By Vivian Shiba Winston
The land dispute between The Historical Town of Eatonville, Florida and the Orange County School Board, has received national media attention.
The dispute evolved over time when land given by the Hungerford family to the city of Eatonville was later awarded to the Orange County School Board. According to records, “In 1950 a white supreme court judge decided the residents of Eatonville were not capable of deciding the best way to use the land, so it was awarded to The Orange County School Board.”
Bea Hungerford Hatler, the Great Grand Daughter of Robert Hungerford, for whom Hungerford High School was named, visited Central Florida last month to address the dispute.
Last week, I sat down with Mrs. Hungerford-Hatler.
During the interview, I asked her how she became involved and why now? She stated she only heard about the dispute when her niece who happened to stay home one Sunday morning because she was not feeling well and saw The Jane Pauley segment on the program called “Sunday Morning”. She stated she and her family had no idea there was even a question who was the rightful owner of the land. The family never really gave it a second thought over the years because this was settled in the 1800’s and this situation was upsetting to say the least. She immediately starting calling anyone in Orange County she could reach on the following Monday and finally someone did return her call several days later. She was given several names and was able to get in touch with NY Nathiri, the executive director of The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.); The Southern Poverty Law Center and one of the Eatonville’s’ elders, Mrs. Vera King, as a result.
She immediately boarded a flight to Chester, Connecticut where her ancestors settled and acquired tremendous wealth in copper mining, steel, and construction. There she retrieved all necessary docu-mentation from the curator of the town’s historical records needed to slow down any court proceedings which would give all property rights to the Orange County School Board.
Based on what is recorded, Edward Hungerford, Hungerford-Hatler’s great great grand-father’s wealth was extended to Central Florida in the form of orange orchards. On one of his trips to Orlando, he noticed many “negros” living around Lake Lily in Maitland. The Hungerford family had always been taught to believed everyone should have a roof over their
heads, an education and the right to township. Robert Hungerford became a doctor and on one of his visits, while helping two very sick young black men who no one else would treat for yellow fever, he himself also contacted the disease and died in his early twenties. His distraught father Edward Hungerford who had already given Eatonville around ten acres, rallied family and friends and gave an additional three hundred acres to the Town of Eatonville in Robert’s memory, to be used for educational purpose and for the benefit of the citizens of Eatonville.
I, like many others attended Hungerford High School proudly and some of us also attended Hungerford Elementary not knowing how rich in history it was and how the Hungerford family’s gift had truly blessed the town of Eatonville.
Bea Hungerford-Hatler is determined to “hang tight and go the yards to do whatever she can to save the property that was given free and clear to The Historical Town of Eatonville by her family.”
George
