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Historic
The original Village of Winter
Society Springs city hall on the corner of SR
434 and Fairfax Avenue had been
chosen as a prime site for the facility.
formed After months of wrangling, the city
sold the building to bather Richard
BY DARRELL JOHNSON Grogan Monday night. •
SWF REPORTER or Tae Oncoo VOICE Grogan has gone on record as
Only days before the city sold its saying he will allow the museum to
building,the Winter Springs Histori- remain in the building until space
cal Society officially came into exist-
the up at the current city hall when
ence.Eighteen people assembled at a the new public safety building opens
. ° neutral location and the police department moves out.
last Thursday Baker's mission for the past two
evening to years has been to assemble, present
brainstorm and and display mementos from Winter
to make a taro- Springs' past, including its former
mitment to pre- incarnation as the Village of North
serve the hun- Orlando.
The newly-formed group has al-
already in its ready staned the task of collecting old
bun-
. . of artifacts
collection, photographs, media clippings and
John Baker b o ects of They
Museum J gnlficance.Th are also
organizer John Baker contacted 32 in- buildings living historybankbytap-
dividuals who had shown interest in ing interviews with long-time resi-
the project to a special organizational dents and former tin officials.
meeting. He intentionally excluded The Winter Springs Historical
city employees, elected officials and Society can use all the volunteer help
members of the press it can get,as well as donations of time
City workers and officials are and material. People with an active
welcome to participate in the organ- interest in history,and those who have
zation,of course,says Baker,but they heed Part of the city's history,are in-
were left out of the organizational vited to participate.
meeting because of recent controver- Baker turned the entire collection
sies regarding the sale of the build- over to the society Thursday night,
ing housing the fledgling museum. with the exception of six display cases
Baker said he delayed formal or- which were donated by commissioner 9506 /S
ganization because he did not want David McLeod and belong to the city.
to fan the flames while a decision on The next society meeting is
the sale was pending. I scheduled for Sept.28,Baker said,but
He called the meeting Thursday, added that a lot of work has to be done
he explained,because"the alternative by then. Memberships in the'organi-
was to drop the whole thing for an- zation are$5 a year.
other 20 years until another nut like
myself comes along."
Winter Springs decides to keep
historic municipal building
By DARRELL JOHNSON house its museum in it. the market. The market price is not
STAFF REPORTER OF Ms Ovmw'Voice
Honorary ry cil Y historian John ve ry high,she added.
Squabbling with each other,Win- Baker has collected hundreds of items Commissioner David McLeod
ter Springs commissioners voted depicting the early days of the bur- followed that by suggesting that the
Monday 3-2 not to sell an historical geoning town. The display is now city keep the building until the mar-
building that once served as the town stored in one room of the building, ket improved and then reconsider the
hub.However,the issue isn't dead by and Baker wants to keep it there. issue of selling it.
any means. Supporter Sally McGinnis told Potential buyer Grogan said he
Commissioners spent about 45 commissioners,"This small building, wanted to buy the building to relocate
minutes discussing the controversial which is the oldest building in Win- his barber shop business.Grogan told
issue and listened to comments from ter Springs, can be your link to his- the commission he had no intention
the city's unofficial historian and a tory in Winter Springs. To sell this of destroying, or even altering, the
second resident,both of whom char- property before the visioning project building.He offered to allow the mu-
acterize the former untilitiesbuilding (a planned evaluation of the SR 434 seam to stay in its present quarters
as an important landmark, corridor to determine the needs of a until space becomes available else-
The final vote saw Commission- growing city),I believe,is poor judg- where.
ers Ferring and John Langellotti in ment." Then it got interesting.
favor of selling and McLeod,Gennell Baker followed by reminding Before another motion could be
and Conniff against.The building,lo- commissioners that the city is 36 years addressed,Mayor John Bush noted
cated at 1 North Fairfax Avenue, is old and that,in another 36 years,the that it was 11 p.m.and that a motion
36 years old and served as the city's building will either be filled with an was needed to extend the meeting's
first government headquarters. (See tifacts or lost forever to history. He time limit,a common practice.How-
related story on Page 5.) pointed out that under state law, in ever, a visibly angry John Ferring
Based on recommendations from the year 2009, it will qualify as an voted against the idea,prompting the
City Manager John Govoruhk, com- historic landmark. two other similar votes.
missioners voted in February to so- Commissioner John Ferring took Despite the existence of several
licit bids for the building. City Man- issue with Baker,chastising him for unattended agenda items, Bush had
ager John Govoruhk said the city of making the commission'look like the no choice but to adjourn the meeting.
