NIE WORLD - Florida Quest 2000 (Settlement Times)

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Sunday, October 31, 1999

REFLECTIONS: THE CENTURY IN REVIEW\ THE 1910s

By Ronald Williamson
Staff Writer

The Titanic was on her maiden voyage in 1912 when she hit an iceberg and sank.

America went dry in 1919 when the U.S. Senate passed prohibition act.

American boys lived in trenches on the edge of No Man's Land during World War I. A number of young soldiers from Volusia and Flagler county were among them.

Automobiles rolling down the Dixie Highway increased the pace of growth in this part of East Florida during the second decade of the 20th century. The first hardsurface highway to connect northern states with Florida came through Bunnell, Ormond, Daytona, New Smyrna and headed south to Miami.

New cities of Port Orange and Bunnell were born in 1913, and in 1917, the Florida Legislature created Flagler County. With better transpiration on land and water, business boomed, banks opened, and more people found their way to the Halifax River country north of Cape Canaveral.

Amusements for growing numbers of winter tourists spawned organized efforts at producing creative, intellectual and entertaining activities along the coast where most of the big hotels stood. Traveling troupes, musicians and lecturers played at opera houses in the four or five larger towns and the first Peabody Auditorium was built at the end of the decade.

Patriotism swept through Volusia and Flagler counties in the last part of the decade when the United States entered the European War. Volusia and Flagler counties sent many of their sons "Over There." Some didn't come home.

In 1910, when the decade of the teens began, there were 16,510 people living in Volusia County, about 60 percent more than at the turn of the century. Only three towns numbered more than 1,000 - Daytona at 4,542, DeLand at 2,812, and New Smyrna with 1,121. Since 1900, DeLand and New Smyrna had more than doubled in size and Daytona nearly tripled.

By the end of the decade, six cities would have populations larger than 1,000 and Daytona and New Smyrna would have doubled in size again. During the teens, Volusia County grew by 40 percent, even after part of it was carved out to create Flagler County.

Highlights of local life in the 1910s included:

In the winter of 1910-11, Walter Snead formed a dramatic company to perform in a Daytona opera house and, two years later repeated the success in New Smyrna. He booked professional entertainers, variety acts, lecture programs that lasted several days, and even an opera.

In 1911, Ike Moody and J.F. Lambert laid out the streets for a town near their turpentine still at the site of a shingle mill started by Alfred Bunnell in 1896. Bunnell was incorporated in 1913. W.C. Heath was elected mayor.

In 1912, musical entertainment in Daytona Beach got a boost when a wealthy resident, C. C. Burgoyne, hired Rocko Sacacina's Italian Orchestral Band for a ten-week run during the winter season. The arrangement continued until 1920. Saracina's band periodically performed in DeLand.

In 1912, DeLand's first library was started on West Indiana Avenue. It was open from 1-10 p.m. and Milton Perry was the librarian.

In 1913, Port Orange was incorporated. Dr. H. K. DuBois was elected mayor and A.M. Martin was named city marshal. By 1920, the city had 380 residents.

In 1914, New Smyrna's first tourist club was formed called The Sons of Leisure.

In 1914, Ike Moody's brother, George, homesteaded a tract of land on the Peninsula, across from Ocean City. Moody operated a ferry across the canal and is considered the founder of Flagler Beach. Ocean City Beach was his first choice for a name, but postal officials said that was too long.

In 1915, St. Johns County laborers and chain-gangs had finished building the brick Dixie Highway through Bunnell, the first hard surface road to connect East Florida with Chicago and other northern cities. As many as 150 cars a day were coming down the nine- foot-wide brick road through St. Johns County. The brick stopped at the county line, and southbound motorists rolled into Ormond on a clay-shell road named John Anderson Drive.

The Dixie Highway brought growth and business along its route. In one five mile stretch north of Bunnell, three boomtowns were started: Flagler City, Flagler Heights and Ne-o-ga. The Live and Let Live Tourist Camp and Hoosier's Inn were outside Flagler City, where developers built coquina columns to support a wooden arch over the brick highway.

In 1915, the first Volusia County Fair was held on DeLand Aquatic Club property at Blue Lake, west of DeLand. The event was heavily promoted by Pete Allen, Murray Sams and Earl W. Brown. Johnny J. Jones Shows were hired to provide amusements.

In 1917, the lobbying efforts of men like Lambert and the Moody brothers, (Ike was a St. Johns County commissioner) paid off, and the Florida Legislature created Flagler County from parts of Volusia and St. Johns counties. Bunnell was named the county seat.

In 1917, the first bridge across the river at Crow's Bluff was completed.

In 1918, Robert Shailor Holmes organized The Florida Forum and Assembly to bring artists and entertainers to Casino Burgoyne in Daytona. In 1919, Holmes and Simon J. Peabody, a wealthy lumberman who gave half the money, helped finance a large auditorium for Forum programs. It was named the Peabody Auditorium.

The year 1918 was filled with Liberty Bond drives and Victory Bond drives featuring a mix of local civic leaders and national personalities. Women's organizations joined in war relief efforts by rolling bandages, knitting socks and sweaters.

"DeLand needs no Paul Revere. She's awake and ready to meet the enemy," said Mayor John MacDiarrmid at a rally in 1917. Stetson President Lincoln Hulley agreed: "The flag has been attacked...Everybody must rally to the flag."

Hundreds of Volusia and Flagler men went to America's first 20th century war, and at least 14 of those men died. Briggsville changed its name to Samsula to honor Lloyd Samsula, a local boy killed in the war. The first hospital built in DeLand, St. Luke's, was dedicated to our boys" in 1920.

Material for this story was gathered primarily from these books: "Hopes, Dreams, and Promises," by Michael G. Schene; "History of Florida," by Charlton W. Tebeau; "Centennial History of Volusia County" by Ianthe Bond Hebel; "History of Volusia County," by Pleasant Daniel Gold; Volusia County, Past and Present," by T.E. Fitzgerald; "Stetson University: It's First 100 Years," by Gilbert Lycan.

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