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Note: Some exhibits are also featured in "Collection Exhibits"
The Merchants Bank Building
The Racing Zone
Spanish & British Plantation Eras
Native Americans
Pioneer Life
Victorian Households
Volusia County Lifeguards
Resort Hotels of Yesteryear
The Civil War in Florida
The Spanish American War & World War I
World War II in Europe
World War II in the Pacific |
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One of the Halifax Historical Museum's most impressive
exhibits is the museum building itself. The museum is housed in
the historic Merchant's Bank Building of old downtown Daytona.
This recently restored building retains much of the original charm
and beauty of the old bank while providing a wonderful venue for
the museum exhibits. Virtually all of the original murals are
still retained and provide a stunning backdrop for visitors to
enjoy. This building became protected in 1986 when it was added
to the National Historic Register. |
Dr. Thomas Robert Ames was born in Daytona Beach, Florida
in 1930. He graduated from Mainland High School in 1948, moved
to New York, and received his Masters and Doctorate Degrees from
New York University.
He was Professor of Human Services in the Department of Social
Sciences at Manhattan Community College until his retirement in
1998, and specialized in the rehabilitation of the developmentally
disabled in the areas of program development, sexual education
and counseling, and the training of human service personnel. During
his lifetime he received many awards in his field.
He was a member of the Halifax Historical Society, and was a generous
benefactor of the Halifax Historical Museum. He donated many pieces
of family memorabilia, as well as various pieces of art and other
collectibles during his lifetime.
Dr. Ames died on August 17, 1998 in New York.
This page is dedicated to the memory of our long time friend
and benefactor to the Halifax Historical Museum, Dr. Thomas Robert
Ames. |
Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville,
South Carolina, one of 17 children born to former slaves. She
went to school with the help of scholarships to attend Scotia
College in North Carolina and later graduate from Moody Bible
College in Chicago, IL (1895-97).
In 1898 she married Albert Bethune. She had originally intended
to become a missionary in Africa, but decided to come to Florida
as a teacher in 1902. In 1904 she developed and founded the Daytona
Normal and Industrial School for Girls. She started with $1.50
in cash, a few packing cases and a rented cottage. That was the
humble beginning of what would become Bethune-Cookman College
in 1923 when merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville.
Dr. Bethune was president of Bethune-Cookman College until 1942,
building it into a nationally known and accredited school. As
she liked to say, she built it "brick upon brick" into
a multi-million dollar institution.
In addition to her educational life, she was an active businesswoman.
She was president and director of a life insurance company for
African-Americans and purchased and developed the Bethune Beach
for Negroes south of New Smyrna Beach. She received many awards
and honors in her lifetime including honorary degrees from 14
colleges and universities and was friend and advisor to Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt throughout their lifetimes.
Dr. Bethune was a member of the Hoover Committee for Child Welfare,
director of the National Business League, the National Urban League,
and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. She was the first
black woman to head a federal office, and as such she created
the informal "Black Cabinet" of the New Deal. A national
memorial in Washington, D.C. was erected in her honor in July
of 1974.
Dr Bethune died on May 18, 1955 at age 79, and is remembered today
as a great visionary and beloved figure in Daytona Beach history. |
Charles Burgoyne was born in Fairmont Virginia in
1847. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, joining
at age 14. At age 28 he went to New York and began a printing
company. After earning a fortune there he moved to Florida with
his third wife, young Mary Therese MacCauley, who was a proofreader
at his printing company.
Charles Burgoyne purchased a city block in downtown Daytona between
Bay and Volusia and Beach and Palmetto Streets. He built an ornate
three-story mansion that became the showplace of the area.
He was elected Mayor of Daytona between 1897 – 1898, and
in 1899 he was elected Commodore of the Yacht Club. He was referred
to after that time as Commodore. His 65’ yacht, The Sweetheart
was built in 1898, and a huge boathouse was built on the river
across from the mansion to accommodate it.
