Editing Eatonville, Florida (section)

==History==
Ten years after the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], formerly enslaved people migrated to rural [[Central Florida]], finding work in the [[citrus grove]]s.<ref name="TIME">{{cite web |last1=French |first1=Scot |title=Eatonville Timeline |url=https://preserveeatonville.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ZMagazine2018_TIMELINE.pdf |website=Preserve Eatonville |publisher=Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc |access-date=March 20, 2023}}</ref> J.E. Clark and several friends attempted to purchase a block of land to establish a "colony for colored people, but so great was the prejudice then existing against the Negro that no one would sell them land for such a purpose", according to Clark.<ref name=TIME /> Lewis Lawrence, originally from [[Utica, New York]], agreed to help them in 1881. Lawrence convinced Captain Josiah Eaton, a neighbor and friend, to sell him 22 acres, which Lawrence subdivided. Upon each lot he had a small house constructed and instructed an agent to sell them. An article in the [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] ''Weekly Floridian'' newspaper titled, "A Negro Colony in Florida" stated,

<blockquote>A Negro settlement has been established at Maitland...which is divided into forty-eight lots, 50x50 feet, to be sold to Negroes at from $19 to $30 per lot. Mr. Lawrence has erected on this land a framed church 30x20 feet, a bell for which has been presented by the Congregational Sabbath School of Chelsea, [[Connecticut]]. No liquor is ever to be sold or given away on the ground; no gambling or disreputable house of any kind will ever be allowed, under a forfeiture of the purchase.<ref name=TIME /></blockquote>

In 1884, the ''Orange County Reporter'' wrote about the “colored village at Maitland, sometimes known as Lawrence, the name of its worthy founder”. Mr. Lawrence requested that the settlement use the name Eatonville.<ref name=TIME /> The following year, Maitland incorporated using votes from Black people, and at least one Black man was elected as a town officer. A year after incorporation, there were "discussions of separation as a peaceful, progressive-minded, mutually beneficial solution to the so-called 'race problem'.”<ref name=TIME /> While sources seem to disagree on the exact date and year of the town's incorporation, the town's official site provides a detailed account of the process and the dates.<ref name="SUN">{{cite news |last1=Teichner |first1=Martha |date=March 19, 2023 |title=A Florida town, once settled by former slaves, now fights over "sacred land" |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240830000613/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land/ |archive-date=August 30, 2024 |access-date=March 19, 2023 |publisher=CBS News |agency=CBS Sunday Morning}}</ref>

The '''Town of Eatonville''' was officially incorporated as a municipality on August 15, 1887.<ref name=EatInc>{{Cite web|title=About Eatonville|url=http://www.townofeatonville.org/about-eatonville|website=www.townofeatonville.org}}</ref>

[[Jim Crow laws]] enforced segregation, violence and racial discrimination in the [[Southern United States]] in the late 19th century. The ''Eatonville Speaker'' newspaper printed an invitation in 1889:

“Colored People of the United States! Solve the Great Race Problem by Securing a Home in Eatonville, Florida, a Negro City Governed by Negroes.” The article describes Eatonville as a "thriving community of 200-300 people — all colored, and NOT A WHITE FAMILY in the whole city.” The newspaper also recounts a near-lynching in [[Sanford, Florida|Sanford]], nineteen miles away.<ref name=TIME />
 
Rev. Columbus H. Boger Sr. (1857-1918)  was Eatonville's first mayor, serving from 1887-1888. He edited the ''Florida Watchman'' newspaper.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_1iRfGqI2LAC | title=Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924 | date=1998 | publisher=University of Alabama Press | isbn=978-0-8173-0915-2 }}</ref> A Post Office opened at Eatonville in 1889,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postmasterfinder/welcome.htm |title=United States Postal Service Postmaster Finder |publisher=United States Postal Service |date=2017 |access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref> and closed in 1918.

Hurston's novel ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]]'' is set in the town and nearby communities, many of which have disappeared with the expansion of Greater Orlando.

Before the days of racial integration, Club Eaton was a popular stop on the [[Chitlin' Circuit]], hosting performers ranging from [[B.B. King]] to [[Aretha Franklin]],[[Ray Charles]], [[Sam Cooke]], [[The Platters]], [[Duke Ellington]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[Billie Holiday]] and [[James Brown]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Torres |first1=Agnes |title=Eatonville Had Own Answers To The Cotton Club|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1987-08-13-0140080163-story.html |website=Orlando Sentinel |date=August 13, 1987}}</ref>

===Eatonville Historic District===
The Eatonville [[Historic district (United States)|Historic District]] was designated and added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on February 3, 1998. The district is bounded by Wymore Road, Eaton Street, Fords, and East Avenues, Ruffel, and Clark Streets. It contains 48 historic buildings. Several are related to the town's establishment as a home for African Americans and to its most famous former resident, [[Zora Neale Hurston]].<ref>[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/FL/Orange/districts.html Orange County listings NRHP]</ref>

===Gallery===
'''''Some homes and buildings located in the Eatonville Historic District:'''''
<gallery>
Image:MOSELEY HOUSE.jpg|
Image:Eatonville Hist Dist Florida02.jpg|
Image:Eatonville Hist Dist Florida03.jpg|
Image:Eatonville Hist Dist Florida04.jpg|
Image:Eatonville Hist Dist Florida01.jpg
</gallery>
[[File:Zora Neale Hurston Commemorative Walkway.jpg|thumb]]