Poverty, often in plain sight, with no grocery store to buy fresh fruit or veggies within walking distance. They produced farms, built schools, created businesses, had children, and buried loved ones. >> HONESTLY, NOT VERY MANY. You can either find yourself with an indigenous community, the Seminoles where you would be safe and you are be immersed in their society. >> WE WELCOME ANYTHING DAN EVERYTHING, JUST AS LONG AS THAT DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT HARM OUR HERITAGE, OUR CTUULRE, OUR HISTORY. Booker T. Washington even writing about it in his work called The Negro in Business where he features Eatonville as a model of the African American entrepreneurial spirit. St. Lawrence AME Church was founded in 1881. For every 100 females, there were 88.7 males. >> AND WE CAN' FORGET THE ANNUAL ZORA FTAS, NAMED AFTER THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED OFFER ZORA NEALE HURSTON, WHOSE FA CE IS SPRING GO THROUGH OUT THE COMMUNITY, ALL OF WHICH IS BEEN, BREATHING HISTORY OF A TINY TOWN ON FREEDOM, BUILT BY FREED MEN, JUST TWO DECADES AFTER BEING EMANCIPATED. They were strong, diligent people and faithful neighbors forming a firm foundation to build a town. [2] The town motto is "Better Together". >> THIS STORY GOES VIRAL. 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. >> THATS MY BOY. SHELN: IT IS THE SAME RECIPE FOR SUCCESS THAT HELPED ANGELA ALLENS GRANDPARENTS PURCHEAS THEIR HOME IN 1962. THE VISION STARTED HERE, INSIDE THIS WOODEN BUILDGIN THATS BEEN STANDING TALL SINCE 1881, XSI YEARS BEFORE EATONVILLE BECAME INCORPORATED TOWN IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. SHDOEL YOU LIVED IN D.C. IT KDIN OF SLOWED ME DOWN A LITTLE BIT. AND YET, SHE SAYS THAT JOE CLARK AND OTHERS, THE OTHERS WHO WERE A PART OF THIS SETTLEMENT, HAD A BIGGER DREAM. BUT FOR THE CORNER BACK, MAKING IT INTO THE PROS WASNT ENOUGH. PEOPLE LIVING HERE WANT TO SEE IMPROVEMENTS TO THEIR TINY TOWN, BUT AT WHAT COST? THE BATTLE BETWEEN BUILDING UP AND HANGING ONTO HISTORY, NEXT. STEWART: HE TOOK OUR KENDR DOUGLAS ON A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE WILLING TO DO SOMETHING FOR THE COMMUNITY. DRIVING BY OR THROUGHYO, U MIGHT MISS IT. THERE IS THIS BUILDI ONG PRIDE FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE. . By the 1870s, Central Florida became the scene of feverish land purchases and settlement activity. TESLA, LAND ROVER, CENTURY LINK, EVEN WHES 2. You can either find yourself with an indigenous community, the Seminoles where you would be safe and you are be immersed in their society. Eatonville also became home to the areas best school for black children, the Robert Hungerford Industrial School. SO, WE LOSE OUT AND HAVE LOST OUT A LONOT OF DEVELOPMENT TO -- DEVELOPMENT DOLLARS. HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT. STEWT:AR THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF IDEAS OVER EATONVILLES FUTURE. But for African Americans, acquiring land became tougher. "We estimate over 50,000 campers and staff have called them home over the past 49 summers." You know, I think it has not always thrived economically. WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT . It was named after William Eaton, an officer and diplomat involved in the First Barbary War. >> ORANGE COUNTY GAVE THE PEC PROVISIONAL APPROVAL FOR CERTAIN INVESTMENTS ON ITS PART. . 1519161 [3] Website. >> >> -- JUST LIKE FOR RAVE KING. >> WE HA TVE ABILITY TO ACTUALLY DO THE GROUND WORK RFO ESTABLISHING A YEAR-ROUND CULTURAL-HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND TOISURM HUB AND IN VILLA. Russell and Mary Calhoun, two students of the Tuskegee Institute, formed a school in 1899. It contains 48 historic buildings. And so this was entirely an African American-founded Township. AND YET, SHE SAYS THAT JOE CLARK AND OTHERS, THE OTHERS WHO WERE A PART OF THIS SETTLEMENT, HAD A BIGGER DREAM. >> IF YOU ARE AFTER -- EIGHT YEAR AFTER ST. LAWRENCE IN 1882 CAME AT THE TOWNS SECOND OLDEST CHURCH, MACEDONIA MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH. The Republican-led federal government retaliated against such activity with stringent legislation. While the Mad Crab restaurant in Eatonville is a nonstop door for customers from to-go and delivery service, most of owner Molene George's clients dont