As a professional historian you always (95% of the time) end up going to a new place when you get a new job. For me, that new place was Winter Park. In many ways it was a lucky break for me. I grew up in Florida, I'm not in love with the cold (I could have ended up at a large land grant university in the middle of Idaho!) Instead, I got to stay in Florida. Moreover, as I looked around Winter Park I found interesting things for an urban historian to consider. The city's dedication to cultivating a "urban village" identity in a Central Florida region known for Disney and mass tourism is ripe for consideration. Struggles over planning and the dangers of sprawl are everywhere to see and the Hannibal Square neighborhood and Eatonville are centers of black history often ignored by the wider public. Hannibal Square, situated on the west side of the city, is a historic black community that served as home to black residents who worked in the groves, hotels, and homes of the white residents who came to Winter Park when life became too cold in the Northeast. Hannibal Square's story is the story of African-American experience in the 20th century in some ways, and a interesting contradiction in others. Recently Dr. Denise Cummings and I worked on a Florida Humanities Council grant examining the history of the Colony Theater on Park Avenue in Winter Park. The building's current incarnation as a Pottery Barn does nothing to distract from the bright vertical marquee that still bears the movie house's name. While researching the theater we discovered a black theater or to be precise, two black theaters. Oral interviews establish the existence of a theater called The Star. Archival research and newspaper accounts established the existence of a theater called The Famous. Now the big question (there are many) is which one came first (older black residents seem to remember The Star, but no one seems to recall The Famous). It is a mystery, if you know anything, let me know!!!
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