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Alachua Family Memories
By H J. Waters: The Leland R. Waters family moved to Alachua, Fla. in 1934. My dad was the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co. (SAL) Agent. (Now CSX) He handled the freight being shipped on the railroad and held it for the customer. He also sold tickets to ride the train to Wiliford, Bell, Curtis and Wannee to the west of Alachua, and to LaCross, Brooker, Sampson City, and Starke to the east of Alachua. Starke, FL was the beginning of this branch line, and Wannee was the end. There was a Y on the banks of the Suwannee River to turn the train around.
My Uncle Charlie, the C.L. Waters family, was the agent at the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) across the street, both depots were on the south end of town. The ACL was a main line railroad connecting Jacksonville, Fla. to Tampa, Fla. Only the ACL (CSX) remains in existence. The ACL had another mainline railroad on the north end of town. It connected Valdosta, Ga. to Palatka, Fla. It carried freight only.
U.S. Highway 441 ran through Alachua on main street; the by-pass and overpass was not built until the forties. A Greyhound bus line provided passenger and freight service to Alachua. It is no longer being served. During the thirties the town's population was about 700 -800. It was a small farming community with very little mdustry. It did have a blacksmith shop owned by Warner Mott from Hague. There was a livery stable in the middle of town run by Dewitt Hague. Formerly there had been a big cotton farming operation in the area supporting two cotton gins. One gin was in the middle of town on a spur railroad track of the SAL and one on the south end of town on SAL's mainline. However, the boll weevil destroyed the cotton growing and the gins closed. The stock market crash and the following depression brought hard times to Alachua. In general ,however, because the "Main stay'* of the economy of the community was farming, the area did not suffer as much as other areas.
Saturday was the big day of the week. Little happened during the week; school, church, gardening, cleaning yards and a few social club meetings. Saturday, Alachua burst into activity. All the country folk came to town to buy all their supplies for the farm. There was visiting with friends, getting haircuts and other amenities of life that you hadn't done in weeks or months. The Lions Club sponsored a movie m the evening on an empty lot in the middle of town. There was activity from 10 AM until 10 PM. Most businesses closed at 5 - 6 O'clock, but grocery stores stayed open until 8-10 O'clock.
Almost annually in the fall we had a carnival in town. It set up on a lot where the present Woman's Club is located. There were usually 8-10 side shows and 4-6 rides. Two rides that were always there
was the Meny-Go-Round and the Ferris Wheel. At one time I lived across the street from, on the west side, the carnival. I didn't get to attend much because there was little money. We usually went one time during the stay. The carnival would set up on Sunday/Monday and tear down and move on the following Sunday.
The Lions Club sponsored the Boy Scouts. Mr. W.T. Roberts was the Scout Master. The scouts played a big role in the community in the 20 - 40's. The Four H Club, sponsored by the school and County Agent, was a big influence in the community.
The school activities were the focus of the social and entertainment life in Alachua. Occasionally a theatrical company would come to town and help the community put on a production of some kind. Among the other things you did for entertainment or diversion was to go to Gainesville to see the movies. There were two theaters in Gainesville; the Florida Theater on University Avenue and the Ritz (Or Lyric) Theater near the post office. One of the cool things about going to tlie movies in Gainesville; they were air conditioned. Very few businesses were cooled back then. You could also go to High Springs on Saturdays to the Priest Theater to the movies. Ehjring hot weather you would go to Poe Springs, a few miles west of High Springs for swimming and a picnic or to Blue Springs, which was a little further west. Another place for swimming was Pinkerson Springs, in Hague or Glen Springs in Gainesville.
One other notable place to go for some diversion was Warren's Cave. It was located just west of present day I - 75 on the south side of Millhopper Road to Gainesville. It was a moderately size cave and shaped like a huge cross. The east-west passage was the largest From the west entrance you went east down a gradual slope for 30 to 50 feet. There were small rooms on either side. When you got to the bottom and center of the cross, you could see an extension to the north that extended 30 to 40 feet. Another extension went south about 30-60 feet. You could not see the top of the cave unless you had a big electric lantern. My guess was the ceiling was 50 - 70 yards before the passage narrowed to very small. Several university students were injured exploring the cave and rumor has it that possibly one or more may have died as a result of dare-devil climbing. Fortunately my experiences turned out OK. As the participation in WWII grew in scope and activities the depression ended and the good times returned.
Okay, with that behind us, let's see what my dad, at the age of 97, now recalls about the old days in Alachua. Along the way I'll also throw in a few of my own memories. My grandfather Charles L. Waters ("Papa Waters") was a station agent for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad in Alachua. His station was at the southernmost rail line running by Copeland Sausage Company and Ennis Motor Company. His brothers Leland and David were also station agents. Leland manned the Seaboard station just a few yards from Papa Waters' Coastline station on the south end of town. David manned another Coastlme station, known as "East Alachua," which was located up by the current location of US 441. The old road tfiat comes in under the railroad overpass and then turns north at Main Street was the original US 441 . That is how Main Street first came to be paved: by being designated as a federal highway.
During the very early days, the trains came to Alachua but did not go to High Springs. Passengers traveling to High Springs would disembark in Alachua and look for other transportation to High Springs. During this period, my grandfather would often provide a horse-and-wagon shuttle service. I don*t know how much he charged, but reportedly he frequently had customers.
During national elections. Papa Waters would sit by his telegraph key to get election results. As results were telegraphed in, he would give them to my dad (Beb), who would "run" them to City Hall, where a large board displayed the latest election information.
