1
100
2
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/23288d20d38c0f7e671f6412e62d4b87.mp3
55a3af9e40b4b44c9a4a0ad9c247159b
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/663dc00c96defba98cdc99ec779a8f3e.pdf
42d0c3d670181b55b0a681f04154e110
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Altamonte Springs Collection
Alternative Title
Altamonte Collection
Subject
Altamonte Springs (Fla.)
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Altamonte Springs, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
In 1870, Dr. Washington Kilmer of Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first Euro-American to settle in Altamont. In 1882, the area was renamed Altamonte Springs. The Altamonte Land, Hotel and Navigation Company was one of the major developers of the area. On November 11, 1920, residents voted in favor of incorporation.
Contributor
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.altamonte.org/" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs, Florida</a>." Altamonte Springs, Florida. http://www.altamonte.org/.
Robison, Jim. <em><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49963391" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs</a></em>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1999.
Shofner, Jerrell H. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32274737" target="_blank"><em>A History of Altamonte Springs, Florida</em></a>. Altamonte Springs, Fla: City of Altamonte Springs in association with Tabby House Charlotte Harbor, Florida, 1995.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Motta, Daniel
Interviewee
Hattaway, Bob
Location
<a href="http://www.adulttoystorage.com/" target="_blank">Adult Toy Storage</a><span>, Altamonte Springs, Florida.</span>
Bit Rate/Frequency
14111kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Bob Hattaway
Alternative Title
Oral History, Hattaway
Subject
Altamonte Springs (Fla.)
Ferns--Florida
Casselberry (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Zellwood (Fla.)
Oviedo (Fla.)
Airports--Florida
Description
An oral history of Bob Hattaway, conducted by Daniel Motta on June 14, 2012. Hattaway was born and raised in Altamonte Springs, Florida. In the interview, Hattaway discusses growing up in Altamonte Springs, working in the fern industry, his real estate and agricultural endeavors, his family's influence in Altamonte Springs and Casselberry, the greenhouse business, local politics, and the air travel industry.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:46 Altamonte Springs during Hattaway’s childhood
0:04:26 Hattaway’s father
0:05:36 Childhood memories working in the fields
0:08:27 Education
0:09:58 Life after high school
0:13:16 Rivalry between Seminole County and Volusia County
0:15:24 Decline of the fern industry
0:19:20 Fern industry in Zellwood and shift to the tropical plant business
0:23:24 Interest in agriculture
0:24:11 Influence of the Hattaway family on Altamonte Springs and Casselberry
0:25:51 The Casselberry family
0:29:14 Greenhouse business
0:34:25 Local politics and involvement in the air travel industry
0:42:30 Evolution of the fern industry
0:45:28 How Altamonte Springs has changed over time
Abstract
Oral history interview of Bob Hattaway. Interview conducted by Daniel Motta at the <a href="http://www.adulttoystorage.com/" target="_blank">Adult Toy Storage</a> in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
Type
Sound
Source
Original 49-minute and 20-second oral history:Hattaway, Bob. Interviewed by Daniel Motta. June 14, 2012. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank">QuickTime</a>.
<a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/118" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Altamonte Springs, Florida
Lyman High School, Longwood, Florida
Winter Park High School, Winter Park, Florida
Winter Garden, Florida
Oviedo, Florida
Zellwood, Florida
Casselberry, Florida
Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida
Orlando-Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Florida
Opp, Alabama
Adult Toy Storage, Altamonte Springs, Florida
Creator
Motta, Daniel
Hattaway, Bob
Contributor
Vickers, Savannah
Date Created
2012-06-14
Date Modified
2014-12-10
Date Copyrighted
2012-06-14
Format
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Extent
498 MB
175 KB
Medium
49-minute and 20-second audio recording
22-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Economics Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Daniel Motta and Bob Hattaway, and transcribed by Savannah Vickers.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=2876&SessionId=50/" target="_blank">Representative Bob Hattaway</a>." Florida House of Representatives. http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=2876&SessionId=50.
"<a href="http://www.altamonte.org/" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs, Florida</a>." Altamonte Springs, Florida. http://www.altamonte.org/.
Robison, Jim. <em><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49963391" target="_blank">Altamonte Springs</a></em>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1999.
Shofner, Jerrell H. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32274737" target="_blank"><em>A History of Altamonte Springs, Florida</em></a>. Altamonte Springs, Fla: City of Altamonte Springs in association with Tabby House Charlotte Harbor, Florida, 1995.
Transcript
<p><strong>Motta<br /></strong>This is Daniel Motta.I am interviewing Mr. Bob Hattaway at his business, Adult Toy Storage, in Altamonte Springs.To start, Mr. Hattaway, could you tell me where you were born?</p>
<p><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I was born in the city of Altamonte Springs in 1936, which today, the location is on Lake Orienta, which at one time was called Orienta Ferneries, later in years.And the Hattaway family lived on that property for a number of years, probably 30 years, or something.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you were born on the property?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I was born on the property, yeah.At that time, when I was born, 1936, a lot of people did not go to hospitals.They couldn’t afford it.So I was born at home.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And could you tell me a little about the neighborhood, the house, property?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>The property, basically—it was 150 acres of property.Thirty acres of the property was into a fernery slat shed growing tropical foliage and plants, mostly <em>asparagus plumosus</em> fern, and then another fern called leatherleaf fern, which came on in a later date, which became very popular in the flower industry.But we were growing plants and flowers and a lot of different products back at that time, to sell.So it was a very rural area.Altamonte Springs had one road leading in and one road leading out, and it was Highway 436 [Florida State Road 436].If you wanted to go shopping, you would get on 436 and travel [US Route] 17-92 to Downtown Orlando, because there were no stores in Altamonte Springs, or Casselberry.You had to go to Orlando to shop.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And I imagine 436 looked a lot different then.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, 436 was probably a two-lane road, and going through the middle of Altamonte Springs was a four-lane road divided in the middle by two very large rows of oak trees, from about where the Altamonte Mall is today, all the way to the railroad track in Altamonte Springs.That’s going from west to the east.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Were any of these paved roads?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It was paved, yeah.Sometimes.But Maitland Avenue also was there, which was a two-lane road itself.But very rural.I mean, there was really nothing out here.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And you said, on the property, only part of it was ferns?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.Of the hundred acres, a lot of it, 30-something acres of it was slat shed fern itself, and the other was open fields, and we were growing <em>plumosus</em> or <em>podocarpus</em>, and were using that.We’d grow the podocarpus and cut that as cuttings and ship that to the northern market, to flower shops as well.So, and everything at that time, back when the fern business back in the [19]50s, and [19]60s, most of the freight was moved by rail, and not by truck.So there was a big depot in Altamonte Springs, and the depot itself, the major portion of it, was people like us—Hattaways, Casselberrys, Vaughns, etc.—shipping boxes and boxes and boxes of cut fern to the northern market, to flower shops.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that would all take place here, or would it go to Sanford first, and go from there?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Just directly?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>There was a direct stop in Altamonte Springs and a direct stop in Casselberry, and also a direct stop in Longwood and Maitland.So they were little whistle stops, but most of the time they were stopping to pick up a product, like the fern product, and then some passengers.But there were no 7-Elevens, and there was absolutely nothing out here at that particular point in time.Not any tourists as well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>About how many families lived in this area, you think?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Well, you know, on the Orienta Fernery side, which was known as the Royal Ferneries at one time, there were probably—it was a housing development there, row houses for the migrant workers, or the workers, to live on the premise and work there, and [inaudible] 40-something houses with a church, [inaudible] on Hattaway Drive today, this long, long, long, then gone?.But they provided housing for people, and they were not great to live in and to be able to work.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And did your father build the houses and the church?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No, those were built back in the—golly.My father went in, they bought from Hibbard Casselberry, 1951.They bought what at that time they called the Royal Ferneries, and they bought that from Hibbard, and Hibbard bought it, I think, in 1946—‘45.And then my father worked for Mr. Casselberry, and my grandfather worked for Mr. Casselberry, and my two uncles, also, worked for Mr. Casselberry. All of them in stooped labor, cutting ferns by hand and taking it to the packinghouses, and then being able to ship the product to the northern market.And there were no Kmarts, and there were no big Walmarts, and those kind of things.Flower shops were flourishing.That was the mainstay of the fern business at that time, corsages and bouquets and things of that nature.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So what year did you say your father procured the property?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>He bought the property from Hibbard in 1951.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay. So, when you were born, he was working in the industry?He just didn’t…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway <br /></strong>He was working with Mr. Casselberry.Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay. And what were your experiences like as a child? Did you also have any contact with—did you work in fields at all?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yes, yes.Oh, yeah<em>[laughs]</em>. Those were wonderful moments.<em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Could you tell me a little about them?