MUSEUM HOURS

Monday – Friday

1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

1st Saturday

10:00 am – 2:00 pm

CURATOR

Richard “Ted” Waterfall

TRUSTEES

Jim Gillies, Chairman

Charlie Bagg

Louise Carter

Melanie Blankenship

Kim Nesbitt Winn

OFFICERS

Timothy Totten

President

Bob Marks

Vice-President

Cindy Satur

2nd Vice-President

Danyel Moulden

Recording Secretary

Anita Ezelle

Corresponding Secretary

John Blankenship

Treasurer

APPOINTED

Louise Carter - Historian

Regina Heffington - Website

Marcia Arnold – First Ladies

Eustis Reflections

A Monthly Publication of the

Eustis Historical Museum & Preservation Society, Inc.

Volume VII, Number 9 – September 2011 www.eustishistoricalmuseum.com

EVENTS CALENDAR

Sep 29 Family Foundations Discussion: The Ferrans of Eustis

Thursday at 7:00 pm at Michael’s Restaurant

The old Ferran’s Department Store (12 E. Magnolia)

Monthly Membership Meeting to follow

Oct 5 First Ladies Trip: St. Augustine

Meet at 8:00 am at the Museum to carpool

Visit museums and attractions in St. Augustine

RSVP to Marsha Arnold (352-483-5469)

Oct 7 First Friday Street Party – Downtown Eustis

6:00 – 10:00 pm

Friends,

We’ve just kicked off a new feature called “Family Foundations” which will track the effect that the founding families of Eustis had on our community.

Ever wonder why our lakefront park is called “Ferran Park?” It’s because of the man pictured left, Mr. E.L. Ferran, one of the founders of Eustis.

Read all about him in this issue and visit with us and some of his decedents on Thursday, September 29th at 7:00 pm at Michael’s Restaurant to learn more.

Timothy Totten, President

CURATOR’S CORNER by Ted Waterfall

One of the articles which I have selected for this edition of the newsletter appeared a couple of years ago, so it is a

rerun, but with the vintage hats, handbag and hankie display, I thought it appropriate to do so again in this issue.

The article deals more with the Ferran Department Store so this issue will feature the Ferrans as well.

Sales of the new book, Images of America: Eustis, coauthored by Ruth Akright and Betty McClelland, are at a very

brisk pace. Dozens and dozens and dozens have already been sold and the demand continues to be significant.

Copies are available at the museum. Members pay $20 while non-members can purchase one for $23.53,

including tax. Get one while they are still available.

The initial meeting of the First Ladies Club held in August was quite a success. About 40 or so were in attendance

and a good dozen new or renewed memberships were garnered on the spot. Such enthusiasm is greatly

appreciated and this type of support goes a long way toward helping our museum succeed in its mission. Thank

you, ladies. A million thank-yous!

We have been working on various ideas for ways to display rotating exhibits in the museum. We’re pretty sure we

have figured out where to locate them, and we are now working on ideas for the actual exhibits. One idea I had

was for sports memorabilia. It came to me with a recent donation that included, among other things, two college

football programs from 1931 between Florida/Auburn and Florida/Kentucky. Do any of you have any sports

related items from any level that you would be willing to donate to the museum for such a display? Our bylaws

state that we are a history museum of Eustis, then Lake County, then Florida, in descending order of focus. So I

figure any current or previous resident of Eustis with sports memorabilia of his or her past should qualify, but

preference would certainly be given to Eustis related material. If so, please contact me at 352-483-0046 or

eustismuseum@gmail.com. Thanks.

By the time you receive this newsletter, our Civil War exhibit has likely closed (I’m writing this in advance so I’m

guessing here), and I’m working hard to put together the much anticipated permanent exhibit on Native Florida. I

see this exhibit as an ongoing work even after it opens as genuine artifacts are not typically found in yard sales or

left in people’s estates and can be on the expensive side to purchase. My intent, however, is to work on its

expansion and improvement as time passes. I desire both quality and quantity. I hope to have this exhibit open

sometime in October. Patience, Ted. Patience.

