1/18 Historic Eatonville and the Fight to Preserve "America's First Incorporated Black Town" in the 21st Century

This was my first-time hearing about all-Black townships and sub-divisions that were built from the ground up before. I had always assumed Black communities just came from the way Black people migrated into the area rather than a concerted effort to build an exclusive community. Instead, there were many Black communities that were built throughout the United States, but Eatonville stands out from the rest by remaining active today. Eatonville owes its survival due to the extensive planning of its founders and the continued efforts of its residents.

Many Black communities came about in the decades following the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877. Eatonville itself emerged in 1887 due to the boom of Citrus groves cropping up throughout central Florida. During this citrus boom, white landowners would move down to the region to establish groves. As Black people heard about the growth of these groves, they began to move to the area and establish small homes and hovels around the area to live and work. One of these grove owners, Lewis Lawrence, saw the plight of his workers and strove to do something about it. Lawrence was not alone for at the same time, Joseph E. Clark, an ex-slave from Georgia, had been trying to buy land with several other African Americans as he worked at Josiah Eaton’s grove. Eaton, Clark, and Lawrence would end up laying the ground work for Eatonville through their purchase and development of a couple hundred acres just west of the groves.

In the initial contacts for Eatonville, the founders laid out several guidelines and agreements that fostered the town’s growth. First, the community would sell its property at working class prices to exclusively colored people. This served to ensure that the town would be own by Black people for Black people without the worry of white land speculators buying up all the property and destroying the community. The next step would be the seemingly harsh policies of banning the sale of alcohol, gambling, and other unsavory activities in the town. This would ensure that the town did not fall into the many negative stereotypes surrounding Black people at this time and provide the look of white moral supervision. Both factors would both make it easier to attract the patronage of other wealthy white philanthropists and stave off those who would use any flaw to critique the entire concept of the township. Lastly, the town did not fully isolate itself from its surrounding neighbors. Eatonville would proudly proclaim how its members worked in other nearby communities on the citrus groves.

You can see the effects of these benefits not being present in the many other townships that faded away into history. With towns like Boley, Oklahoma, the community found itself ruined by the rise of white supremacist power as the territory fell into the hands of the Democrats. While the community maintained local control, the inability of the town to receive state funding for the Black schools and roads led to the township’s demise. Towns like Dearfield, Colorado, and Nicodemus, Kansas and Mound Bayou, Mississippi would fade once the main pillars and businesses of the community closed. Without local businesses, good harvests, or a railroad to maintain the relevance of the town, like Langston City with the only nearby Black school, these communities were either abandoned entirely or became forgotten small towns. Even if the towns could demonstrate success in maintaining favorable conditions for economic growth and Black success, the town would fail simply by not sustaining a stable population like Allensworth, California. Just because Eatonville did not succumb to the problems these other townships faced does not mean the town is safe today.

Eatonville now finds itself battling for its survival amid Orlando’s continued growth. Orlando ranks as one of the fastest growing cities in the country with neighboring communities like Clermont and Winter Garden also growing rapidly.  As a result, Eatonville and its community have had to stave off multiple development efforts that threatened to destroy the community.  During the centennial anniversary of Eatonville in 1987, Orange County insulted the community by announcing a major expansion of Kenndey Boulevard from 2 lanes to 5 lanes with seemingly no thought to the area. The community responded in a joint effort between the Maitland city council, Eatonville city council, and the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (P.E.C.). These 3 groups would end up filing separate lawsuits over a couple years that would stall out the development until the county canceled it. Again, when the county decided to sell off the Hungerford school property to land developers, the Eatonville community raised their voices against it and got the project canceled. Eatonville continues to survive thanks to the community’s efforts to stand up and fight for their right to exist.