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Out there with stooped labor, working in the—I would work in the summer months when I was out of school, high school and grammar school.I would pull weeds in the fernery.And they would hire a lot of young people like myself at that time—ten, twelve years old.And our job was—the fernery was full of weeds of various kinds, and so we’d line up ten, fifteen, or twenty of us in rows.We’d go down through and pull the weeds out of each row.That was a terrible job.I knew when that was happening I didn’t want to stay in the nursery business, or fern business.I darn sure didn’t want to be a stooped laborer in the field.But that’s where my family came from.I mean, they worked for every Casselberry.And Hibbard brought my grandfather and my father both out of the fernery, out of the field, and put my grandfather in charge of the fernery over[?]—which was the Royal Fernery at that time, Casselberry Ferneries as well—and put my grandfather in charge of that side of the fernery, and then my father went over to the main plant over in the middle of Casselberry, and he became the main foreman over there, in an office, working for Mr. Casselberry.And so Mr. Casselberry brought him out of the field, very little education, and put him in charge of a number of people.At that time, you know, back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, the fern business, it was a big business, and they were employing probably two, three hundred people.So it was a lot of people depending on the Casselberrys and the Foleys[?] in the fern business at that time as well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So when you were in the fields doing that work that you loved so much, were you paid for that, or was that just something expected of you?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.Yeah, we got paid for it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Do you remember…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Twenty-five cent an hour.And I was, you know—I’ve always loved to work.That’s been my mainstay, and I’ve got great work habits.And I think most people back then did.I’m not sure what they have today.I know it’s not as good as it was back then.But Mr. Casselberry provided a lot of employment for young people when school was out, that they could work during the summer.And pulling those weeds was part of what you did.And I would get out, and we’d help with the repair of the slat sheds, repairing the irrigation systems, just to keep the fernery back in good repair, so we could grow the fern itself.But it’s hard work.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I’d imagine.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>But, you know, I did that every summer.When I got out of school, the following week I’d be working in the field.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Could you tell me a little about where you went to school?Did you—high school, or did you go to college after?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Sure.I went to Lyman High School, grades one through twelve.I went to Winter Park High School the 10th grade to the 11th grade, and then came back to Lyman for the 12th grade itself.So I was actually grade one through ten at Lyman High School, the old school.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>It wasn’t called Lyman High School then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It was called Lyman High School, yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>But it was one through twelve?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway </strong>One through twelve, yeah.There were, when I graduated, in 1954—’55 there were twelve boys and one girl in my class.Thirteen class.And the class behind us, I think, had 25.So it was a very small school back then, and grade one was, you know—all the way through.And I think they stopped that just before—no, it was still going on in 1955.It was still grade one through twelve, I think, at that time.But Lyman today is probably graduating one thousand kids at one whack.And you got Oviedo, and etc., etc.Great changes, but, you know, we had small classes.Probably the max in a class was 20, 25.Teachers were very personal.Teachers knew us all, and it turned out, had a good education.When I graduated from Lyman, I think there was only two people in our class went to college, and the rest of us went into the work field.And I immediately, when I graduated, I started buying real estate, starting my own fernery.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Graduated from high school?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, high school.I didn’t go to college. Didn’t go to college.And I was working—I got a job in Winter Garden with Continental Can Company, and they were making small cans to put orange juice into, frozen orange juice, and that was a—you’d put three cups of water with it…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>The concentrate?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Concentrate, and do all those.I worked there at night, the night shift from 3:30 ‘til 12:00 or something of that nature.And then during the day, I bought a piece of property in Oviedo on Chapman Avenue[sic], and built my first nursery under oak trees.And I started my own business back in 1956—I guess ’57, ’58, something like that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Where did you say the canning company was?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway <br /></strong>Continental Can Company.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Where was that?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>In Winter Garden.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, okay.So those…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It was a big canning company.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Pretty far from each other, the two?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I’m sorry?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>The two jobs you had were pretty far from each other.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.Yeah.One was working in the can company, the other was working in the field, in a nursery.And started my own place.I bought an oak tree hammock.And we’d found by that time, in the nursery business, in the fern business, that slat sheds were very expensive, and you couldn’t keep them up because of cost, wood rot, and it became—they were falling down.So, we started…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>How often do you have to replace those?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Oh, you were constantly working on the building, on the fields themselves, and you’re talking about 30 acres of slat shed.Just slats are, you know, four inches wide.And sometimes they would kind of fall down.If you’re tall like I am, you’d run into a slat and hit your head and etc.So we went from the slat sheds into buying oak tree hammocks, and putting fern under the oak tree hammocks.And we also started planting in the ferneries—the old ferneries, oak trees inside of the fernery itself—to grow up through the slat sheds for shade.You were looking for a certain amount of shade.And so we started that, and that’s where the slat sheds kind of disappeared, and everybody, especially Mr. Casselberry, his whole side was nothing but oak trees.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, really?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>The side we had, and my father and grandfather had, over on Orienta Fernery side, they planted orange trees, which was a really, really smart move, because they always had orange trees—they also had the product of fern under that.The problem was, when they planted the orange trees, they budded the orange tree to Valencia, navels, or whatever it’s going to be.When they sprayed the orange tree spray on the fern, to kill worms, etc., it killed the buds on all the orange trees.Ended up with 25 acres of sour orange trees, and there’s not a lot of market for sour orange trees.So it was just a good concept, but it didn’t work.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So, by that time, there was pretty much the natural solution of replacing the slats with the trees?Like, is that what all the fern owners pretty much moved to?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.Yeah.Everybody was doing that.Everybody was doing that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Fern business was big not only here in Central Florida, in the Orlando area, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Fern Park, but it was big up in Crescent City and Pierson, which it still is today.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It’s the mainstay up there as well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Was there any kind of rivalry between, like, here and Volusia County?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.Oh my god.Yeah.Yeah.They would—and I’ve heard my father talk about the stories that the price of the ferns had become very cheap—and so the industry got together and met someplace up in DeLand or something, some little community, with the main growers all meeting at one concept.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Woman<br /></strong>Excuse me, do you need anything before I go to lunch?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No, I’m good.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Unidentified<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I’m good.They all went back to discuss the pricing, and I guess they were trying to do what you’d call the price fixing.But the typical agriculture business, they all got together, they all decided, shook hands, and this is what we’re gonna charge to the fern.All of them couldn’t wait to run back to the phone and call their customers in Chicago[, Illinois] or New York or where it is, and say, “Hattaway’s going up on the price of his fern by three cent.I’m gonna stay the same price” or “I’m gonna drop the price.”It never worked.And so they cut their throat time and time again.But there was great rivalry, especially, that I’m familiar with, between the Barnetts, the Casselberrys, the Vaughns.And there was a rivalry there because Mr. Casselberry started the tax-free town of Casselberry, and the Barnetts were a big, very wealthy family, had a lot of ferneries in the Fern Park, Casselberry area, and they didn’t like Mr. Casselberry, because he was so aggressive, and he was a new guy in town.And they got into a hell of a rivalry.So it was always a shootout.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And the Vaughns, you said?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Vaughns.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta <br /></strong>They were also in Seminole County already.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>That’s right.Yeah.They were up in Casselberry—which you would never say “Casselberry,” you would say “Fern Park”—which today is the location of the Home Depot.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Near Lake Concord?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>On 17-92 and Concord.That area.So yeah, there was a real rivalry going on between the small families with the Casselberrys.And those three, those were the three players.So.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta <br /></strong>And this was like the ‘50s, early ‘60s?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, ‘40s and ‘50s.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So when did the fern industry kind of start slowing down, in the area?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Oh, god.My father—I read this this morning—and it had so many ups and downs that I wasn’t even aware of—when I read his notes.And the, you know, just the price of fuel became so high, and labor became so expensive, that we really saw it when my father bought the place in 1951 from Hibbard, like 130 acres, Orienta Ferneries.He, within five years, was subdividing the fernery.And he became involved in real estate, which was a really smart move.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And these, the plots, were they designed for the houses and also, like, partially for ferns?Like, if somebody wanted to grow, like, a little on the side…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No. That was way before that ever happened.