Steamboat 'Clara' Sailing Past a Dock on Lake Monroe

Steamboat 'Clara' Sailing Past a Dock on Lake Monroe

Steamboat Clara

Waterfront Districts

Lakes & ponds

Lake Monroe (Seminole County and Volusia County, Fla.)

Steamboat lines

Steamboats--Florida--St. Johns River--History

Water transportation

Steamships

Photograph of the Clara steamboat on Lake Monroe in the early twentieth century. By the mid-1880s, Sanford, Florida had become a major distribution center due to the city's strategic location along Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River. Even before Florida obtained statehood, steamboats frequented the St. Johns River carrying U.S. Army soldiers to Fort Mellon, located on the shores of Lake Monroe, to defend the area against Native Americans during the Seminole Wars. Steamboats were used at the fort and during the Battle of Camp Monroe to relocate Seminoles, explore the St. Johns River, and to distribute military forces. During the second half of the 1830s, steamboats were used to tow barges from the river to Lake Monroe in order to stimulate trade. The first commercial steamboat was developed as the Brock Line in the early 1850s. As trade grew, various wharves and docks were built in locations such as Mellonville Avenue, Palmetto Avenue, Oak Street, and Sanford Avenue. The Debary-Baya Merchant Line began transporting passengers in 1883, which further developed the steamboat industry. The line was purchased by the Clyde Line in 1886 and remained open until 1933. The growth of railroads was the primary cause of the decline of the steamboat industry.

Built: Jacksonville, 1906.

Original 6 x 10 inch black and white photoprint: Reference Collection, call number RC02404, Florida Photographic Collection, State Library and Archives of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida.

<a title="State Archives of Florida" href="http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/index_Researchers.cfm" target="_blank">State Library and Archives of Florida</a>

ca. 1900-1939

Digital reproduction of original 6 x 10 inch black and white photoprint on Florida Memory Project: Reference Collection, call number RC02404, Florida Photographic Collection, State Library and Archives of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida. http://floridamemory.com/items/show/26193

Reference Collection, Florida Photographic Collection, State Library and Archives of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida.

Sanford Riverfront Collection, Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

image/jpeg

43 KB

6 x 10 inch black and white photoprint

eng

Still Image

Sanford, Florida

28.814197, -81.266041

1900-01-01/1939-12-31

Deposit

SS.K.A.1.2; SS.1.A.1.1; SS.2.A.1.1; SS.3.A.1.1; SS.3.A.1.2; SS.4.A.1.1; SS.4.A.6.1; SS.4.E.1.2; SS.5.A.1.1; SS.6.W.1.3; SS.8.A.1.2; SS.8.A.1.5; SS.8.A.4.5; SS.912.A.1.2; SS.912.A.1.4 SS.912.W.1.3

History Teacher

Copyright to this resource is held by the State Library and Archives of Florida, and is provided here by RICHES of Central Floridafor educational purposes only.

Cepero, Laura

Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). Sanford. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.

De Berard, Ella Teague. Steamboats in the Hyacinths. Daytona Beach, Fla: College Pub. Co, 1956.

"Steamboats." Museum of Seminole County History, Seminole County, Florida Government. http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/core/fileparse.php/3338/urlt/steamboats.pdf.

Bass, Bob. When Steamboats Reigned in Florida. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2008.

"Sanford: a Brief History." City of Sanford Florida. http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=48.

"Steamboats"

"Sanford: a Brief History"

1 black and white photoprint

6 x 10 inch