Discover Winter Park
Winter Park's resort-town and college histories developed together. Loring Chase and Oliver Chapman chose the Winter Park name in 1881; Rollins College opened in 1885, before the town incorporated in 1887. Central Park, later deeded to the city by Charles Hosmer Morse, became a prominent shared space beside the Park Avenue district. These institutions helped give the community a center beyond individual winter residences.
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The city's own timeline also records a less celebratory part of its development. In 1893 efforts to redraw the municipal boundary excluded much of the predominantly Black west side, which remained outside until a new charter in 1925. A useful account of Winter Park therefore needs to include Hannibal Square alongside the resort and campus story.
The historic-resources survey describes Hannibal Square as a neighborhood containing churches, schools, a library and businesses as well as homes. Many residences were modest frame bungalows with front porches, a different architectural scale from the large houses commonly associated with Winter Park.
Reading the municipal timeline together with the preservation survey helps connect these different landscapes. Park Avenue, Central Park, Rollins and Hannibal Square represent overlapping community histories, including educational ambition, shared public space and unequal access to municipal inclusion.
Sources
- City of Winter Park: History: https://cityofwinterpark.org/government/about/history/
- City of Winter Park: Architectural Historic Resources Survey: https://cityofwinterpark.org/docs/departments/planning-zoning/historic-preservation/ArchitecturalHistoricResourcesSurvey_2001.pdf