Mack’s Auto Repair Garage

The concrete-block building at Kennedy Boulevard and College Street became one of the town's second-wave businesses as commerce began separating from owners' homes in the late 1930s. In 1946, Mack Robinson bought the property on what was then Lake Avenue and built and operated Mack's Auto Repair and Gas in response to increasing automobile traffic along the town's main street. The property served several roles: it was a popular after-school gathering place where Hungerford students bought sodas and snacks from Mrs. Robinson, it housed the town's first fire truck, and it serviced the school buses owned by Hungerford School. Since 1989, the refurbished building has served as headquarters of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.), a nonprofit historic preservation organization organized in 1987 to preserve Eatonville and its heritage as a historic African American town. Through preservation strategies, educational programs, cultural enhancement, and sponsorship of the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts & Humanities, P.E.C. has helped increase Eatonville's visibility locally and nationally. The building also houses the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, with a small gallery displaying works by artists of African descent.

Eatonville, Florida · United States