St
Petersburg Times
St.
Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author:BARBARA BEHRENDT
Date:Feb 7, 1987
Start Page:1
Section:CITRUS TIMES
INVERNESS
- Over the next several months, Citrus County residents will have several
opportunities to step back in time 100 years.
As part of the county's centennial celebration, a ball featuring clothing
of the 1880s, a luncheon with high school drama students re-enacting
the past and other social events with a historic theme are being planned
by the
Citrus County Historical Society.
The society announced those plans and other history-related projects
at a news conference Friday.
"Maybe it's my age, but I'm becoming more interested in Citrus
County's history," said County Property Appraiser Charles Allen,
the newly elected president of the Historical Society.
"Even people who are coming here today will develop an interest
in our area," said Allen, whose family has been in Citrus County
for five generations.
One way the Historical Society is gathering more information about the
area's history is through two recent grants the county has received
for a historic survey. The grants - $5,000 worth - came from the federal
government through the Florida Department of State.
The county is kicking in another $5,000 in cash contributions and volunteer
time and resources.The grant projects will allow consultant Murray Laurie
of Gainesville to document historically significant buildings from photographs,
research and personal interviews. The first grant focuses on the Floral
City and
southeast Citrus area; the second grant includes the county's other
unincorporated areas.
Laurie explained Friday that she already has begun looking at some buildings
more than 50 years old. She also said she is searching for photographs
and property documents for other old buildings in the county.
"What I do is the genealogy of buildings," Laurie explained.
"It tells us a great deal about where we came from and perhaps
gives us direction on where we could be going."
Marcia Beasley, the Historical Society's administrator, said the survey
was one objective of the county's Comprehensive Plan. "We really
are starting to accomplish this objective," she said.
In addition to plans for the historical site survey, plans for centennial
events were also discussed.
County Commission Chairman Alex Griffin, who also serves as Centennial
Committee chairman, talked about several upcoming fund raisers.
On March 26, the Annual Homosassa River Garden Club Luncheon and Style
Show will benefit the centennial plans. Crystal River High School students
will entertain with a skit using historical clothing.
The centennial date is June 2. Events with Pasco and Hernando counties
are scheduled for that day, Griffin said.
The Centennial Ball is planned for June 13 at the county auditorium.
Tickets will be $50, and dress must reflect the 1880s. Valet parking,
a light buffet and an 18-piece orchestra are planned.
Citrus County's main centennial celebration will be July 4 during the
annual Freedom Festival at Whispering Pines Park. Plans include the
re-enactment of the stealing of the county seat.
Money left over from the celebration will go to the historical society
"to procure, to restore and to rebuild the historic structures
of Citrus County," Mrs. Beasley said.
Norita
Shepherd Moss
Zone
change sought to allow development of Allen tract
[CITY Edition]
St.
Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author:NORMA WAGNER
Date:Apr 1, 1987
Start Page:3
Section:CITRUS TIMES
Text Word Count:448
Document
Text
LECANTO
- Brothers George and Charles Allen grew up on a 160-acre tract of Citrus
County land that once yielded watermelons, peanuts, corn and sugar cane.
But within a year, single-family homes will begin cropping up there
if county officials approve a zone change request.
Planning staff members have recommended approval of the development
as long as the developer meets five conditions outlined in the planning
commission's agenda for Thursday.
Those conditions deal with road improvements and construction, open
space, parking and landscaping.
George Allen, Citrus County's director of disaster preparedness, and
county property appraiser Charles Allen said their family has owned
the land near Connell Heights for almost a century.
Both men grew up in a large farmhouse on the property, but a fire 12
years ago destroyed the home.
Three months ago, the brothers sold the land - situated just west of
Lecanto on State Road 44 - to a New Port Richey developer for more than
$1.2-million.