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>That was a lot of little nurseries that were back in the ‘20s and ‘30s.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So this was purely real estate?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah. purely real estate.Yeah.He started taking the fernery, which had a hundred and some odd acres, and started selling the land off itself to people that wanted to move.By this time, Altamonte Springs and Casselberry and the community started growing, and so people were starting to migrate, if you want to say that, from Orlando out into the country.And we were selling real estate lots on Lake Orienta—that was a fernery—and we took some of the slat sheds down and were selling real estate lots 100 feet wide, anywhere from 250 to 300 feet deep, for $2,000, for a lot, on paved road.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Around what year was this?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>In the ‘50s—’58, somewhere along there, ’57, ’58.That area where Hattaway Drive is today, that drive that was all Orienta Ferneries, all the property that my father bought from Mr. Casselberry.But he went in like Hibbard.Hibbard went into the real estate business big time.He had a lot of land.And he saw the handwriting on the wall itself.The fern business was just not thriving.There was—and, a lot of artificial stuff coming down the line.People were using <em>podocarpus</em>.People were using [?], using a lot of fillers instead of using the fern.It was cheaper to buy a filler and put inside, in that corsage, for the price.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh.I was about to ask what were some of the reasons it kind of went down.That was pretty much just the artificial—were other parts of the country…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It wasn’t artificial, then.It was just shrubs and things they were cutting that they could stick into a bouquet of flowers.Bouquet of flowers won’t last, you know, a week, four or five days.So they could take <em>sphagnum</em> moss, or they could take a <em>ligustrum</em>, or something that’s leafy and green, and put it in a corsage at a cheaper rate than they could a sprig of fern, or a sprig of leatherleaf fern.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>But if people did want those kind of ferns, were they still dependent on this area, or were there other parts of the country, do you know of?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Not from what I remember.It was mainly this area, plus the Pierson-Crescent City area, that was the mainstays.Later on, it became, everybody started to go off—not everybody.Several of the nurserymen started going off to Costa Rica and islands, and growing fern down there.In fact, one of the largest growers, probably still today, moved from Zellwood.Name was John Marcell.He moved to Costa Rica, and the last I heard, and I haven’t seen John in a long time, he had over 1,000 acres of saran shade cloth, growing leatherleaf fern, and ferns shipping all over the world.Actually, I’ve been told he controls the fern market in Costa Rica.This[?] big.<em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Was Zellwood into the fern industry, or were they in other agriculture?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>And actually Zellwood was—it was a small little town, still today.Marcell was the main grower at that time of leatherleaf fern.Went over to Lockhart, there was another grower over there, name of Joe Wofford, and he had a small fernery, probably ten or fifteen acres.He was growing leatherleaf fern.And Apopka itself had started transitioning over from the fern business—the Ustlers, Mahaffeys—golly, some other families there.But they were more into the tropical foliage business, and growing—building—greenhouses, taking slat sheds and growing tropical plants, which were now becoming very popular.So they shifted from the fern business over to the tropical plant business.And I shifted, also.I saw the handwriting on the wall.The one I built over in Oviedo, myself, it was only small as ten acres.But I sold that to another fernery guy out of Crescent City, took the money of that and started buying property in Altamonte Springs, off Hattaway Drive, and built my first greenhouses.And I went in the greenhouse business.So I shifted from the fern business over to the tropical foliage business.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>More broad[sic].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah. broader opportunity of selling to a greater amount of people.And my first greenhouse I built was out of used lumber, and I took a saw mill myself, and cut the two-by-fours and four-by-fours out of used lumber, and built my first building, which was 30 feet wide and a hundred feet long, which I have pictures of it there.And, gosh, over the years, became a pretty good size.<em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And where did you say this first one was?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It was over just off of Hattaway Drive there in Altamonte Springs.Small place.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.So how long were you—your property in Chapman, you said it was on Chapman Road?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.I was over there—I was in Chapman, probably, I had that nursery probably ten years.A good while, long enough that I’d made enough money working at night.At the Continental Can Company, they were paying me union wages, and I never joined the union.But I was making big bucks, and I was able to buy the land and do the things I’d need to do to get a business going.And it was pretty successful, but when I had the opportunity of selling that property to another person, then take that money and come back over into Altamonte, and go into a different business—although I was still in the agriculture business, it was a good shift.I ended up—well, the fernery there had 20 acres there on Hattaway Drive, and greenhouses—had probably ten acres of greenhouses there.And grew there for a number of years.To build the buildings, [?], build the buildings, I was—to get the lumber for that place—I was going, also to get the used lumber, I was going up and down the railroad tracks.They were taking down power poles and telephone poles, and I would cut the telephone poles and take the arms.At that time, they had arms going out with wires on them, and those were like three-by-fours, and they were like eight feet long, and I would use those for posts, as I gathered used stuff to build my whole nursery.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Were they just, like, the ones that they left there?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Was it okay that you took those?<em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah. definitely.They knew I was doing it.They were taking them down.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And, so, you pretty much built all those house, the original houses, yourself?It sounds like you’re a jack of all trades.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway</strong>I am. <em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did you enjoy the growing aspect?Like, did you have a green thumb, or was it like…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did you enjoy the business?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I enjoyed the business, and I definitely did not have a green thumb.But I enjoyed the business, and I didn’t know anything else.What else could a guy do?There wasno—there was nothing out here.You either worked for the Hattaways, you worked for the Vaughns, you worked for the Casselberrys, or you worked for the Bradshaws in the grove business.This was agriculture community.There was nothing to do.Or, work at the dog track, something like that.So it was, you know—happy as a pig in slop.<em>[laughs] </em>What else can you do?This is what it is.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>This might be going back a little bit, but did your family have any influence on early Altamonte Springs, like developing and like with the government?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No, my father did.He was elected a constable.He worked for Hibbard.And when Hibbard incorporated the City of Casselberry—I’ve heard my mother and father talk about that the night that they did the incorporation, they had a town hall meeting before it was ever incorporated in Mr. Casselberry’s office.There was a—had to have a certain amount of people in the meeting to have a quorum and to be able to appeal to the legislature for incorporation.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And this—as a town?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>As a town.As a town.And they didn’t have four[?] people…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>This was around 1940?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>In the room, so my father left the meeting, went home—we lived on Concord Drive—and brought my mother to the meeting, and she voted, and that’s how, that was part of the process of incorporating the City of Casselberry.My father was elected in 1941 as the first constable of the City of Casselberry.And it was a, I guess, kind of a window-dressing job, but he was constable for eleven years in the City of Casselberry.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that’s kind of like the police chief of the town?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>That’s right.Yeah.He was the police chief.<em>[laughs] </em>I don’t think he even had a badge.<em>[laughs] </em>But that’s old time there.</p>
<p class="Body">Yeah.But you know, again, you know, this was small town, U.S.A.Hibbard would have—and I can remember this so well—he would, at Christmas time, he would have a big Christmas party on the front lawn of the offices, and for all the employees that worked for Mr. Casselberry, his entire operation.And he would get every kid a gift at Christmas time.And this was black, white, whatever it was be.He would always throw this big Christmas party.Big deal.You’d either get a knife or get a yo-yo or something like that.<em>[laughs] </em>But, and he was quite a—he was a good man.A lot of people, you know, just—vision, had great vision.And smart, wasn’t hard to talk to.He was a young man at that time.He was just good to us.He was very good for the community.Barnetts won’t tell you that.And the Vaughns won’t tell you that.But the Hattaways damn sure will tell you that real quick.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did you know Mr. Casselberry personally, as a young man?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Mm-hm.Yeah.I knew him.He, and especially Leonard [Casselberry]. I don’t know if you’ve interviewed Leonard, Jane [Casselberry]?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah. about a week or two ago.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Leonard used to come to my mother and father’s house, and Leonard would love to read comic books.<em>[laughs] </em>He—he wasn’t too energetic.<em>[laughs] </em>But he would come in and read the comic books, and Jane—they lived over off of the old race track road [Dog Track Road], at the horse track.He probably told you that’s what they built there, as well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta <br /></strong>Yeah.Was knowing the founder and, I guess, owner at that time of Casselberry, was that like a—in this year, that seems kind of, like, strange, or maybe not strange, but—was it, did it seem like a big deal, or was he just like any normal citizen?