STAMPS FOR HABITAT-FOR-HUMANITY collection location. Please save any actual postage stamps you receive in

the mail and bring them in to the museum at your convenience. I am a volunteer for Habitat-For-Humanity in the

stamp collection department. People like me will collect all those stamps, soak them off the backing paper, dry

and flatten them, and then return them to a central collection point where Habitat-For-Humanity will sell them to

commercial stamp companies. Our museum (that is, I) will accept your collections. You can bring them with you to

the monthly meetings if you wish. This is certainly a worthy cause.

Well, that’s it for this month, so until next time…

Keep you powder dry.*

Ted

* Keep your power dry was an expression wishing good luck when black powder was the major propellant in hunting rifles. Wet or moist powder = no food.

MEMORIAL PLACQUES ORDER FORM

This is your opportunity to remember someone

important or show your support for the museum.

Placques will be affixed to the back of the sign

and will be visible to visitors.

Number of Plaques________ x $50.00 each

Name_____________________________Daytime Phone_____________Email___________________________

Address_________________________________________City___________________State______Zip________

SAMPLE (PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY – ONE CHARACTER PER SPACE)

PLAQUE #1 PERSONALIZATION:

PLAQUE #2 PERSONALIZATION:

PLAQUE #3 PERSONALIZATION:

T H E E U S T I S

H I S T O R I C A L M U S E U M

&

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Sometime in the late 1940s, Mama left substitute

teaching and became a sales clerk at Ferran’s

Department Store on Magnolia Avenue. Yes, I walked

on those squeaky floors in that place many times. I

recall an early record player of some sort that sat next

to a pillar in the front part of the store. It played a huge

metal record that would slowly turn if you cranked it a

few times. Ferran’s is gone now and a restaurant is

located in the building.

When in town during Christmas of 2005, I had lunch

with a group of 1955’ers in there. And Sandy (Craft)

Clark asked if anyone remembered that record player! I

had just been thinking about it, and was glad to know

that we shared that memory.

The Eustis Public Library on the corner of Orange

Avenue and Grove Street was another place I liked to

visit, but it wasn’t because of the great books on hand

there. Two things grabbed my attention. First, there

was a stuffed armadillo sitting in the back on the library

on a bookcase. In those days, armadillos were a rarity

at least to me, and I marveled at his armor. Sometime

later armadillos became common in central Florida,

and rivaled the possum as King of the Roadkill

department.

It’s that time again! Bring your antiques, old coins, vintage dolls and classic paintings to be appraised by our experts for just $5.00 per item!

For more information, please contact us by email at eustismuseum@gmail.com or call 352-483-0046.

The other interesting item in that library for me

was the forerunner of the ViewMaster I reckon, a

wooden gadget called a stereopticon. You’d slip a

double print of the same picture in a little wire

holder and slide it up the stick while looking

through the eyepieces, and when it was focused

you had a 3-D image of it. That was the first 3-

dimension picture experience of my life!

Fascinating!

Next time you are in the library, see if they still

have the stereopticon. Show your kids how it used

to be.

Curator’s Note: The “early record player” to which

Mr. Greenlee refers in this article is the Regina

Music Box which is currently on display here in the

Eustis Historical Museum. So, Mr. Greenlee, if you

are reading this and you are ever in Eustis again,

drop by our museum and listen once more to the

beautiful music you once heard from it as a youth.

We also have a replica of a Holmes style

stereopticon he describes above and a number of

original 3-D slides as well.

www.UnitedSouthernBank.com

Community-minded.

Customer-focused.

This article was published in our newsletter a couple of years ago but I thought it was worth republishing now since the First Ladies have just opened a display of vintage handbags and hankies. It was written by Annette Jenks Bruce.

To me, a pretty linen handkerchief bespeaks of a gracious Southern lady of a century ago. I suppose that a handkerchief is no longer a requisite for the well-dressed person, but the chest-of-drawers in my bedroom still has a drawer designed especially for handkerchiefs. Recently I found it in disarray. My friend, Becky, helped me wash, bleach, and iron and sort the contents with the exception of a container, we found at the bottom – it was gift-folder for the handkerchiefs, and bore the Ferran’s store insignia.

As soon as this folder was visible, folks started making remarks – “I haven’t seen one of those in fifty years,” or “I haven’t seen one of those in a coon’s age.”

Now, these remarks may have been made with the intent of getting me to clean the drawers more often, but the message I got was: I need to give this to the Eustis Historical Museum as a tribute to the Ferran Ladies, I knew, (as well as any I might have missed) who graced Eustis during the twentieth century.