live in town. Ricket and a resident named Tony Taylor would be the first people to live in what would become Eatonville. To keep expenses down, students were assigned various duties around the campus including jobs at the school's dairy, chicken coops, gardens and janitorial/maintenance of the institution's classrooms and buildings. What made it survive though, was this sense of pride that the people who live there took in it, French said. >> EACH YEAR, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE COME HERE FOR THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF AUTHOR ZORA NEALE HURSTON. >> BUT THEN, ANOTHER FLIGHT -- ANOTHER FIGHT. >> CLINTON-DIX HAS A DREAM, A DREAM THAT INCLUDES BUILDI UNG THE TOWN OF EATONVILLE. STEWT:AR IT HAPPENS NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE. YOU CAN CALL THE COUNCIL PEOPLE IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS. This inspired newly-freed African Americans to create their own municipal corporations. OR YOUR GRANDMAS GRANDMAS HOUSE. ELSHDON: A LEGACY HE HOPES WILL LIVE ON FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. Women were cooks and maids for nearby towns, and they also worked in nearby citrus groves and tended family vegetable gardens. What made it survive though, was this sense of pride that the people who live there took in it, French said.In fact, when you go into the school, one of the first things you see is this whole wall of faces. These families, as well as others, came to be a part of something beyond homesteading. Ask anyone who grew up or lives in Eatonville and they'll tell you about its special charm that you won't find in other communities. It is part of Greater Orlando. Former Confederates began to have their civil rights restored, retaking control of their local governments and police forces. >> WHAT DO YO WANT PEOPLE TO LEARN WHEN THEY DRIVE PAST ST. LAWRENCE AND THEY SEEHI T CHURCH, AND EVEN ACROSS THE STREET, THEY SAY, " WHAIST THIS?" As part of the citys plan to bring greater recognition to the town, they are currently renovating their main street, Kennedy Boulevard. >> MY FATHER WAS THE ASSOCIATE PASTOR AT MACEDONIA FOR ABOUT 13 ARYES, DATING BACK TO THE EARLY 90S. >> A LOT OF WHAT DREW ME BACK TO IN VILLE WAS THIS LAND. WE HAVE HAD PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME IN HERE AND SPENT TWO HOURS JUST SITTING IN THE SPACE, TAKING IT IN. Booker T. Washington even writing about it in his work called The Negro in Business where he features Eatonville as a model of the African American entrepreneurial spirit. SHOULD THEY -- WHERE TO GO. >> I DID. >> HOW MAY BLACK COMMUTINIES DO YOU KNOW ANYMORE? In a Town Apart, the Pride and Trials of Black Life STEWART: THAT OPTIMISM COMES IN THAT FORM OF A MAJOR DEVELOPING, "THE HUNGERFORD PROJECT," SITTING ON THE GROUNDS THATS COUPLED NEXT TO THE SCHOOL BEARING THE SAME NAME, WLD BRING SHOPS, HOUSING, A GROCERY STORE. (Aug. 13, 2020) The landmark Eatonville water tower serves as a beacon of the first municipality within the United States, incorporated on Aug. 18, 1887 by families of newly freed slaves. STMO NOTABLY WHAT SHOULD BE DONE , WITH THIS HUGE, EMPTY PLOT OF LAND, WHERE THE HISTORIC HUNGERFORD PREP SCHOOL OE STOOD. MM:SU EATONVILLE IS NO DIFFERENT. I WENT THROUGH A DIVORCE AND ALREADY OWNED THIS HOME. They describe how they are not able to buy land. SHES LIVED HERE FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS AND OWNS HER OWN LOCAL BUSINE.SS YOU KNOW, YOUVE PROBABLY SEEN BUSINESSES COME AND GO AND, AND FIGHT THROUGH DIFFERENT THINGS, WH MATAKES THINGS DIFFERENT NOW ON HOW BUSINESSES WILL BABLEE TO CONTINUE TO PROFIT HERE? THEOS LINES, SHE TOUCHED VERY MUCH WITH HER HANDS, S GRANDMAS HANDS WERE ON THOSE CLOTHESLINES. IN MOST CASES, THEY HAVE IMPACT FEES. >> THERES A LOT OF TRAFFICT THA COMES THEIR HERE DAILY. Ten years after the Emancipation Proclamation, former slaves migrated to rural central Florida, finding work in the citrus groves. SHES BEEN LIVING IN THIS HOUSE FOR OVER 50 YEARS. ENWH YOU COME HERE, THE IDEA IS NOT THAT YOU ARE GOING TO ASSIMILATE OR THAT WE ARE GOING TO ASSIMILATE. FOR NEW YEARS WED HAVE WHAT WE , CALLED A PORK PARADE WITH PIGS FEET, CHITTERLINGS, YOU YOU NAME IT. Eatonville leaders are looking back on the historical milestones and the big changes that swept