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No. It was—to the normal person, it was probably a big deal.But because my father worked for him, and with him, I would go into my father’s office, and Mr. Casselberry’s office was right there.And he had a big picture window that he could look out into my father’s office, and then be able to look out into the grading there.They graded fern—longs, shorts, mediums, whatever you were looking for in the size of fern to ship.And, you know, he was just there all the time.He had a—I can remember so well—he had a big, big tarpon fish mounted in his office in back there.He would go to—my father, in fact, I’ve seen some pictures of him—he would go to the flower shows in Chicago or New York, where they might be, and Martha [Casselberry], his wife at that time—he married three times—Martha would wear, he would wear white riding pants—horses, cows?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Mm-hm.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>And boots, real knee boots up there.With a big coat on.All in white.And a fern spray on this thing.Promoter.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah. representing his…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.He was a promoter, as well.Promoted, and he had a knack about doing that, much better than the Vaughns and the Barnetts, as well.But, yeah, he was a good man.I can’t tell you that enough times.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you started getting into the nursery, would it be considered nursery business or the greenhouse…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Greenhouses.Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>How long were you involved with that before you looked more towards retail?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I started in the fern business when I got out of high school, 1954-55.I was in the fern business by 1960, with the fernery over in Chapman Avenue in Oviedo.And then started the first greenhouses and then grew that business.And I went out of the business in 1988, of the foliage business.So I graduated, basically, from the fern business over to the foliage, from the foliage into the foliage business itself.Ended up with this place, which is 500,000 square feet of what was greenhouses.But I built steel structure buildings, I told you.And today it’s now the steel structure buildings that are storing boats, cars, and recreational vehicles.1974-75, I bought a farm in Puerto Rico, and I started out with thirty, three thousand, building 3,000 square feet—300—yeah, 3,000, 30-feet wide and 100-feet long.And I bought a farm in Puerto Rico that was 80 hectares of greenhouses.And I was shipping fern or foliage plants from Puerto Rico, by sea freight, to Europe.So I moved from 33,000 square feet, to a farm here, and a farm in Puerto Rico.And I farmed in Puerto Rico, foliage plants, for twenty years, twenty-two years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did you sell that land, or still…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, I did.I sold it.I sold it.I wanted to go out of the nursery business.My brother, and then, by then graduated from University of Florida, had a degree in horticulture, and he wanted the nursery in Puerto Rico, so I sold the nursery to him in Puerto Rico.And he farmed in Puerto Rico for, I don’t know, another eight,-nine years.And we had three major hurricanes hitting back to back.First time we had insurance.We rebuilt.Second time, had insurance.Insurance company went belly up, and we rebuilt.And the third time, we said, “That’s it.”And we sold it.And then I was here all the time, and I just started converting all the buildings over to what you see today.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So about what time did you decide you wanted to get out of that business?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>1988.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.I already had another vision, what you see today.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Works out for you.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, it worked out.Yes.Yeah.It really—what was my whole plan at that time, was—I had roughly 30 acres here—was to add on a trailer park in front of me, which today is a public shopping center.And I was trying to buy their property, and I wanted to build a big industrial park, 40-45-acre industrial park.And I couldn’t buy that trailer park, and made them some ridiculous offers.I’m glad they didn’t take it, ‘cause the market went to hell in a handbag.I ended up, you know, basically looking at what they were doing, and I said, “If they will pay $35.00 a month to park a boat outside in an open field, with grass and grasshoppers, what will they pay to put it inside the building?”And from there, you know, it grew from there.So, in 1988, I was in the foliage business.In 2012, I’m now in the storage business.And the place is doing fairly well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>That sounds like a pretty brilliant idea, just converting the fields to this.Do you know if any other growers have took that...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No, no.They can’t.They all built buildings that were not convertible.They couldn’t do what I did.In fact, I saw Earl Vaughn two weeks ago. Had a funeral up in Apopka, and went over and we were talking—and I know Earl.Great guy.I like Earl.I don’t know if you’ve met him or not.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>You need to meet him.You need to meet Earl Vaughn.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I would love to.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Vaughn Greenhouses.They’re in the book.He’s no longer in the foliage business, but he has a farm, a foliage place up on [Florida State Road] Highway 46 up in Sanford.And saw him, and I said something, and he said, “Hattaway, what you did is brilliant.”He said, “I’ve been trying to do the same thing, except I can’t get my zoning.I’m in the Wekiva [River] Protection Area.”And so, he can do nothing other than what he’s doing.So, you know, fortunately, when I started building the buildings, I then started working politically to change the zoning on this place.And so I did it back early.If I tried to do it today, I’d probably never get it done.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Are you still involved in local politics?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /> </strong>I just write checks.<em>[laughs]</em></p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong><em>[laughs] </em>Well…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>No, I’m still involved.I have a lot of friends in the political scene.I help them.You know, I served eight years in the [Florida] Legislature.Loved it, and had fun with it.Eight years at Orlando International Airport.That’s a full-time, non-paid political job, and did that for eight years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And what was your—for the airport, what was your…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I was the—actually, I was chairman for four years, and vice chairman for two years, and on the board for eight.And the governor appointed me.Lawton Chiles appointed me.And so, I served there, and when I went on the board, there was $10 million worth of construction going at the Orlando International Airport.When I left, eight years later—yeah, eight years later it was—it was $500 million worth of construction going.And they had another $500 million committed to build the south terminal, and the new board decided that they didn’t want to do that, and so the new board today is trying to figure out how they can get the money to build the south terminal for international rivals.And, you know, that was a group of Democrats—John Rich, Bill Miller, Howard McNelty, myself—four really strong Democrats.We got in and got aggressive, said, “This place is gonna grow.”And we went from 22 million passengers—eight years later, it was like 31 million passengers.That’s growth.And all we did, we went out and started marketing the Orlando International Airport, as a board, as a group of people, with the mayor of Orlando, Linda Hood, and the county chairman, Linda Chapin.And we were a hell of a team, and we moved around this country, all around this world, basically.And brought airlines in, British Airlines[sic], Southwest [Airlines], Virgin [Atlantic].Those were all new carriers that came in that eight-year period of time.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Were you involved in the [Orlando-] Sanford [International] Airport or the…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>That was my first venture.Back when we did that one, Kay Shoemaker was the chairman, and John—what was the name—Steve, he was the executive director.I can’t think of his last name now.But he came to me, I was a new board member, and he said, “You know, we need to go after international passengers for the Sanford airport.”So we went to Kay Shoemaker and talked Kay into letting us fly, I think it was, Toronto, Canada.And the concept that Steve had—and I was just the baggage, went along with him—that we need to go to Holiday Travel, and talk to them about direct flights from Toronto to Sanford, and not from Toronto to Orlando.And we met with the Holiday Travel, they thought it was a good idea, and he was very much in favor of it, but the issue was that the travel time coming from the Sanford Airport to [Walt] Disney [World], you didn’t have the 414, I think it is, or 4…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh,[State Road] 408, [State Road] 417?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>417, yeah, coming across the lake.You didn’t have that segment built, and, so, that was a stopping point.When that segment was built, Holiday Travel and a lot of those guys started flying into Sanford, and bypassing Orlando.Well, in the meantime, I moved from the Sanford Airport board, over to the Orlando Airport.<em>[laughs] </em>So, it was quite a conflict there for a while.<em>[laughs] </em>And Larry Dale—and I don’t know if you know Larry—but Larry Dale and I had some real knockdowns and drag-outs about the airports.He’s the executive director of the Sanford Airport.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah.Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I’m curious how you, how did you even get involved with the airport, like the industry?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>The governor.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>The governor.Yeah, I—when Lawton was elected—Lawton Chiles—I’d been in the Legislature.I knew him very well, and I worked with him for his election.And he was elected.He appointed me to the lottery commission.I didn’t believe in the lottery.I didn’t like the lottery.When it was approved, I was in the Legislature.I voted against it.And was opposed against it then, and Lawton told me, said, “I want you to be on that board.You’re the first Democrat to be appointed, and I want to get rid of the executive director.”I forget her name.She was really good, too.But he wanted to get rid of her and he wanted to change the entire board.He wanted to make changes.And so, I did that for a couple of years.And I was tired of it, and finally we just got enough Democrats on the board that I went to the governor, said, “I’m out of here.I don’t want to do this anymore.”In the meantime, when that happened, the [Greater Orlando] Aviation Authority thing came up available in Orlando, and I was supporting a Republican, Sue [inaudible] was her name, and Sue wanted to be appointed to the board.And I went to the governor to appoint her from Seminole County, and the governor says, “No, I’m not going to appoint a Republican.But I will appoint you if you want to take the job.”So I said, “Well, okay. I’ll do it.”</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did you have an interest in air travel?