This marks the beginning of my Spring 2023 internship to investigate the history and historical significance of the Hungerford School in Eatonville, FL. With much of my prior research focused on Eatonville as well as local and state history, I hope to keep it all in one place. I will tag any posts related to my Spring 2023 internship as such.
Efforts to provide educational and vocational opportunities for African Americans were mostly stymied during Reconstruction. With the Ku Klux Klan terrorizing communities and Southern Redeemers committed to maintaining disenfranchisement of formerly enslaved people while barring their participation within political spheres, Reconstruction efforts to educate and empower African Americans often fell short of their goals. While the KKK and white supremacist policies ravaged a post-Civil War South, Eatonville and its residents were dedicated to ensuring community development, advancement, and success. In many ways, the Hungerford School in Eatonville resembles the promises and eventual goals held by Reconstruction institutions such as the Freedmen's Bureau. The Hungerford School and the diversity of its educational opportunities evoke such efforts and demonstrate their continuance in the twentieth century.
Its place within and connection to the history of African American education is further underscored by an association with Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute. With the Tuskegee Institute established to train teachers for Black educational institutions and initiatives, the institute sought to provide instruction in a variety of subjects and settings as well as vocational training. Providing paths to access skills, experience, and knowledge relevant to Black life, the Hungerford School was established in the image of Tuskegee’s institutional goals.
Sources of support for the school demonstrate its importance and centrality to the community, as well as residents’ commitment to offering educational opportunities to Eatonville’s children. Founded in 1897 by schoolteachers Russel C. and Mary E. Calhoun, the school was established on land donated in memory of a Maitland doctor, Robert Hungerford. There are conflicting accounts regarding the donation of land and the involvement of the Hungerford family. Accounts maintain that Mr. E.C. Hungerford donated the land in memory of his son Robert—a doctor who frequently offered his services to Eatonville residents—after he died from either yellow or typhoid fever. With this narrative cited as the Hungerford School’s beginnings but often with conflicting details, it necessitates further inquiry to more concretely and definitively ground this narrative within the historical record. [1]
Since its founding, the Robert L. Hungerford Normal and Industrial School played a significant role not only in contributing to Eatonville’s community fabric but in demonstrating the promises and success of Tuskegee initiatives. Today, this significant institution and aspect of Eatonville’s cultural, social, and economic histories remains contested. There are legal challenges to its ownership and operation. Local community members and organizations such as the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) remain dedicated to maintaining the Hungerford School’s presence within Eatonville’s local community fabric while promoting initiatives that align with its central mission. Their efforts resulted in increased attention by other organizations that highlight both the struggles and triumphs of civil rights and social justice efforts such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Many remain involved in efforts to halt the development of the land entirely or to ensure it is not developed by those who do not have a vested interest in community benefit and vitality. There remains controversy and contention regarding its ownership and sale, which many point out does not align with the original terms of its use and stewardship. Granted to the Orange County Public School District by a circuit court in 1951, the land was to be used for educational purposes. Despite this, much of the land now features development typical to the increasing sprawl of Central Florida's various continuously expanding communities: car dealerships, road infrastructure, and office space. The head of the 1887 First grassroots organization Julian Johnson claims that "[The district] sold off all the land and made millions of dollars. They economically deprived the town.” He is one of the community members not opposed to development but is instead opposed to "outsiders owning the benefits of Eatonville's possible growth, wiping out its history, and pushing out its people." On December 7, 2022, WFTV reported a pending sale of land from the school district to a land developer. [2] The district expressed its desire to attract a developer interested in “transform[ing] the site into a mix of housing, offices, retail and public space.” [3] Given the developing nature of the Hungerford School's future, it remains to be seen how it will play out.
Despite its centrality and importance to Eatonville at one time, much remains unknown and obscured about the Hungerford School. Thus, to better understand the impact of its presence within the community, more information is required. It remains the responsibility of local historians to find and mine an increasing network of research threads to create, collect, and/or contribute to repositories of knowledge about this remarkable institution.
Sources
[1] "The Hungerford School (Florida) Opens," AARegistry.org, URL.
[2] Phylicia Ashley and Sarah Wilson, "Eatonville neighbors look to stop sale of last acres of Hungerford School property," WFTV.com, December 7, 2022. URL.
[3] Nelly Ontiveros Cervantes, "OCPS puts historic school site in Eatonville up for sale in hopes of turning it into mixed-use housing," Orlando Weekly, June 23, 2021. URL.