Slavia

In 1911 some members of Holy Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church in Cleveland, Ohio, organized the Slavia Colony Company to help establish a settlement in the area now traversed by Red Bug Lake Road, Mikler Road, and State Road 426. Early in 1912 these recent immigrants from Slovakia moved there expecting to make homes for their children where there would be "less temptation of the world and the wickedness of the large city." Among the first settlers were the Dinda, Duda, Jakubcin, Lukas, and Mikler families. Their first church building stood in what is now the cemetery off Chapman Road. After finding the land unsuited for citrus cultivation, they turned to celery farming. St. Luke's Lutheran Church and School and the Lutheran Haven Retirement Center reflect their success in establishing a religious haven in Florida, and many descendants of the original settlers still live in the area.

Florida · United States