In 1912 Burgoyne had a $25,000.00 aeolian pipe organ installed
in his home. It is pictured here in this exhibit. He played the
organ for his friends and associates at musicales held in his
music room.
The Commodore shared his love of music with the public by building
a round gazebo at the corner of Orange and Beach Streets and hired
Saracina’s Royal Italian Bank from New York to play here
during the winter seasons.
In 1914, to improve the downtown Beach Street area, he built as
a gift to the City a 10’ wide concrete promenade bordered
by a rock seawall that extended from Orange to Bay Streets. It
was lined with streetlights, each pole containing a cluster of
five large white globes. It was named THE ESPLANADE BURGOYNE,
and a bronze plaque to honor him for this was donated by the City.
In 1915 he built a spacious casino across the street from the
Merchant’s Bank. It was a 17,000 square foot structure and
was to house the band that played in the winter season, and to
be used for other types of recreation. It burned in 1937 and was
lost forever.
The Burgoyne’s had no children of their own and were very
generous to the children of the town, providing milk for school
children and aiding the needy in whatever they could. Mrs. Burgoyne
gave young girls of the town a pearl necklace for their birthday,
and a huge party was provided for the children every year on the
lawn of their home.
Mr. Burgoyne died unexpectedly in 1916 at the age of 69. He is
buried at Pinewood Cemetery on Main Street in Daytona. The marble
angel placed on his grave was vandalized in 1953 and has not been
replaced.
Mrs. Burgoyne continued to live in the home for the next 25 years
at which point she sold the home to a land developer, and spent
the rest of her years in an apartment on Grandview Avenue. She
died in 1944 at the age of 81.
A booklet of the life of Charles Grover Burgoyne is for sale in
the Gift Shop at the Halifax Historical Museum. |
Lawson Diggett was born in Lake Como, Florida July
24, 1901. He moved to Seabreeze, Florida in 1902 with his English
parents.
Diggett began a lifelong interest in automobiles as a child. When
he was 11 years old he began carving models. He became engrossed
with the hobby, and his parents provided him with a workshop attached
to their home. He specialized in building miniature automobiles,
but had a vast collection including airplanes, ships, trucks,
trains, carriages, furniture and more.
Most of his models were build prior to the 1940’s before
modern materials such as plastics, Styrofoam and super glue. All
of his models were fashioned from scratch, made mostly from pine
and tin cans. He also utilized scrap items such as rubber pads
from a conveyer belt for tires on the cars. He hand painted every
model in authentic colors to match the full sized original he
copied.
He was an avid writer and photographer, and corresponded with
race drivers and racing enthusiasts throughout the world. He recorded
racing activities in detail in scrapbooks, and collected every
magazine and book pertaining to automobile racing. He photographed
much of life in Daytona, and that included all aspects of racing.
He also kept a diary every day of his life.
In the 1930’s he built a model of the Temple to Speed which
was proposed for City Island including a cloverleaf park setting.
In 1938 he created his most ambitious and memorable work which
was a 4’ x 14’ replica of the Boardwalk.
When Diggett died he left his entire estate to the Halifax Historical
Society. Many of his models may be seen in our Museum. |
One of the most colorful characters to live in the Halifax area
was the dashing and adventurous Bill McCoy, the famous
rumrunner and "King of Rum Row". The rumrunners of Prohibition
said that "Bill never cut his liquor", and his fair
dealing perpetuated the phrase, "It’s the real McCoy".
Bill was six feet two, shoulders like a cargo hatch, slim waist,
a voice like a fog horn, lean tanned face, and steady eyes in
a weather beaten face from long gazing over glittering waters.
He was born in Syracuse New York, and was a cadet for two years
on the Saratoga.
He moved to Florida in 1900 with his family, and he and his brother
Ben began building boats on the banks of the Halifax River in
Holly Hill. Their boat, the Uncle Sam which they built in 1903
was used as an excursion boat on the Tomoka River, and they also
operated freight and passenger boats between Daytona and St. Augustine
and to West Palm Beach. In 1908 they purchased Charles Burgoyne’s
The Sweetheart, and made weekly runs to West Palm Beach. They
built several more boats including the Republic, The Beach Comber
and the Hibiscus which were built for Fred Vanderbilt in 1915
and John Wannamaker in 1918.