The first one I knew was Mrs. Carl Ferran. She was the mother of Betty Ferran a 1937 classmate of mine. I’m sure that Mrs. Ferran served as grade-mother many if not all [of] twelve years. I always admired her and thought that she was the epitome of a gracious Southern lady. Betty and her husband, “Nat” McGarity had two daughters – Betsy and Joanne who graduated from E.H.S.

In 1934, I was on the EHS basketball team and one of my teammates was Jean Choate, who later married Harold Ferran. Their daughter, Janet, was in the same grade as was Laura Belle and Bob Ferran’s older daughter, Ann. Emmy is their younger daughter.

Lola Mae and Herbert Ferran’s oldest off-spring was a boy – Bert. But they had a girl, Linda who, with her mother, Lola Mae joined the Ferran circle of lady charmers.

Many of these enchanting ladies are no longer with us, but their charm still pervades the City of Eustis.

ABOVE: Newspaper articles detail the

closing of the legendary Ferran’s Department Store.

BELOW: Travis Smith and his grandfather (Santa’s

helper), William LeHeup walking through Ferran’s.

One whose name will long be remembered with honor in Eustis, is Edgar L. Ferran, who was born near North Vernon, Indiana, November 21, 1846. He attended the public schools of his native State, and afterward worked for twenty-four years in a general store in Indiana.

Becoming interested in the publicity that in the early eighties was being sent to the north concerning healthfulness of central Florida, Mr. Ferran came to Eustis in 1883 to investigate, and was so pleased with the prospects that he purchased a lot on Bay Street and arranged for the erection of a store building. With W. M. and M. R. Moore, he formed a partnership under the name of Ferran, Moore & Bro., and opened a dry goods and clothing store in 1884, moving his family from Indiana the same year.

In 1893 the firm purchased and enlarged the brick building at the corner of Bay and Magnolia Avenue, and in 1896 Mr. Ferran became sole owner of the business, later taking his sons into partnership. When the E. L. Ferran Co. was incorporated, he became its president and so remained until his death, though he was not active in the business for some years.

Throughout his thirty-nine years in Lake County, Mr. Ferran was prominent in work for his town, his county, and his church. He was superintendent of the Sunday School and an elder of the First Presbyterian Church nearly all his life in Eustis. He served several terms as Councilman and City Treasurer, and was one of the first three Bond Trustees of Lake County.

For several years before his death, he was Vice-President of the First State Bank of Eustis, and served for many years as President or Managing Secretary of the Eustis Board of Trade, later the Chamber of Commerce. For some time he was chief owner and associate editor of the Eustis Lake Region. He was one of the most enthusiastic of the good roads boosters of Lake County, and was largely responsible for the promotion and erection of the Eustis Public Library; in fact, was identified with every movement for the improvement of Eustis and Lake County. As a tribute to his untiring work for his community his fellow-citizens named the park along the waterfront of Lake Eustis the E. L. Ferran Park.

Mr. Ferran was married in November, 1871, to Lucy Avery, of Willimantic, Connecticut, and to this union five children were born: Clarence, Inez (Mrs. D. L. Thrasher), Ray, Harry, and Carl. Mrs. Ferran still resides in the magnificent home on Orange Avenue built by Mr. Ferran, which is one of the finest homes in Eustis.

Mr. Ferran died March 15, 1923, greatly mourned by all who knew him, and his death was felt as a distinct loss not only in Eustis but throughout Lake County.

From “History of Lake County Florida,” Wm. T.

Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County

Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical

Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County,

Florida page 208.

ABOVE: View from the corner of North Bay Street and

Magnolia Avenue toward the Ferran Store. From the

collection of longtime Eustis resident, William LeHeup.

ABOVE: Photo by Porters of the interior of the Ferran

Store, circa 1912. From the personal collection of

longtime Eustis resident, William LeHeup.

Despite the threat of Irene (hurricane) coming in, we persevered and did not give up on our first tour, thank goodness. We started the carpool from the museum at 8am with 11 people coming along for this wonderful trip. Joyce Norcross-Evans drove her SUV with all of us yakking along the way. I would like to thank Cindy Satur for our eye opener (McDonald’s coffee) which made the drive more relaxing.