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Yeah, I did, because of Sanford.And I knew that it was a very, very important job.The Orlando International Airport is the economic engine that really runs this community today.And the things they’ve accomplished, and the size of the airport.This is number one around the state of Florida, certainly, that I enjoyed that.But I did, I was able to go into that segment having eight years in Tallahassee being a legislator, that I knew a little bit about politics, and I knew that a lot of my newfound friends that I found in Tallahassee, of eight years, when I was no longer elected, they didn’t know my first name or my last name.And when I was appointed to the Aviation Authority in Orlando, I told my wife, Charlotte, I said, “This is altogether different.We’re going to have a lot of brand new friends, and they’re going to love us for eight years.And when we’re gone, they won’t know our name.So we’re gonna do this different.We’re gonna do what the hell we want to do, and we’re gonna do the things that we think are right, and eight years from now, we’ll be good.”And that’s how we prefaced that.So it was fun.It was, like I said, it was a full-time—as a chairman—non-paid, political job.But would I do that again?Probably not.It was the right time.You know, I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve lived at the right time, when things were just starting to peak or things were really going smoothly, and everybody was getting along.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>It seems like you’ve always been able to do what makes you happy.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I’ve been lucky.You’ll never sit across the table from a more blessed, lucky guy than me.Life has been good.With high school education, I’ve competed with all of them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Work ethic.Whistling[?] away[?].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It’s worked out, worked out fine.<em>[laughs] </em>So, and I laugh about. In fact, I’ve brought my report cards in today for some reason, and I looked at those report cards, looking through stuff, and I said, “Man, I was a straight-F student.”<em>[laughs] </em>So, but, it’s been fun.Life’s been good, been good.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I wanted to ask you, for the Sanford Airport, when did that start becoming—when was it under construction?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>It was, you know, it was a naval base [Naval Air Station Sanford], and then they converted over into a commercial airport, and I don’t remember the years.But I was on that board—phew.It wasn’t in the—must have been in the late ‘70s when they started converting it over.Yeah, I can’t remember the dates on that one.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So, did—it might have been the fern industry—I mean, it might have been kind of already low at that time, but was there any kind of transition?‘Cause you said the railroads, in the early days, that was like the artery.Was there, like, did the airports start to be more of a central thing with transportation?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>With ferns, no.No.With the fern business, it became trucks.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Everybody moved from the—we did some air freight, not a lot.Most of it was done by—the whole industry changed from trains and rail over to the trucking industry.So there was a—trucking lines were moving strictly either foliage plants or ferns by truck itself to the destination.The fern business itself—the labor, cost of labor, the cost of materials, the cost of land—all those things just became cost-prohibited to be able to do anything with it.You asked a question earlier about, you know, do I miss it?I loved the plant business.I really enjoyed it, and still today would like to be in the business, except I know I can’t make any money at it.And I’m not gonna fool around with something I can’t make money at as well.But, you know, the guys in Apopka and the guys that been in the fern business, and growing something, you know, a plant or product, I think they all will tell you, you know, it’s just a great place to—it’s a fun thing to do.And it’s really rewarding to put a little plant on a stem into a piece of <em>sphagnum</em> moss, and grow it to a finished product, and ship it.If I had a nickel for every plant that I’ve grown, I’d be a very wealthy man.Rick [Hattaway] enjoyed it.My brother enjoyed it very much.And I kept telling him, “You don’t want to go into the greenhouse business.You want to stay out of it.”My mother told me that as well.But, you know, he followed the family trade and did that as well.But, it’s a good life.It’s a good opportunity.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>That whole watching something grow, that seems almost kind of like a good metaphor for your, all your business [inaudible].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong><em>[laughs ] </em>Yeah.Yeah.I read an article today, an old one, gosh, about when I developed that orange grove over there, and it was—Phil [inaudible] was the city manager.It was quoting him about what I was doing over there, and how I environmentally was taking care of Lake Lotus, and all the things I did back then.But, you know, to see the growth, or where we were back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and where we are today, people have opportunities.There were no opportunities when I was growing up.Either you worked in a fernery or you worked in an orange grove.There wasn’t high school education.People weren’t going to college.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>You had to find your own…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>You had to find your own, you had to make your own way at that particular point in time.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Since you brought that up, I’m curious what you think about how this area—I probably can’t imagine what it was like when you were a kid.What do you think?How do you think it’s progressed?Are you…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>I’m for growth.I’m growth.Opportunities.I mean, I had a farm, sold it a couple years ago up in Alabama, little town called Opp, Alabama.And it was heavy agriculture, farming area.And today—Opp, Alabama—you can take a shotgun down the main street and not hit a soul.There’s just nothing to do there.And that’s the way it was here.The growth has been really, really, to me, healthy.It’s been giving good opportunities to people having good jobs.Our way of life—there are no poor people in this community today.You see some not as well off as others, but everybody either has a television, or everybody has food on the table.Everybody has an opportunity to make something of themselves, you see, if they want to take that opportunity.And back then, there was no opportunities.You had to make it yourself.And today there’s many doors open for employment, and it’s not all agriculture.At that time, it was.But am I in favor of growth?Absolutely.Has it been good for this community?Absolutely.Has it been good for this state?Absolutely.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Is there anything that you see in this community, that you don’t find good about—<strong>l</strong>ike, obviously, there’s a lot of good growth brings, but is there anything you lament that has changed, or any nostalgia?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway <br /></strong>I think the one problem that we have in our community is that we have not been able to keep up with the road—the growth with our road network—and mainly because of the lack of proper leadership from the Legislature.We’ve never had the political voting power to be able to build a road network they have on the south coast, South Florida—they have on the west coast.And our group has been splintered—Democrat, Republican— and many times have not worked together to have the power base in Tallahassee to get the state dollars to build—FDOT [Florida Department of Transportation]—to build our community.So we’ve not done a good job on our roads.And you have one major road going through this entire community, from Daytona Beach into Tampa, and that’s I-4.Other than that, you have very limited roads.If it wasn’t for the East-West Expressway [SR 408], the [Central Florida] Expressway Authority, we wouldn’t have any roads.So that’s been a blessing to us, but I think that’s our biggest problem.Our growth has been handled with zoning—comprehensive land plan—where the commercial’s going to be built, where the residential’s going to be built—all those things, I think, have been handled very well.We have a great water system, sewer system in Central Florida.We have all the things conducive to solid development, except the roads.And you get on these roads, and you know what it’s like.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Gridlock.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>But I’m kind of surprised to hear that—weren’t a lot of the old, like ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, Florida Republicans, weren’t they kind of pro-growth and infrastructure?Wouldn’t they…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong>Well, when I was in the Legislature back in the ‘70s, the [Florida] House [of Representatives] and the [Florida] Senate was controlled by the Democrats, and the Republicans were along for the ride.And then, when power shifted chains, we didn’t see a lot of growth coming here.I mean, we’ve had—I don’t want you to write this.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>What’s that?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Hattaway<br /></strong><em>[laughs] I</em> don’t want you to write this.This is off the record on this one.Yeah.</p>
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<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/23288d20d38c0f7e671f6412e62d4b87.mp3" target="_blank">Oral History of Bob Hattaway</a>
7-Eleven
Adult Toy Storage
agriculture
airports
Altamonte Mall
Altamonte Springs
Apopka
asparagus plumosus
Barnett
Bill Miller
Bob Hattaway
Bradshaw
British Airways
Casselberry
Central Florida Expressway Authority
Chapman Avenue
Chapman Road
Charlotte Hattaway
Chicago, Illinois
Christmas
citrus
Concord Avenue
Continental Can Company
Costa Rica
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Daniel Motta
Daytona Beach
DeLand
Democratic Party
Democrats
Dog Track Road
Downtown Orlando
Earl Vaughn
East-West Expressway
economic growth
farming
farms
FDOT
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ferneries
fernery
ferns
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flower shops
flowers
Foley
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
greenhouses
Hattaway
Hattaway Drive
Hibbard Casselberry
Holiday Travel
Home Depot
horticulture
Howard McNelty
infrastructure
Jane Casselberry
John Marcell
John Rich
Kay
Kmart
Lake Concord
Lake Lotus
Lake Orienta
Larry Dale
Lawton Chiles
Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr.
leatherleaf fern
Leonard Casselberry
LHS
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Linda Hook
Lockhart
Longwood
Lyman High School
Mahaffey
Maitland
Maitland Avenue
Martha Casselberry
moss
mosses
NAS Sanford
Naval Air Station Sanford
navel oranges
New York
nurseries
nursery
oak tree hammocks
oak trees
Opp, Alabama
orange tees
oranges
Orienta Ferneries
orlando
Orlando International Airport
Orlando-Sanford International Airport
Pierson
podocarpus
price fixing
Puerto Rico
real estate
Republican Parties
Republicans
Rick Hattaway
Royal Ferneries
Sanford
saran shade cloth
Seminole County
Semoran Boulevard
Shoemaker
slat sheds
Southwest Airlines
sphagnum
SR 408
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SR 436
SR 46
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Toronto, Canada
tropical plants
UF
University of Florida
US 19-92
Ustler
Valencia oranges
Vaughn Greenhouses
Virgin Atlantic
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Walmart
Walt Disney World
weeding
weeds
Wekiva River
Winter Garden
Winter Park High School
Wofford, Joe
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/07e6bec83a190e1b586ee004f7edcbdd.mp3
187a4a9be507784ce65c432f6a6b8526
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/be86d7afae2d764311c85f1823f0025c.pdf
119f341379fca234c9f13ef52d2434db
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Casselberry Collection
Alternative Title
Casselberry Collection
Subject
Casselberry (Fla.)