In 1920 business was poor, and Bill was approached by a rumrunner
with a phenomenal salary to captain his boat. He declined the
offer, however he and his brother decided to go into business
for themselves. Bill purchased the Henry Marshall in Massachusetts.
It was a 90-foot fishing schooner built of white oak. The boat
could carry 1,500 cases of liquor in crates, or 3,000 cases in
burlap bags. Bill sold all his first cargo offshore in New York.
This was the largest cargo brought into New York to that time
and Bill founded the notorious "Rum Row".
With the money made from the first sale, he purchased the love
of his life, a beautiful fishing schooner, the Arethusa. Nassau
became his home port for the next four years, and the Arethusa
sailed many times from there loaded with liquor headed for Rum
Row. He claimed he landed more than 170,000 cases of liquor during
his rum-running days.
He was closely watched by the Coast Guard, and the canny Bill
renamed the Arethusa, the Tomoka and placed her under British
registry. He also named her the Marie Celeste and registered her
with the French. Eventually in 1921 the Henry Marshall was taken
into custody by the Revenue Service when its drunken captain went
ashore and left the ship in incompetent hands. Revenue agents
boarded the Tomoka, but Bill claimed he was beyond the 3 mile
limit and tried to make a run for freedom while some of the agents
were on board. When the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca fired on the
Tomoka, Bill surrendered. So went the rum-running days of Bill
McCoy with his 130’ vessel leading the Coast Guard on a
merry chase. He died aboard his boat the Blue Lagoon at Stuart,
Florida at the age of 71 on December 30, 1948. |
James Harrison Rhodes (1836-1890) was the patriarch
of this branch of the Rhodes family tree. He was a teacher, a
lawyer and the editor of a Cleveland, OH newspaper. Sound business
practices, good contacts, and timely investments made him a wealthy
man. He was a professor at The Western Reserve and Eclectic Institute
[Hiram College] from 1854 to 1863 and while there he met fellow
faculty member James A. Garfield (later to become our 20th President)
and student Charles Henry (later a prominent military figure of
the American West). These three men formed a lifelong bond of
friendship. Stories about these times are wonderfully documented
in a book authored by Captain Henry’s son Frederick in 1942
entitled, "Captain Henry of Geauga: A Family Chronicle."
It is an excellent biography of this officer in the Ohio 42nd
Infantry, politician, and adventurer; and documents the close
relationships among the Garfield, Rhodes, and Henry families.
In 1866 James Rhodes married Adelaide Robbins.
Adelaide Maria Robbins Rhodes (1841-1918), known
to her friends as "Addie", came to Daytona Beach to
live with her brother Lyman H. Robbins in 1893 after the death
of her husband. Addie was known to be "a lovely lady"
and was well thought of in the community. Lyman was also well
connected and had accompanied former President Ulysses S. Grant
(18th President) on a round the world tour. Lyman had originally
purchased the home known as "The Abbey" at 426 S. Beach
Street in 1891, but sold it to Addie in 1898 and purchased another
home for himself just three doors to the north. Addie was the
daughter of a prominent Ohio cheese merchant and attended Hiram
where she was to meet her husband James.
Harrison Garfield Rhodes (1871-1929) was, like his
father before him, known to his friends as "Hal." He
attended public school in Cleveland and attended Adelbert College
for his freshman year. He transferred as a sophomore to Harvard
from whence he graduated in 1893. He was a successful playwright
and prolific author and worked as a managing editor for two of
his friends and college classmates [Herbert Stone and George Kimball]
who had established two magazines, The Chap Book, and The House
Beautiful. He traveled widely both in the U.S. and throughout
Europe as both an author and a literary agent for Stone &
Kimball and counted among his friends some of the most prominent
authors of his time. Upon returning to the U.S. he concentrated
on the creation of his own books and plays. Some of his plays
would include cast members such as William Faversham, Douglas
Fairbanks, Sr., Al Jolson, T. A. Wise and many other stars of
the early stage and screen. Collaborators included the likes of
George M. Cohan, Anthony Hope, A. E. Thomas and Maxine Elliott.