The route we took was down Dora Avenue to 19 in Tavares. We proceeded South on 19 until the cut off for 561 and then connected to 27 south to 50 West. We went about 3 miles and turned off at the signed entrance to the Historic Village sign on the right side of 50. It was about 8 blocks to the lake were the Historic Village is located.

We were met in the parking lot at 9:05 by our hostesses Dolores Walker (Historian) and Dodie King (Village Manager) for a tour of the grounds. I presented them with two of the “Images of America: Eustis” books and they were thrilled. We proceeded into the first building which is the Clermont Railroad Depot, built about 1925. It has been restored and in lovely condition. The entire grounds have a ton of activities all the time and today there was about 20 cyclists using the covered outdoor area for their rest stop. It is what I would call a perfect “destination” for any activity.

Our hostess’s split our group up between the two of them and we proceeded from the Depot to the Townsend House. The buildings are connected by a beautiful brick walkway. For $50 you can have a brick with your name or organization inscribed on it. The money goes to the Village fund for further restorations.

The Townsend House was built about 1895 by James and Sallie Townsend, a black family. They were the first black residents to settle in Clermont. They came from Georgia in 1887 and started the first school for black children in Clermont.

Sallie was also a midwife for her community and was available 24/7. I have to tell you that I could not believe how small the house was and no insulation so that has to tell you it was quite hot in the house at today’s standards. Sallie Townsend opened a maternity home for black women in 1941.

We left the Townsend House and proceeded to the Kern House. Mr. Kern built and operated the first pubic water system in Clermont. He purchased the Wilson General Merchandise Store at Montrose and 8th Street just a few blocks south of the Historic Village. He passed in 1907. The City paid to move this house from the Montrose Street to the current site. The house’s main floor has been restored however the second floor bedrooms are still a work in process. Most of the work had been done by volunteers. A couple items of interest was an original pump organ that still works, tons of antique kitchen items and on the back porch were antique items that were used to wash clothes.

We left the Kern House to the Cooper Memorial Library across the walkway. I saw books, radios and medical equipment. They had a cardex that was use for the “Dewey Decimal File System” at the library. You remember that? One of the volunteers, does all of the electrical restoration for the Village, had displayed all of his antique radios that work.

The last building in the tour was the Quonset hut “A Reminder of WWII”. During WWII ships were sunk off the coast of Florida by German submarines. The military personnel lived and worked in portable buildings that were called “Quonset huts”. This building was donated to the Village and moved to the sight in just a few years ago.

After bidding farewell, we drove a couple blocks over to the Rusty Fox restaurant. Very clean place, food was great and prices very reasonable. We met the owner Judy Fomato and she mention they she had recently remodeled the place. We had a great lunch.

After leaving Clermont we decided to stop at the Yalaha Bakery, which makes genuine German breads and organic baked goods. The place was packed and most of us picked up some yummy bakery goods.

BUSINESS MEMBERS Please consider supporting those businesses which support the work of your Preservation Society.

Bay Pharmacy (352) 357-4341

Forever Ballroom (352)742-9461

Merry Jewelers (352) 589-4321

Bronson Ace Hardware

(352) 357-2366

Harden – Pauli Funeral Home (352) 357-4126

Rick Howe’s Auto Repair (352)357-9991

Coldwell Banker

Tyre & Taylor Realty, Inc. (352) 357-4100

Premier Pet Solutions by Dana Ellerby (352) 460-7409

Paulhamus Produce, Inc. (And catering service)

(352)357-6284

Inspired Designs by Sue Hooper (352) 589-0867

Party Servers & Catering by Joyce 407-808-0916

Just2smurfs@earthlink.net

Steve’s Heating & A/C (352) 636-2064

www.stevetheacguy.com

Wall Street in the Dirt (352)357-5433

Jack & Andy’s Electric (352) 357-4459

Tom’s Color Bar (352)483-4247

Bills Prestige Printing (352) 589-5833

Classic Tents & Events (352) 357-7920

United Southern Bank (352) 589-2121

Party Source of Eustis

(352) 357-5700

Eustis Historical Museum

& Preservation Society

536 North Bay Street

Eustis, Florida 32726

Phone: 352-483-0046

eustismuseum@gmail.com