Description
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Casselberry, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.
Fort Concord was constructed near Lake Concord in 1849 to protect settlers during the Seminole Wars. Settlement increased following the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862. Stephen J. L. Hooker, the nephew of Florida cattleman William B. Hooker, migrated to the present-day Casselberry area in the 1850s.
Gordon J. Barnett migrated to Altamonte Springs from New York and opened a fernery in the area. He also began a housing development called Fern Park Estates. Soon, the area became one of the world's largest fern producers. In 1926, Hibbard Casselberry migrated to Fern Park from Winnetka, Illinois, and began his own subdivision called Winter Park Ferneries. In 1937, Barnett was elected to the Florida House of Representative and failed passed a bill to incorporate the Town of Fern Park. On October 10, 1940, the Casselberry, which included parts of Fern Park, was incorporated as a tax-free town. The fern industry declined during World War II and Hibbard Casselberry began manufacturing bandoliers, bomb parachutes, and hospital tent liners. The City of Casselberry was incorporated on July 25, 1965.
Contributor
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/44" target="_blank">Seminole County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Casselberry, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.casselberry.org/index.aspx?nid=33" target="_blank">History</a>." City of Casselberry. http://www.casselberry.org/index.aspx?nid=33.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Motta, Daniel
Interviewee
Casselberry, Leonard
Casselberry, Janes
Location
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a><span>, Sanford, Florida.</span>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Leonard Casselberry and Jane Casselberry
Alternative Title
Oral History, Casselberry
Subject
Casselberry (Fla.)
Winter Park (Fla.)
Ferns--Florida
Azaleas--United States
Description
An oral history of Leonard and Jane Casselberry, conducted by Daniel Motta on May 30, 2012. In the interview, the Casselberrys discuss life in Casselberry, Florida, which was founded by Leonard's father, Hibbard Casselberry. Other topics discussed include the founding of Casselberry, working in the fern industry, the effect of World War II on the home front, how Leonard and Jane met, how Casselberry has changed over time, Hibbard Casselberry's involvement in growing azaleas and oak trees, and the Casselberrys' occupations after Leonard left the U.S. Navy.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br /> 0:00:38 Education and childhood<br /> 0:02:00 Founding of Casselberry<br /> 0:04:28 How Leonard and Jane met<br /> 0:04:37 Working with ferns<br /> 0:13:04 Shipping ferns<br /> 0:15:59 Fern industry during the war<br /> 0:18:41 Leonard's father<br /> 0:19:48 How the city has progressed over time<br /> 0:21:50 Leonard's father and azaleas<br /> 0:24:08 Orange groves, oak trees, and local competition<br /> 0:26:20 After leaving the Navy<br /> 0:36:20 Opinion of Casselberry today<br /> 0:37:29 Leonard's occupations<br /> 0:38:53 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Leonard Casselberry and Jane Casselberry. Interview conducted by Daniel Motta at the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> in Sanford, Florida.
Type
Moving Image
Source
Original 39-minute and 14-second oral history: Casselberry, Leonard and Jane Casselberry. Interviewed by Daniel Motta. UCF Community Veterans History Project. May 30, 2012. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/117" target="_blank">Casselberry Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Creator
Motta, Daniel
Contributor
Casselberry, Leonard
Casselberry, Jane
Vickers, Savannah
Date Created
2012-05-30
Date Modified
2014-09-30
Date Copyrighted
2012-05-30
Format
video/wav
application/pdf
Extent
396 MB
172 KB
Medium
39-minute and 14-second audio recording
19-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Daniel Motta, Leonard Casselberry, and Janes Casselberry, and transcribed by Savannah Vickers.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.casselberry.org/index.aspx?nid=33" target="_blank">History</a>." City of Casselberry. http://www.casselberry.org/.
Robison, Jim. "<a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-05-25/news/0305230547_1_casselberry-fern-hibbard" target="_blank">Casselberry Family Sheds New Light On Life Of City Founder</a>." <em>The Orlando Sentinel</em>, May 25, 2003. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-05-25/news/0305230547_1_casselberry-fern-hibbard.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/files/original/07e6bec83a190e1b586ee004f7edcbdd.mp3" target="_blank">Oral History of Leonard Casselberry and Jane Casselberry</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Motta<br /></strong>All right. It is May 30, 2012, and I am speaking to Mr. Leonard Casselberry and Mrs. Jane Casselberry at the Museum of Seminole County History. To start off, Mr. Casselberry, can you tell me a little about where you were born and your childhood?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, I was born in Chicago[, Illinois]. I fit in a shoebox when I came down here, and I grew up and went to school in Winter Park.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you just moved down here when you were one or two?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you went through high school in Winter Park High School?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>I went to military school two years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Bolles</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Bolles Military School in Jacksonville.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Jacksonville.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>And went in the Navy.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So did you not spend much of your childhood in the Central Florida area, or…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Oh, yes. Yes, went to school in Winter Park, and back out in Casselberry, when I was working out there, following my dad around a little bit. It’s what you usually do [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So how long did you stay? You went through high school here, or just—when did you go to military school?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Junior, senior year.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay. Was there any particular reason you went there, or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, it was just coming up on the war [World War II], and dad sent us for a little military training or something.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So how old were you when the war broke out?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Eighteen or something.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Seventeen, I think.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Seventeen.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Seventeen? So you didn’t serve? You were a little too young then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Couldn’t get in, then.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah. No, no problem there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So do you have any memories of—I mean, how was it, being the son of somebody who was starting his own town?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Of course, we—Dad<a title="">[1]</a> was in the fern business out here, and occasionally I could ride from Winter Park, where I went to school at. We lived on Lake Maitland in Winter Park, and I’d ride with Dad coming out here. From Via Tuscany, and then come out on…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Lake Howell Road.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Lake Howell Road, and turn left and come back out this way.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I imagine that trip was different then, much different-looking.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, came by the turkey farm, and came on out through the orange groves, on out to Casselberry.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>It wasn’t Casselberry in charter until 1940. His dad came in 1926, to work with—what’d they call it, Fern Park Estates? Where they would try to have like an artist colony, and people to come down, and they would have a little piece of fernery, and some orange, piece of orange groves. Maybe they’d have a little income with their house, and they could retire here or come in the winter, and…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that was with Mr. Burnett?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes, he was hired to sell real estate, and to—and Mr. Burnett had a fernery, and Mr. Casselberry started his own fernery, and of course there was a lot of tension between the two.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah, I’d imagine. Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And you went to Winter Park High School, correct—s well?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>I did. I graduated from Winter Park High.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that’s where you two met?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So did either of you do any work with the ferns or azaleas or anything? Like, were you actually…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>He did as a kid, in the winter, when they called everybody in due to the danger of freezing.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Any stories there?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, you know, are you familiar with a fern shed, and you see the pots and so on? But what’s the temperature on there? And the temperature indicates it’s going to be down close to freezing. We’d call the hands in, so to speak, and watch the temperature, and then Dad had thermometers stuck in the different areas around the fernery, so we could check the different areas, and when the temperature goes down in one part of it, they notify, send somebody out to get the hands, ‘cause most of them didn’t live in Casselberry. They lived over in Altamonte [Springs], and they’d send the truck around, get the fellows to come in that were gonna be there, and one of the ladies would come in, do a little cooking for us. We’d watch, read the thermometers, and when the temperature goes down close to 30-something, we’d pass the word along. The men would come on in, and they’d get their—some of them would have—Dad used to issue boots, and…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>How did they light the smudge pots?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>They’d go around with—light the flare or a little torchlight that they could light, and they’d tip them down and spill some of the diesel and gas mixture into the pot to get it started.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Into the soil?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>In the pot. Light up, take a little while, ‘cause it was fuel oil and not gasoline. It’d explode or something. So.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So that’s how they kept the ferns warm?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes—well, they’d light it. And, I was reading—Paul Bates was one of those foremen there, and he’d go in and light the north, and the west, or sometimes the east side, first. A row along the fence. Well, the heat inside slat roofs like that, keeps some of the heat underneath. But it’d let the sunlight in the daytime, but when it got cold, it’d keep some of the heat in it. When the temperature got down to 32 [degrees Fahrenheit], they’d light up the side that the breeze was blowing on, and that would go through the fernery and would still keep it above freezing, until it got lower at other parts and they’d light other pots. Sometimes they’d have to light them all—before morning, ‘cause the cold temperature here about seven o’clock or after. It was quite interesting, and we’d get around the heaters, and of course we’d have to continue reading, and if the temperature drops down, or comes back up, we’d put some of them out, or didn’t light them all. When the time comes to shut them down, they’d go by and snuff them out. Then we’d have to fuel them, and Dad got the Atlantic Coast Line Railway[sic] to put a side track on up there where Casselberry’s siding, inside where our railroad station is, and how it got started.<br /><br />Got a siding there. They’d come in, drop a tanker there, and we’d pump it out of there, and some of it would be there, then we’d pump it from there, part of it, out to a tank out by one part of the fernery, and another part to another part. Then they also had another pump. It would feed the line. We had line running from the tank on out the fernery. I don’t know if it shows it in this photograph or not, of a—run about a two-inch line, and then drops down to smaller, and then we had the faucet to fill at the end of each row where the pots were going down through, like in a row, and fasten the oil hose there, close the valve, of course, and then, move to the next one and fill the next row of pots that way.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Well, there’s a lot—there’s a lot you don’t think about, that goes into that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah, they dragged in the oil, you know, like a sprinkler line or hose line down there, and it has a valve on the hose, so you’ll stick it inside the pot and watch until it gets full, turn it off and go to the next pot, does the same thing, in a row, and then as far as they can reach, and then go over to the next one and go back down, to fill them so they’d be ready for the next day.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, tell him about how they’d cut the fern <em>asparagus plumosus</em> and how they sorted it and everything.