John E. Hudson, a widely known developer in Hillsborough and Pasco counties,
plans to mold the property into a 520-home development with tennis courts,
a swimming pool, clubhouse and parking for recreational vehicles and
boats.Hudson also bought a 40-acre tract next to the Allen property,
bringing the total area of the proposed development to 207 acres.
George Allen said the contract he, his wife and his brother have with
Hudson hinges on county approval of the development.
Hudson wants a zone change from open-use agricultural and single-family
residential to one that would allow a single-family planned development.
Bob Henigar, who will represent Hudson at Thursday's planning commission
meeting, said Hudson plans to sell acres of the Allen's property that
is zoned for commercial use.
Henigar did not know the developer's name, and contracts for that sale
had not been filed with the county as of Tuesday afternoon.
Port Richey lawyer Daniel Martin, who has represented Hudson in many
land purchases, said in February this is Hudson's first Citrus County
development.
Hudson was out of town Tuesday and Martin did not return repeated phone
calls.Henigar, a consultant with Henigar and Ray Associates Engineering
Inc. of Crystal River, said he expects homes in the proposed development
to cost between $50,000 and $100,000 and that the size of the project
will add up to $350,000 in county impact fees.(Impact fees are one-time
charges the county levies to pay for the impacts of new growth.)
Charles Allen said he expects county commissioners will approve the
project during their April 28 meeting."We would think that it would
be (approved) because the development is comparable to the Connell Heights
subdivision and it is a quality
development they're planning," Allen said. Reproduced with permission
of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or
distribution is prohibited without permission.
Norita Shepherd Moss
Ranch
family recalls early days in Citrus Series: Centennial
[CITY Edition]
St.
Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author:CLAIRE PHILLIPS LAXTON
Date:May 17, 1987
Start Page:3
Section:CITRUS TIMES
Editor's
note: Citrus County is 100 years old this year. In conjunction with
the Centennial, the Citrus Times will publish an occasional feature
about Citrus County's past. Claire Phillips Laxton, a 10-year county
resident, is a free-lance writer who specializes in history.
Citrus County residents Horace and Pauline Allen recall living in Lecanto
with "Granddaddy" Charles E. Allen on his dairy ranch, where
the Allens still live today.
In 1932, Horace Allen bought a horse named Jigger for $25. His granddaddy
always said: "Never lie to your horse, and you must always have
more sense than he."
Horace would ride Jigger to Crystal River for visiting or shopping,
then send Jigger back. The horse would return home to Lecanto alone.
Jigger was once ridden in a race - which it won - by rodeo man Pat Moore.
Moore was the son of Elizabeth Moore, county home economics agent of
the 1930s.
Horace Allen served on the Citrus County School Board from 1958 to 1974.
His grandfather was president of a bank and in 1931 went into the dairy
business. The Allens delivered milk to Crystal River and Homosassa.
Horace recalls the old Lecanto school going through the eighth grade.
It was where the canning plant is today, just off County Road 491.Annette
Gibbs Maynard and the Allens' daughter, Lillian Allen Waugh, were the
last to attend that school. Twenty-four children graduated in 1958 from
the eighth grade. Pauline Allen's parents worked in the phosphate industry.
They left Nottingham, England, and came to Ocala in the the late 1880s
or early 1890s.
They later settled in Inverness.Morgan Payne, Pauline's father, was
paymaster of the phosphate mines when Pauline was 5 years old, she recalls.
He and another young man, both about 30 years old, were riding a stagecoach
with a mine payroll on board when they were ambushed by three drifters.
Both men were killed but the drifters never found the money. Payne told
only one other person where the money was hidden in the stagecoach,
in case a robbery ever occurred.
By the time a posse arrived with dogs, the two young men were dead.
But the dogs picked up the scent of the drifters, who were found and
hanged.Morgan Payne is buried in the Lecanto cemetery with his partner.
Local legend says remains of the ropes still hang on a tree somewhere
in Lecanto where the drifters were lynched.Today, the Allens raise beef
cattle on 600 acres they share with their grown children.
Norita
Shepherd Moss