Tavares

By Bob Grenier

Book Overview

In 1875, wealthy attorney and newspaperman Maj. Alexander St. Clair Abrams and his wife, Joanna, journeyed north from their home in Orlando to a bridge of land weaving through a chain of beautiful lakes. It was here, in the heart of the state, where Major St. Clair Abrams envisioned a town that would someday be the seat of a new county. In 1880, he began to lay out his town, calling it after a Spanish ancestor, a grandee named Lopez Para y Tavares. St. Clair Abrams made Tavares a railroad hub, believing railroads and waterways were the key to growth and prosperity. He built hotels, mills, factories, and parks. Despite a destructive fire in 1888 that leveled the business district and the 1894 and 1895 freezes that set back the citrus industry, settlers continued to arrive. Today, Tavares maintains its small-town charm while it prospers as "America's Seaplane City."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738591076
• ISBN13: 9780738591070
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 9.1"