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, <em>asparagus plumosus</em> used to—you’d refer to it as that ferns you’d see in the front of the banquet or someplace like that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>The center of the table.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>The center of the table. Sometime you get a flake of it in your butter or something—like that, butter patty?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>It’s a lacy fern, and it usually lays flat. When it grows, as you call it <em>asparagus plumosus</em>, it comes up just like a shoot of asparagus, and comes on out and sticks way up in a room like this and finally feathers out up there like that, and turned—of course, it’s not always green. It’s yellow and gets green when—it gets dark green—when you grip it off to bring in the packinghouse, and in the packinghouse, they’ll cut them and bring them in in bunches, big bunches like this—field hands— ‘cause they’ll catch all different kinds when they’re clipping them, just trying to clip ripe ones, or good ones, so to speak, and then we they come in—and then the girls will grade them, and they’ll grade them, and some of them are long, and some of them are medium, and some will be shorts.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And get rid of the…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>The rest of them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>The rejects.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, yeah. Go out, and then, they will be more or less laid flat on each other, like this, with a ball, bag of moss, like, on the end of it, with a—they’re tied together.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And it would have been in a tank of water.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Ball of paper around it, and then they would be put in a tank to preserve them, like when you put flowers in a jar to keep them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Were they shipped out like that?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>They would just sit down on slats in shallow tanks, like this, in rows, and then they would go in, pick them out, and go to pack them. Well, they were taken out of there, and dipped in icy water, and break up ice, put it in a tank, about so square and that deep. They’d dip them in so they’d get wet all the way through. Then they’d throw them on the rack and let them drain out, and then they’d put them in thin wood pack…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Crates.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Crates, like food crates, like…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Like fruit crates?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Similar to that, and they would line the box with newspapers. We used to open up newspapers, get them flat like this, and then we’d roll them and take them and sell them to Barnett or Casselberry who needs them, buys them, pays them so much a pound for them. So many cents a pound for them. The newspapers all flat, and they’d take four, five, six of them to line the box, put down the end, the side, and the side like this, and some in the bottom. They’d put a few bunches of fern in there like this, and then they’d have a chunk ice, and wrap it in newspaper, several layers, depending upon the size of the box for shipping, and you’d be put it in the middle. They’d put some more fern around it like that, close newspapers around it like that, and close the crate like that. Then you gotta—like an ice box, ice in the middle, wrapped up in paper, and the fern’s the insulation, and outside’s the insulation’s newspapers, and they’d take it to the railway express, and they’d load it on the train.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta </strong>I never realized how much ice was involved with ferns.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard </strong>Yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane </strong>And the—these ferns were shipped directly to the florist, and they could be packed to order if they wanted so many shorts or longs.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And did you ship just to around the Florida area, or nationally?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Nationally.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>All the states and Canada.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>At one time, it was the largest fern business in the world.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that kind of tapered off after the [World] War [II]?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, during the war, of course, that was not a priority, to ship ferns. There were war materials. Also, a lot of the men were called to war, and didn’t have people to work.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So the women were mostly working in the…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>So that’s when Mr. Casselberry was looking for something to help the war effort that would involve something that the women would be good at, and they said women can sew, you know. So that’s when they started making the bandoliers for the Army.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>And parachutes for fragmentation bombs?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>That came later.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And your father—did he own the factories that made those, or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, he converted some of the buildings where the fertilizer mixing—where we mixed the fertilizer for a while, and we quit doing that and used that building on the railroad…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>To make bandoliers.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>To make bandoliers on it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>But for the parachutes, we had to have a special building, and of course getting any priority to build anything was frankly impossible back then.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Couldn’t build, even with the parts that you couldn’t buy building material, to build houses or anything like that, ‘cause everything was going to the war.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>But he got the permission ‘cause they needed this product, and it went up in, what, how many days? A month or two months, and they said it was like a miracle building, you know. So that’s where they were making the bomb chutes to be used…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Do you…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Do you wanna tell what they—how they—why they needed them?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, they needed them for fragmentation bombs. The ones they dropped bombs on, they had to fly low to drop down. But when you drop a bomb, it follows along underneath your plane. So they wanted a parachute for the backup to slow the—so the pilot could get out, you know?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Lost a lot of planes that way!</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>So they came up with the idea of putting a parachute on the bomb so it would slow it down and let the crew get away.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I’ve always seen the parachutes on the bomb, and I never thought of that. Yeah, that’s—could I—I’d like to back up a little bit. When you two met in high school, did you know who he was? I mean, did you know, like, who his father was?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, we were probably in tenth grade, and we would have shared some classes, study hall.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So everybody knew who his father was and everything at that time?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, not really much. But he had a nice convertible—owned by his dad—that he could come to school in. [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>What kind of convertible?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Ford.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>This was a Ford Club Coupe convertible, with the top down.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh [<em>laughs</em>]. That’s a nice Florida car.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah, she wanted a ride home, but she didn’t tell me that ‘til later.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Well, looks like things worked out well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, very well.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes, and he lived on one side of Lake Maitland, and I lived on the other, and he would come see me in his mother’s sailboat.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So that was in Winter Park, not Maitland, you lived in?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>That was Winter Park, Lake Maitland.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay. So, I mean, [<em>laughs</em>] what do you—I’d love to get your opinion on what you think of how the city’s [Casselberry] progressed. When you look at it today, what do you think? I mean, what comes to your mind?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, we remember when we were incorporated, but also remember when we didn’t have so many families there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Back to about the paper that they wrapped the ice in, that was a good way—later, after the war, when we had children, that’s how they made their money to go to the movies or whatever. We’d take newspapers, and roll them, and sell them to the fernery.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah? So people would just collect newspapers and sell them?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah, you’d collect your newspapers, leftover newspapers.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Stack them up and roll them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Recycling, so to speak.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Do you remember how much you got for like a bundle, or—like, how much…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /> </strong>Not much, but it was a lot then.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta <br /></strong>Yeah, few cents here and there. Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, get a couple of rolls, and you made a movie ticket.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>That’s not bad.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And the ferns were shipped on railway express, back then, ‘cause they didn’t have the airplanes and things, and one of the first times we ever sent a shipment out on air, we went up to Ocala, and there was just like a cargo plane, maybe like a [Douglas] DC-3.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So there wasn’t an airport near Sanford, then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, I don’t know. Maybe that was the nearest one that was shipping agricultural things.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So do you remember—I read that your father got into azaleas—like starting to grow azaleas. Is that correct?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, back…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Earlier he was into gladiolas.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>They grew out gladiolas from the bulbs. And—I gave Kim [Nelson] a picture, and the Belgian azaleas were beautiful. Up ‘til then, you know, just had the plain azaleas. But we had—with the Belgian azaleas, there were so many different varieties, and they were ruffled, [inaudible], different colors and combination of colors, and he was in business with a man called Jules Cole…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Jules Cole.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>That knew about azaleas. That’s how they got introduced.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>But it was mostly just ferns. That was the main product?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>The Belgian azaleas, they set up as a couple acres or something like that for him, and developed them. Dad sold them out on the highway, and would scatter them around through town.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>There was an area that had, like the bay trees and oak trees and things. It was like north of where the [Casselberry] City Hall is now. It’s this plain, but back then it was just thick woods.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Near Lake Concord, or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And he had, like…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>South of Lake Concord.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Like a faux Cypress Gardens. He had girls in antebellum skirts and outfits, showing people around the azaleas.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah? Were there like refreshments and things there?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>No, it wasn’t that. But it was just a…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Just a…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Something that slows traffic down.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you mentioned going by orange groves. Your father wasn’t in that business at all? Orange…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>No, we had a couple places where we started some going. Tally Hattaway and I got a bunch of seedlings up, but we didn’t follow through with much of them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>They were, like, sour, and they had this idea of planting them in the ferneries to add a shade. I guess it was expensive to replace the slats, and they planted these trees—orange trees—that got big, to provide shade, and that was the area where you find Target now.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>By the Evergreen Cemetery?