through the area over the years. THATS NEXT. >> LIFE HAPPENED. SUMMER: FROM EATONVILLE TO TH NFL, THE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE WHO SAYS THIS TOWN IS THE REASON FOR HIS SUCCESS. But then another fight, this time plans for a medical waste incinerator plant. "[8], In 1884 the Orange County Reporter wrote about the colored village at Maitland, sometimes known as Lawrence, the name of its worthy founder. >> STILL CARRYING THE TOWNN HIS BACK,A- H DID WHAT ONLY 1.2% OF COLLEGE PLAYERS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO. ITS PLACE IN THE ECONOMY DIMINISHED. THIS TIME, FOR MEDICAL WASTE PLANT. WE HAVE ALSO HAD THIS ON THE NATIONAL STAGE AS WELL. >> WALKING ON THE STREETS OF EATONVILLE. Or you could find yourself in one of these free Black communities, McCall said. View history Tools Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States, six miles north of Orlando. Eatonville really begins as a dream of people like Joe Clark, he was a previous enslaved man from Georgia.Despite it not being far north," Sydney Rose McCall with the Zora Neale Hurston museum says Florida was actually one of the places Black people were trying to flee to because in Florida, you could typically find yourself in one of three situations. SO IM LOOKING FOR THIS , OPPORTUNITY, AS WELL AS OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS TO PROMOTE , GROWTH, TO PROMOTE MORE REVENUE TO OUR TOWN, AND AO TOLS BE FUNCTIONING AS WELL AS OTHER RUNNING AREAS. >>TS I HOME. And so this was entirely an African American-founded Township. Under the leadership of Bishop Kimble in 1977, the church experienced significant growth and has achieved many milestones including a name change (The Life Center Church). >> SO, WHAT ATTH MEANS IS THAT IT WAS THE OLDEST BLACK TOWN TO BE RECOGNIZED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AS A SELF-GOVERNING,EL SF-DETERMINING BLACK COMMUNITY. EATONVILLE, FLORIDA, A TINY TOWN RICH WITH HISTORY. IT HAD TO HANG ON AS THE TOWNS AROUND IT GREW. IT IS SET TO OPEN THIS SUMMER. THE EXHIBIT YOU ARE SEEING BEHIND ME RIGHT HERE IS ACTUALLY PART OF A ROTATINGXH EIBIT. annual celebration of author Zora Neale Hurston. >> YOU ALWAYS HOPE THAT WHEN YOUR KIDS GO AWAY, THEY GO ON TO BE SUCCESSFUL. BUT IF YOU STOP AND TAKE A MOMENT, YOULL QUICKLY NOTICE TH HISISTORICAL GEM. There were 858 housing units at an average density of 871.2 per square mile (336.4/km2). By the early 20th Century, Eatonville had become what was originally envisioned, a community that gave African Americans the chance to live as they desired and independent of white society. IS NOT THE FLOELW -- ITS NOT THE DEVELOPERS FAULT, B WE NEED TO UPDATE THOSE POLICIES SO ALL THAT MONEY THATS SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS WE NEED TO CAPTURE THOSE FUNDS. That land was almost 40% of the town of Eatonville. THIS EXHIBIT RIGHT HERE IS ACTUALLY PART O AN AFRO FUTURISM EXHIBIT THAT WE WILL BE DOING THROUGHOUTHE T NEXT SEVERAL YEARS. >> YOU COULD WALK THE STREETS COME ACROSS THE HIGHWAYS. >> WHEN YOU GO INTO THE SCHL,OO THE FIRST THING YOU SEE IS THIS WALL OF FACES. HE STARTED WITH BUILDING A NEW SANCTUY.AR MACEDONIA, OVER THE YEARS, HAS TRANSFMEORD FROM THE OLD SANCTUARY TO NOW, TO THE FUTURE. >> WHEN YOU GO INTO THECH SL, THE FIRST THING YOU SEE IS THIS WALL OF FACES. In 1881, out of a 160-acre tract that Eaton had bought in 1875, some 22 acres were sold to Lawrence, a philanthropist from New York. WHAT MADE IT SURVIVE WAS THIS SENSOFE PRIDE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED THERE TOOK IN IT. >> THE UNI OTYF EATONVILLE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION. The per capita income for the town was $11,257. This project includes updating drainage, the streetscape, and placing two large iconic gateways, which features the citys seal and as well as a clock. THIS IS ABOUT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. SHE WAS ALSO ZORA NEALE HURSTONS BEST CHILDHOOD FRID.EN EATONVILLE WAS THE CHILDHOOD HOME OF AUTHOR, FOLKLORIST AND ANTHROPOLOGIST, ZORA NEALE HURSTON. SO TO ST. LAWRENCE. So what that means is that it was the oldest Black town to be recognized by the United States government as a self-governing, self-determining Black community, McCall said.There were 27 African American men who signed that charter.