Longwood has many historic build- bad guys."
ings,and the city does not own one of "What's the difference," he -
them.He expressed concern that keep- asked,"whether the museum is there
ing it would force Winter Springs into or in (the current) City Hall?' One
private business as a landlord. option has been for the museum to
An independent appraisal had set move into offices vacated by the po-
the value of the property at$69,000, lice department in 1997.
with an anticipated$6,000 for repairs Commissioner Larry Conniff said
to bring it into compliance with the he could see both sides of the issue,
building code. The highest bid sub- adding that"there will be reflection
milted earlier this year was $62,500 in the future whatever we do."
only$6,500 lower than the appraised Commissioner Cindy Gennell
value.That came from local business- argued that the structure is the only
man Richard Grogan. building of true historical importance
So what's the problem? in the city, and stands in an area of
The loosely knit Winter Springs town that is deteriorating. "I don't
Historical Society; which has yet to think we have the right to sell this
hold an official meeting,wants to keep city's history," she said. Gennell ex-
the historic building and continue to plained that the bid request was to test
C15-0 VA?
Group recalls local hiss • %V
By LINDA Hummotrr 5 t
Twenty Winter Springs resi- ? b -
dents spent Saturday afternoon con ",s i a
versing about the time when their city 1 _
was only a village--the Village of
North Orlando. John Baker,president µ -
oftheninemonetholdWinterSprings .ya y tV ■
called the Saturday
Historical Society, ip
meeting a"History Gathering." a ';; F
a
"This Isom fist experiment . °L +
in collecting oral history. Members + a . .x
will be speaking into tape recorders , •and the tapes will later be transcribed '
into booklet form,"Baker said. y"
Baker, a nine-year Winter ? f
Springs resident, said he had been 5M -it'� • ,f,; • .
meeting and talking with a number of .''t , jr•"' ,Mra +.
people in the area about forming the 81
society and also about the possibility
-
of obtaining a small museum. "I called r,,,,".
a meeting last June to see what the aide Humpnrey/The ovkdo voice
interest was. At that time,I had a large
collection of things people had given Winter Springs Historical Society members Ruth Mewes,
me for the future museum. Today is Audrey Crafts,and John Baker.
our third meeting since we formed," from 1845, and the gavel used by toxically important sites andbuddmgs
he said. George Fuller,the first elected Mayor within the area,and to function ek-
ing many items be- charitable,
ing held in storage are numerous li- of the Village of North Orlando. elusively for educational,
cense plates,a collection of art festi- Fuller's widow, Ruth Mewes, was and literary objectives.
Baker told the members val present h mid da1. She remembered and pressing copy of an original abstract tide search Fuller the me to area.. "I she and the society that the
donations to cover the the
Fuller came io the a k a I don't f re- c s sofikee the artifacts in slot-
- call there being a bank,a school,or cost of keeping
church at that time,"Mewes said smil- age or a donated room ter the items.
i ing.Since the Village became Winter "Right now it's costing $38.50
Springs in 1972,them A
have been many month for storage space. dry,air-
notable changes according to Mewes, conditions spare room in someone's
Aa',ertLSe in "but it's still a great place to live."It's home would be great. That would
not an industrial city and that's nice. serve the purpose fine,"Baker said.
t ve lived Persons interested inbecom-
o,r• It's basically quiet-and-I've y le�l.' here just about long enough to have ing a member of the Historical Soci-
the mortgage paid oBl" ety may send S5 for annual member-
Baker Baker said the bylaws of the ship to Winter Spr rigsllsor cal S^
Call366-91 1 dety,altentionChuckl3obma^,Trea-
today ,ferderails! organization include collecting and
petservingany items that relate to the surer 81 S. Fairfax Ave., Winter
• history of the city; to promote the Springs,FL 32708. For more infer-
s a call Baker at 327-6506.
r- 1 idemifrcationandpreservation of his- motion,
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