Sawmills Build Communities

After the Civil War, pioneers moved into central Florida to farm and raise cattle, with Kissimmee City beginning as a trading post and Shingle serving as the site of an area post office and shingle mill. Early settlers first sawed the wood needed for homes and farm structures by hand, but as small communities formed and the population grew, sawmills were established to supply lumber for residents and businesses. Employing many men to run large steam-driven saws and planers, the mills used cedar, cypress, and pine to produce timber and posts for buildings, shingles for roofs, laths, boards and battens for siding, planks for flooring, and slats for citrus crates. Huge trees were cut into uniform sizes, either left with a rough finish for exterior walls or planed smooth for floors or furniture wood, and the movement of mills into settlement centers helped spur the growth of stores. For nearly a half-century, sawmills across the county harvested pine, cypress, and other hardwoods relentlessly, clearing land for agriculture, community development, and open ranchland. Some towns existed only while logging continued, and places such as Holopaw, once booming, were left with vacant homes, treeless landscapes, and remnants of railroad tracks after the loggers moved on. Some areas later recovered through the work of water management districts and the county’s natural resource administrators. The Fell & Davidson sawmill, originally on two acres in Narcoossee, contained the equipment needed to produce building lumber and was moved in early 1885 to take advantage of dropping water levels in East Lake Tohopekaliga. It used steam-driven machinery including a 15-horsepower saw mill, a planer and matcher, and circular, cutoff, and bench saws, with a nearby water tower feeding boilers whose steam pressure powered the equipment. In 1887, the Orange County Gazetteer listed 40 sawmills, some in Osceola County, which was created that year from parts of southern Orange and northern Brevard counties, while the Narcoossee Directory listed only the Fell & Davidson sawmill. Although that mill did not produce citrus crates, Fell & Davidson were also listed as orange growers in the 1890s, suggesting that some businesses were seasonal and diversified to adjust to changing economies.

Florida · United States