the Seminoles.
This was the home of E.T. Roux, and later of L.J. Prosser. It is on the Florida Historic Sites Register.
This was the home of Daniel Vick Coleman, and later was occupied by the Wilson sisters.
This three-story school was built in 1914 with a modified Georgian Revival style, designed by Willis R. Biggers. It features a four-bay pedimented portico and fluted Doric columns. It cost $40,000 and housed grades 1-12. In 1956, it became Tomlin Junior High School.
Classes ceased in 1971, but the 1500-seat auditorium and the rest of the building were restored for use as a community activities center. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 4, 1981.
In the 1880s, Peter Thomas had a house here. After it burned down, it was replaced by the home of Dr. J.W. Alsobrook. It also burned down.
Originally called the Progressive Primitive Baptist Church, it was organized on August 5, 1916, by J.L. and Susan Camilla Causey, Ira J. and Delia Sims, I.S. Hall, Howell Simms, and Annie Mae Simms Alderman. This church has three Queen Anne sash stained glass windows which were created in 1935.
One building that survived the fire of 1907 was the home of W.T. Miller, formerly belonging to V.F. Strickland. Located at the northwest corner of Palmer and Haines Sts., he later moved it to this location. It became the clubhouse of the Woman's Club and library in 1933. The present library building was erected in 1960.
McLendon St. is named for mayor Robert B. McLendon.
Father Alfred Latiolais held masses in 1912 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Burch, Sr. on Baker St. Later, they were held in the home of Mrs. Thomas Surrency at this corner, which was then bought and converted into a mission. In 1931, this church was completed on the same site.
This building later became the home of Igelsia De Dios Pentecostal M.I.
This church opened on February 15, 1925, replacing an earlier sanctuary built in 1892.
This home was built before 1904 and was the residence of P.A. Merrin. In later years, it has been substantially altered and enlarged.
This house was built in 1894 for Mrs. A.J. Allen. It later belonged to her granddaughter, Madie Lowry, who served as the manager of the city utility office from 1937 until 1961.
Drane St. is named for Col. H.M. Drane, a Plant Investment Company official.
When this bank organized in 1956, it built its office at the corner of Haines and Thomas Sts. In 1970, it joined First Financial Corporation. They city gave permission in 1975 to close Thomas St. and allow expansion eastward to Wheeler St.
The Methodist church which was built in 1885 on Haines St. moved here in 1902. In 1924, it moved to its present site. It was later replaced by the present post office.
During the 1890s, Jane Collins Knight had a boarding house here, which later became the residence of H.B. Wordehoff. It was moved to face Mahoney St. and was remodeled as the Wells Funeral Home. It was demolished during 1975 to provide off-street parking.
In 1893, the Plant City Graded and High School was built here. The land had been acquired from Peter Thomas. Just to the north was Thomas' orange grove.
This city is named after Henry Bradley Plant of Connecticut, whose railroad helped open Florida to settlement.
This city hall was built in 1959.
The present church building was erected in 1924. Where the educational building now is was once the site of Dr. J.L. Robert's house.
The Masons met in a building located here, and the Baptists also met here and then built a church here in 1896. The site was bought by the city for use as a city hall, and the Baptists built a new church elsewhere. The city hall building was demolished in 1958.
This church was founded in Shiloh to the north and its first church building was erected in 1866 adjacent to the Shiloh Cemetery. The congregation, then known as Shiloh Baptist Church, moved here in 1885 and on April 4, 1891, was renamed Plant City Baptist Church. In 1910 they changed the name to the First Baptist Church of Plant City. This church was built in 1921-22.
In 1960, First Federal Savings and Loan Association bought the home of S.E. Mays on this corner, and tore it down to make room for its new office.
This land was owned by Palestine Wright during the 1920s, and was the site of shows, circuses and parades. It was later bought as the site of a new school.
Where there is now a parking lot was once the home of William Schneider. It was moved to 1008 Gilchrist St.
W.F. Burts built a hotel here in about 1888. It served as a haven for Tampa residents attempting to flee the yellow fever epidemic in the late 1880s. It was a popular place to dine after his daughter, Ella Burts Strickland Crum, enlarged it and named it The Roselawn, which opened on January 2, 1908.
The Lee Building was completed in 1922 and became the new location of the post office. It later moved to the federal building at the corner of Reynolds and Wheeler Sts.
