Lake Mary developed through a series of early civic, commercial, religious, and transportation sites from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. Its first store stood on Second Street between Lake Mary Avenue and Grand Bend Avenue around 1890, and A. E. Sjoblom later operated general merchandise stores and other enterprises at several locations. The first church, built by A. E. Sjoblom in 1892 on the south side of Crystal Lake Avenue between First and Second Streets, became the home of a Presbyterian congregation organized in 1894 by the Rev. John F. Sundell, who also served Upsala Presbyterian Church. The Florida Railroad depot, later part of the Atlantic Coastline, stood at the Palmetto Street crossing after being erected in 1901, while the railroad tracks themselves had been laid in 1880. The first five Lake Mary post offices operated in homes, freight buildings, and A. E. Sjoblom stores between 1887 and 1932 under postmasters including William N. Webster, Bertie C. Martin, A. E. Sjoblom, Jonathan D. Evans, and Helen Douglas. Other important sites included A. E. Sjoblom's public water works and tank, brick garage, skating rink, memorial parks, and a rusticated cement block house; the Lake Mary Cemetery on land donated by Judge David J. Pulling in 1894; community and business buildings erected by Frank Evans in 1926; a service station, general store, and home built by Homer and Lena Gleason in 1925; a Presbyterian church begun in 1927 under the Rev. James M. Thompson and dedicated in 1930; an early school built in 1885 on land donated by Miles Tanner; a grammar school erected in 1925 on land donated by Frank Evans and A. E. Sjoblom; a dance casino-bath house on Crystal Lake; the Planter Company starch factory and hotel; the oldest known existing house in Lake Mary, erected in 1899; John Bent's 159-acre grove bought in 1875 for $198, which gave the railroad stop its original name of Bent Station; and Evansdale Park, built by Frank Evans as an early center for outdoor community activities.