After his mother’s death in 1918 Harrison established seasonal
residency in Daytona Beach, Florida with his younger sister Margaret
and continued to write, but by this time wrote mostly travel books.
Having recovered from two minor strokes he made one final trip
to his beloved Venice before he died in Hereford, England on September
21, 1929. He never married.
Margaret Rhodes (1875-1959) arrived with her mother
in Daytona in 1893. She was both well read and educated and frequently
traveled in the American West and Abroad. She was a close friend
of the Clay family mentioned above. When traveling abroad she
and Harrison frequently traveled with family friend and fellow
author Julia Constance Fletcher who also wrote under the pseudonym
of George Fleming. Although not as prolific as her older brother,
Margaret was also an author. She edited and published two of Harrison’s
unfinished works, and contributed several articles to various
magazines and books. Letters and other documents indicate that
Margaret had many suitors on several continents but she never
married.
Historical Note 1: Harrison
Garfield Rhodes was named for his father and his father’s
best friend, President James A. Garfield. His father was ostensibly
named for President William Henry Harrison, who served as aide-de-camp
to General "Mad Anthony" Wayne at the Battle of Fallen
Timbers, which opened most of the Ohio area to settlement. So,
Harrison Garfield Rhodes was a man named for two U.S. Presidents.
Sadly, these two men were the first and third Presidents to die
in office. (Lincoln was the second.) As previously noted, Harrison’s
Uncle (Lyman Robbins) was a friend to President Grant and Grant’s
father was a prominent tanner from Ohio who pushed him to attend
West Point. It is interesting how these two generations of Ohio
aristocracy had such a wide influence.
 |
Historical Note 2: Harrison and
Margaret continued to champion one of Addie’s favorite causes
by supporting the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro
Girls (later to become Bethune-Cookman College) and served on
The Board of Trustees for many years. In 1942 Margaret and friends
built the College its first modern and well-equipped library at
a cost of $75,000. The Harrison Rhodes Memorial Building still
exists today although it was replaced by a more modern library.
Two years before Margaret’s death in 1957 the Rhodes home
and all of its contents were sold to Dr. William P. Doremus, who
would later become a Board Member and President of the Halifax
Historical Society. Upon Margaret’s death in 1959 the balance
of the Rhodes Estate, some $560,000, was bequeathed to Bethune-Cookman
College. |
Harrison Garfield Rhodes (known to his friends as "Hal")
attended public school in Cleveland and graduated from Harvard
in 1893. He was a successful playwright and prolific author and
worked as a managing editor for two of his friends and college
classmates who had established two magazines, The Chap Book, and
The House Beautiful. He later traveled widely both in the U.S.
and throughout Europe as a literary agent and counted among his
friends some of the most prominent authors of his time. After
his mother’s death in 1918 Harrison established seasonal
residency in Daytona with his younger sister Margaret. From 1920
until his death he continued to write and travel. Having recovered
from two minor strokes he made one final trip to his beloved Venice
before he died in Hereford, England on September 21, 1929. He
never married. Pages detailing Harrison’s published
works and his autobiography are attached.
Favorite Quote:
"Harrison Rhodes, after a protracted illness has gone abroad.
He has chosen Venice for his Summer sojourn declaring it is the
only city in which pedestrians are safe from Fords."
Harper's Magazine, July-1923, p.298
(Dates & Venues Still Being Investigated)
There are many other items that have yet to be added!
| Books |
Plays |
Short Stories |
- Adventures of Charles Edward, 1902 Little, Brown &
Co.