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>It was all ferneries, and it had those orange trees growing in there. The sour oranges.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So the orange trees were pretty much abandoned then, ‘cause of the sour?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah, well, they liked the oak trees, and the competition we had…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Oak trees, yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Was from DeLand ferneries, and they’d grow theirs out in the woods, under the oak trees.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Out in Volusia [County].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So that was your father’s competition, the DeLand growers?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Some of it was there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>We had local competition.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah, and then, so, we started buying oak trees. Dad put some of them on every lot that he was developing, and then we had planted some of them in ferneries, and so we had quite a few that were trees, but we didn’t replace the slats much again, and just let them grow under the trees. We could get them that way.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, we moved to Casselberry after he got out of the Navy, after World War II, and he had a piece of fernery that he’d inherited, from an aunt or something?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Aunt May had left it to my brother and I, a couple acres of fernery, were on these development deals where they could have a house on it and so on, and Dad just leased those, so I said, “Well, can I lease those?” And Dad said, “Yeah, let me lease them.” So I’d be responsible for them, and I’d see about getting the fertilizer, mowing them, taking care of them. Had a crew working, just like big crews too. Yeah. Of course, in most cases they’re cutting fern or something like that, but they also had crews that they’d weed when they weren’t cutting. They’d go back to weeding or something else.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So that looks like a pretty big fernery. Was that about average size, or was this...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>No, that’s just one acre or so. There’d be several of those put together.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And he got, worked up all these florist customers, and we went through the Midwest, visiting and trying to get business.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So was that your primary business after you got out of the Navy?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Probably for a little while. But Dad wanted us to go to the conventions, and we’d have to wear white.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah, he always wore a white Palm Beach suit, or white with white jodhpurs or something, with a spray of fern on his lapel, and so when we were going with him to Chicago, to the convention, we had to have the white suits, too. With the fern.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And you didn’t care for those?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Oh, they were fine, except I got one and he said, “No, that wouldn’t do it.” It had to be like the Palm Beach kind of suit.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Wrong kind of fern?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>So—went back and got some more—another outfit.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So you’ve lived in Casselberry since then? You haven’t lived anywhere else, moved anywhere?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Not since then.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, we lived at the horse track for several years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>At the horse track?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes, see, soon after we moved to Casselberry, Mr. Casselberry acquired the Seminole Driving Park, and that was what, at the time, a winter training track for harness horses, and it was built about 1925, something like that, and then at time there was thoroughbred racing and different things. So here we were. We had no experience in this at all, and they’re a very closed community—the horsemen. But, so then he had to get the property ready, the barns fixed up and tack rooms, and came with it like a grandstand and a clubhouse. Well, his dad wanted him to run the clubhouse like an American plan hotel. So, as well as maintaining the track and everything, we had to go in the hotel business.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And that was...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And he was his early twenties, with—had to learn, like, experience…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>As you’re going along?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah, and he had to go up north to the horse sales to placate the horsemen that might have been upset about something that happened before we got it, and talk them into coming back, and then he would fix up the barns and do this and that. So.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Of course, we didn’t know that when Dad—it’s adjacent to his property, and Dad bought it and he’d acquired some additional property to be able to develop part of. Says, “You can take care of the horses or I can.” So we were in there and trying to take care of it. When they sold it is when the horsemen had agreed with Ben White Raceway, which hadn’t started yet. They said Orlando told them, “We’ll build this half-mile track in Orlando if you’ll come down here, leave Seminole [County].” So they agreed to do that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, we figured, at least we’ve got this guy Frank that’s a track man that would know what to do and knows the horsemen, and then he announces that he’s been hired to go to Ben White [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So they just stole it all away from...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Well, they stayed just a little bit. We had some help getting up until they had to move to over there, on how to handle—we bought a jeep to drag the track with. Had a water wagon.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>A clay track. Dirt track.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And was this all—were all these jobs—you were writing at the time?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>I was not writing—well, I had been writing just local news for the area newspapers.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Like the Sanford newspaper?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>But not full-time. So, his dad advertised it with an organization called “Ask Mr. Foster”, where you could—they send people to you, a travel service, you know, and so we were getting—here we were, and we had people, ninety-year-old women and eighty-year-old men, and then we had young families looking for excitement, and women looking for men. Whatever, you know [<em>laughs</em>]. Had all this variety, plus we had the horsemen to feed, and the grooms you’d have to feed like at five in the morning, before they went out to work the horses, and we’d have—they would be kind of rough, and would come and get drunk or something, and then we’d have these nice people [<em>laughs</em>] Oh, it was interesting.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Sounds interesting. So did you have any other jobs after that, or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, in the summertime, we didn’t have the horses. About May, they would go up to the races, and sometimes you would have car races back then, before they had the Daytona…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>[Daytona] 500?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>They would have stock car races on that track.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>And where was this located, the track located? In the…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>You know where Seminola Boulevard is?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>The same, where the…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Where they’re building apartments there now.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, the big…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>At the end of Seminola Boulevard.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, yeah, the big field area.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah, all of that was our track property.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>When did that go away, the track?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>We had a one-mile track. After Mr. Casselberry sold his white elephant. He—it was various kinds of horse races with pari-mutuel betting, and then it was dog races. I mean, we had like a dog track on each end of Seminola.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So the track went away in the <em>‘</em>70s or so, or, around then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Well, a few years back, they closed down the dog track, and then they sold it to this developer. Well, actually, they sold it to Northland Church, and then Northland decided to expand on their present property on Dog Track [Road], and they sold it to the developer, and they’re still building and building, building.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, wow. Well, learn something new every day.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>So, your opinion on today’s Casselberry?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Is it what?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Do you like it? Do you enjoy what the city is like now?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Oh, yes. Of course, Dad had a lot of fun while it was happening.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah. I know it was a lot different.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>He was working and sweating on a lot of it, some of it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>You think he would be proud of what it has become?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Oh, yes.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>I think so. Right now, it’s in kind of flux in major areas, business areas, because of those fly-overs.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah, I actually live just about a half-mile from one of those—the construction site. So, yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yeah, they built—you know, they bought up property. But it’s just sitting there, and the business had to move, or close, or something. But we like the parks, what they’re doing with the parks. They’re beautiful, and people are using them.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Well, let’s see if we have any…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>You asked what he did. He’s done a little bit of everything, but he worked for Casselberry Utilities many years. His father developed the sewer system that built the sewer plant and everything. That was the first sewer plant in Seminole County that really treated the sewage.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Sanford had one. They just chewed it a little bit and dumped it in a lake.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Dumped it in Lake Monroe.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Did your father own the utility company, or was that city by then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>He owned it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>He owned it, and eventually it was sold to the city, and he continued to work for the city.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>For a short time.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>For a time.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Seven years. Not enough to get a retirement out of it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>And then after he retired, he went to work for the City of Winter Park Utilities, ‘til he was up in mid-seventies.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, impressive.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>That’s a while back.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>Yes, 87 now.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, wow. Congratulations. Working into your mid-seventies, that’s admirable.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Jane<br /></strong>A lot of people can be doing that now [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Yeah, it’s admirable, though. Was there anything else you would like to discuss that we haven’t already? Any anecdotes or anything?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Any more questions you have?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>I think we covered a lot there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Leonard<br /></strong>Yes, more than you want, probably.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Motta<br /></strong>Oh, no, this is great for me. All right. Well, thank you very much.</p>
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<p><a title="">[1]</a> Hibbard Casselberry.</p>
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Altamonte Springs
Ask Mr. Foster
asparagus plumosus
azaleas
bandoliers
Belgian azaleas
Ben White Raceway
Bolles School
bomb chutes
Burnett
car racing
Casselberry
Casselberry Utilities
Chicago, Illinois
City of Winter Park Utilities
Cole, Julius
Cypress Gardens
Daniel Motta
Daytona 500
DeLand
dog racing
Dog Track Road
Douglas DC-3
Evergreen Cemetery
Fern Park Estates
ferneries
fernery
ferns
fertilizer mixing
fertilizers
Ford Club Coupe convertible
fragmentation bombs
gladiolas
Hattaway, Tally
Hibbard Casselberry
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Jacksonville
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