The post office was located on this corner in the 1880s until the early 1900s.
This bank was founded in 1907 and moved in here when the Central Pharmacy moved one building south of here in 1919. When the bank closed, the pharmacy moved back in here and was operated by the White brothers, nephews of the original owner, W.B. Herring.
This was previously the site of Plant City Supply Company, a mercantile business. When Hillsboro State Bank opened here in 1902, upstairs was the Olivette Hotel, named after one of H.B. Plant's steamships. A new bank was built here in 1914 and used until 1966.
Hillsboro State Bank is Plant City's first, oldest, and most successful bank. It was organized in 1902. English architect Francis Kennard designed this three-story brick building with Classical Revival and Beaux-Arts architectural elements. It features a two-story portico with twin concrete columns and ornate capitals.
The bank was renamed Hillsboro Bank in 1957. The building was placed on the state historic sites register in 1974 and later housed the Neighborhood Service Center. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
E.B. Trask built this commercial structure. When the post office moved out of it in 1922, it was replaced by the Magnolia Pharmacy.
A hotel was built here in 1911 by Bessie Robinson Smith (also known as Mrs. E.J. DeVane), the widow of Thomas Jefferson Smith. Previously, the site was occupied by Mr. Smith's Plant City Livery and Transfer Company.
First Federal Savings and Loan Association moved here in 1957. It was later the home of Plant Finance Company.
During the 1920s, some of the tenants here were the Guy O. Parker Electric Shop, The Sport Shop, and Burch-Jenkins, Realtors.
A hotel built for $500,000 opened here on November 11, 1926. It had a popular dining room. Located on the ground floor were the Plant City Motor Club, a barber shop, a ladies' dress shop operated by Margaret Pearson, a beauty salon, Mrs. A.C. Hull's gift store, the Suwannee Ice Cream Company, a cigar and news stand, the Plant City Public Service Company, and the Venice Company, promoting a new town along the Gulf of Mexico. It was demolished in 1966 and a bank was built on the same site.
The first store in Plant City was established here by W.K. Franklin and William Collins.
M.S. Herring ran the Ladies Ready-to-Wear and Millinery Store here until October 5, 1907, when a major fire broke out in it. The flames spread to other stores, including W.T. Miller's store on the southeast corner of Collins and Haines Sts., formerly belonging to V.F. Strickland. It was replaced by the present Miller Building, constructed in 1909.
In Mr. Tyner's stationery store, the post office was established on March 19, 1894. Tyner served as the postmaster, an office he had also held in the nearby community of Cork.
In 1894, the store here was known as the Lowry Drug Store. It later became Herring's, operated by W.B. Herring. Upstairs was the Opera House. The building burned down in 1907, and the Opera House moved to the third floor of the Mays Building. Herring built a new two-story brick building on the same site.
This is now the home of the Whistle Stop Soda Fountain, established in 1920.
At this location, the Wells family sold hardware and furniture in the 1890s.
This was the location of the depot in 1887. It is now Theodore McCall Park, named after a city manager who served for 27 years.
J.W. Hull and R.L. Magann managed the Warnell Cash Store here, with the office of Warnell Lumber & Veneer Co. upstairs. It manufactured fruit and vegetable crates.
J.F. Leitner designed this one-story brick passenger depot, built in 1908-09 with an Eclectic style. This structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1975.
A Guide to National Register Sites in Florida, (Florida Department of State 1984)
Florida Historic Stained Glass Survey: Sites of Historic Windows in Public Facilities in the State of Florida, by Robert O. Jones (Florida Members of the Stained Glass Association of America 1995)
Florida Historical Markers & Sties, by Floyd E. Boone (Gulf Publishing Company 1988)
Florida's Fabled Inns, by Louise K. Frisbie (Imperial Publishing Company 1980)
Florida's History Through Its Places: Properties in the National Register of Historic Places, by Morton D. Winsberg (Florida State University 1988)
History of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association (1888-1988), by Altermese Smith Bentley (The Mickler House 1988)
Plant City: Its Origin and History, by Quintilla Geer Bruton and David E. Bailey, Jr. (Hunter Publishing Company 1984)
Wish You Were Here: A Grand Tour of Early Florida Via Old Post Cards, by Hampton Dunn (Byron Kennedy and Company 1981)