- High Life, 1906
Robert McBride & Co.
- The Lady & the Ladder, 1906 Doubleday Page & Co.
- The Flight to Eden,1907
Henry Holt & Co.
- In Vacation America, 1915
Harper and Bros.
- The Willow Tree [w/ G.H. Benrimo], 1917
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
- Guide to Florida [w/ Dumont], 1918
- American Towns & People, 1920 Robert McBride &
Co.
- Gift Book for My Mother, 1922
Harper & Bros. |
- Without Rehearsal
- An Old New Yorker, 1911
Daly's Theatre
- The Duchess of London Modern Marriage, 1911
Bijou Theatre
- Mr. Barnum, 1918
Criterion Theatre
- Mala Vita
- Celia and a New World
- Ruggles of Red Gap, 1915
Fulton Theatre
- If You Were Young
- Her Friend, The King [w/ A.E. Thomas], 1929
Longacre Theatre w/ William Faversham
- A Gentleman From Mississippi
[w/ T. A. Wise], 1908
Bijou Theatre w/ Douglas Fairbanks. Performed for Theodore
Roosevelt
- Captain Dieppe [w/ Anthony Hope]
- The Whirl of Society
[ Musical ], 1912
Winter Garden Theatre w/ Al Jolson
- The Willow Tree
[w/ J.H. Benrimo], 1917
Cohan & Harris Theatre w/ George M. Cohen
- The Match Maker
Harvard University
|
- A First and Last Story
- A Recruit for France
- A Wife for Lord Thomas, 1909
Cosmopolitan
- An Explanation by the Editor, 1907
Collier’s
- For Better for Worse
- Marietta’s Miracle: A Footnote in History, 1908
Cornhill Magazine
- Mi Lord Latorre
- Night Life and Thomas Robinson
- On a Park Bench
- Rip Van Winkle in Florida
- Sauce for the Gander
- That Way
- The American Child
- The Cliff Walk
- The Felt Hat
- The Fountain, 1923
Harper’s Magazine
- The Good Head-Waiter
- The High Cost of Living
- The Long Arm
- The News from Tomocala
- The Shy Friend
- The Strange Reforming of Billy Bradford
- Thomas Robinson and the Servant Problems
- Thomas Robinson and the Underworld
- Thomas Robinson Sees Life
Wanted: Husband for Trained Nurse |
| Autobiography |
I am sure that for the benefit of any readers of The Saturday
Evening Post who have chanced to see "High Life"
in these pages, I ought to confess frankly at the very outset
that I have lived astonishingly little in the society of
royalty, in fact, not at all. I was, like the heroine of
that story, born in Ohio, but that fact does not seem to
have brought me the social advantages it procured her. There
are doubtless good reasons for this – at any rate
it serves to remind a writer that one of the great advantages
of his trade is that it permits him in imagination to roam
socially as widely as he wishes. Being author is, at least
in my case, the result of being by temperament a spectator
of life rather than an actor in it. Most of my adventures
have taken place in my stories or will take place in my
future ones, and the life of so authorish an author, if
I may be permitted such a phrase, offers little material
for the writing of autobiographies. I begin – and
end – apologetically.
Up to the time that I went to Harvard I was educated in
the public schools of Cleveland, and I consider this perhaps
the greatest advantage I have had in my life. I am sorry
for boys who go to private smart schools, is spite of the
obviously pleasant things to be found in such places, for
I believe the profoundest sense of being an American begins
in those tenderest years when a child, quite without any
snobbishness, makes friends with other children of every
conceivable class in the community. I was a shy, reading
sort of boy, not a very good "mixer," but my imagination
is at the oddest moments flying back to those public-school
days and encouraging me to believe that I really know something
about my country.
Did not one of the prettiest girls of those Cleveland days
lately marry a royal prince? So why should not a simple
public-school scholar write about one? Isn’t this,
too, real Americanism?