The center of town in those early days was just north of the Seaboard tracks, on the southern end of Main Street, as I think of it today. There were two hotels and stores of all types. The town also had two banks: the Bank of Alachua and the First National Bank. The Bank of Alachua did not survive the depression. The First National Bank survived until recently when it was sold to Capital City Bank.
There were three cotton gins, two for short cotton and one for long cotton. A large quantity of cotton was produced in the area. There were two blacksmiths and two liveiy stables. Most folks traveled by horse and wagon, and very few had cars. Most streets were unpaved.
One of tfie hotels, The Hawkins House, later named the Skirvin Hotel, was just south of the southernmost railroad tracks. It had a large dining room with (I think) two long tables, each seating 25 to 30 guests. Large bowls and platters of meats, potatoes, vegetables and breads were placed on the tables and the guests would pass them around just like at a large family gathering. I recall one summer when Dad and I were "batching" and he and I ate there quite often.
I remember the periodic visits by the horse-drawn ice wagon, weekly or maybe more often. Most houses really did have an "ice box" in those days. Living in town, we enjoyed the convenience of regular home delivery of the block of ice needed to keep food in the box cool. The old man who delivered the ice was named Lige, but I don't recall the name of the horse that pulled the wagon.
The best-known train that ran through town was named "Peggy." Peggy was a Seaboard train that ran from Staike through Bell to Wannee, where the train would turn around and retrace its route. I recall a story that now escapes Dad's memoiy about what his mom and the other Waters mothers would do from time to time when the kids got under foot. Since all three moms in the Waters clan had access to the railroad, they could use "Peggy" to occupy the kids for a few hours. Simply put the kids on the train when it arrived from Starke, and they would be out of the way for a few hours while riding down to Wannee and back.
I remember at least one occasion when my cousins Larry, Johnny Dampier, Lano (Delano), maybe Clara Nell, and I made that trip. I think I was about 10 or 12 at the time. Somewhere between Alachua
and Bell, the train stopped at a crossing in the middle of nowhere, probably where the north/south tracks run just west of US 41. The stop allowed the trainmen to swing open gates to allow the train lo
pass though. Since all the "big boys" (older cousins) got off during the temporary stop, of course I did too. As the runt of the lot, I was the last to grab for the hand rail when the train started moving, and I almost had a very long walk back to Alachua.
Other entertainment for Waters boys: Ventures into Warren*s Cave were treacherous in Dad's day. He says they had no flashlights, so they took "fat pine" sticks to light up, once they were deep enough to need a light source.
Dad recalls one occasion when the circus was in town and some of the horses got loose just as a train was passing though. He saw the train kill three of the horses.
I recall when Alachua had a free picture show. It was an outdoor theater composed of a billboard-type screen and rows of logs for the audience to use for seating. Shows were only available on Saturday night. The show was located in a vacant lot on the east side of Main Street, approximately one block south of the main downtown intersection, where the First National Bank was located for many years.
In both Dad's day and mine, we all played games with marbles. Marbles were a lot less expensive than the electronic devices kids have for entertainment today. So was everything else!
Somehow Jessie Shaw got involved and we started having horse races in Bland every Wednesday afternoon after school. At that time people not in the service were making more money than they had ever made in their life. Gasoline was rationed so no one could go very far. No cars were being made during the war so people rode with each other to the nearest entertainment. What is now County Highway 241 that runs out from Alachua to the Santa Fe River was at that time a seldom graded road. In the late thirties and early forties this new road was being cut using only mules and convict labor. I still remember the guards with shotguns loaded with buckshot guarding the prisoners as they drove the two mule teams pulling small drag buckets of dirt. All construction stopped when WWII started.
Jessie really got into the racing; he would grade one quarter mile of the road using a tractor and a grader he bought. He cut the fence so cars could be parked on the West side of the road and, at it's peak, we would have about 250 people out to see the races. The riders I remember were Paul Emery, Red Gregory and myself from our area.
There was no organized betting but a lot of it went on. We would have horses from Columbia, Union, Bradford and Alachua Counties. I raced my own horse, The Santa Fe River Ranch entered a horse, Jessie raced a horse, Roy Ceilon, J. D. Rimes and sometimes George Duke would have horses entered in the races. We usually would have at least 6 or 7 races in an afternoon. I was very lucky as Roy Ceilon and J.D. Rimes asked me to races their horses. I never lost a race on either of their horses. J.D. paid me $5.00 and Roy paid me $10.00 each time I raced for them so I thought I was rich! ! Once George Duke brought a race horse and jockey with a jockey saddle in to race against Roy's horse. We were very lucky to win that race and did so only because the jockey couldn't control the horse at the start. He aknost won even after we got about a thirty yard head start. The crowd started asking for a race between Roy's horse and J.D.'s horse. Finally it was decided that since Roy paid me more I should ride his horse. The jockey J.D. chose must have never ridden a horse in a race before because we beat him by twenty yards!
As the weather got colder attendance dropped off and the Bland Horse Races died forever. About fifty years after the races had stopped I asked Roy how much he thought was bet on those races and he said probably about twenty five hundred dollars.
Also about fifty years later I was introduced to an old lawyer in Gainesville who asked me if I had ever ridden horses in the Bland Races. He said Mr. Richard had told him to bet on the rider, not the horse. Makes me feel good, even now.
Strickland currently serves as Director of the Agriculture Department for the Manatee County property appraiser. He is a former president of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association and has served on a number of statewide and national boards and committees.
Burnetts Lake Depot
Eva Shaw/mother, was a cheerleader for four years. During her Junior & Senior years, she was the head cheerleader. The graduating Class of 1947.
Alachua Depot 1975
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
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PO BOX 1909
POST FALLS, ID 83877