Introduction (Home)
How the Wekiva Got its Name
Early History of the Wekiva 1880-1910Rock Springs and Wekiva Springs in the Twenties
The 60's, 70's and the Wekiva State Park
In 1927 Dr. Howard A. Kelly, a Baltimore surgeon, donated 200 acres to
Orange County for a park. Kelly Park is today one of the most popular
parks in the county with more than 350,000 visitors a year. The park’s
namesake was a prominent surgeon who was one of the founders
of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School and was also a very religious
person. That was one of the reasons he supported a no-alcohol policy
at the park. The Rotary Club of Apopka placed a monument honoring
Dr. Kelly in the park in 1959.
M. E. Miller bought land around Wekiva Springs in 1923 in hopes of starting a subdivision. He poured concrete sidewalks and made a few roads for
his new subdivision. In 1925 he sold his first house and by the end
of the decade he sold his second and final house. By that time he gave
up trying to rejuvenate the fading town that was becoming more of a logger’s
camp. All that is left of his subdivision are chunks of concrete
broken by growing trees. The thirties were a time of extensive logging
and the fifties was when the Wekiva was a backdrop for some little known
movies. Now it is part of the Wekiva State Park.
the pamphlet used
by Miller