At Harvard I lived with not many friends, but with a fair
acquaintance among books and a more passionate relationship
with plays, by preference those to be seen in the Boston
theaters. Indeed, with Herbert Stone, who was later to go
down on the Lusitania, I wrote the first play ever accepted
as regular work in any English course in Harvard College.
Now when it sometimes seems as if the chief effort of my
alma mater was to produce playwrights, this is a fact sufficiently
remarkable, I think, to be worth setting down. Somehow,
in my little and obscure set in Cambridge, we produced a
literary atmosphere that caused us to sprout early. When
I finished college and went abroad for a year of wandering,
two of my friends, Stone and Kimball, started a publishing
house while they were still undergraduates. I came back
and joined them in Chicago. I read all the book manuscripts
and those submitted for the two magazines we published –
The Chap Book, an incredibly literary, young and independent
affair, about the size of the palm of your hand, the first
of a flock of what they called "freak magazines"
in those days, and The House Beautiful, which still exists.
I tried my hand at more kinds of writing than I would dare
to attempt now. And finally, by such methods, we killed
off the lively little magazine, and my friends and employers,
fearing, I suppose, the further damage I might do if I were
allowed to stay on, asked me if I would not accept a reduction
of salary and go to London as their "representative"
– pompous term. I accepted gayly and sailed the following
week.
In London I hunted literary celebrities as best I could
and amused myself with life in England and traveling on
the Continent. As a tiny child I had lain flat on a big
atlas and learned to read maps before I knew words. But
gradually I began to tire of trying to buy and sell other
peoples writing and longed to see what I could do with my
own. I got rid of all my jobs, including some pleasant "representing"
of The Saturday Evening Post, and remained without visible
– or invisible – means of support, starting
to be an author on a very narrow margin.
At first I thought I was playwright and essayist. But no
one else thought so, and finally, in annoyance, I said if
fiction was all they wanted I’d write that. My first
story was accepted and I saw immediately that God had, of
course, intended me for fiction. Later I have come back
to plays and essays with slightly better success. I still
try to be Jack of several literary trades.
I am, like most Ohioans, a New Yorker now and think our
American metropolis on the whole the most agreeable place
of residence I have ever seen, though I rather want to try
Peking if the world ever becomes again a planet suitable
for traveling upon.* Meanwhile I am fortunate enough generally
to spend the spring in Florida at my sister’s small
but flowery place at Daytona on the East Coast. Under the
spell of the subtropics I seem to have been photographed,
a process I dislike in other less-favored regions. But a
Floridian snapshot seems so much more to exploit Nature’s
charms than one’s own that it is to my taste the more
bearable.
This is an uneventful life history, but I will do my best
now to add a touch of melodrama. Apart from having been
asked to appear on this page, perhaps the most flattering
thing in my life is the activities of a misguided creature
of whom I get track occasionally in various parts of the
country whose object seems to be to tell people who probably
never heard of them about the works of Harrison Rhodes and
assert that he is their author. Need I say that I am strongly
drawn to him and proud of having such an impersonator and
publicity agent, especially as he is reported to be a handsome
creature with a way with the ladies. But sometimes I feel
that I am somehow lending myself to a deception.
I should like to meet him and tell him to be someone better
worthwhile – Blasco Ibanez, for example, or the late
Shakespeare if he prefers. But I cannot find him. Can none
of the amiable shrewd readers of The Saturday Evening Post
help me out?
I thought I disliked personal publicity but from the length
of this autobiographical fragment it is evident that I long
for it more than almost anything else in the world.
|
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The home on South Beach Street known as "The Abbey"
has an interesting and colorful past. With only three owners,
the 126-year old home has a unique history.
The Thompson family came to this area from Ohio with Matthias
Day, the founding father of Daytona. Laurence Thompson bought
property, which included lots 426 and 432 South Beach Street for
$300.00 in the spring of 1875. The Thompson family lived in the
house on the lot at 432, which had been built by Calvin Day, a
relative of Matthias Day. In 1876 the lumber for the Thompson
Mercantile was being shipped from Jacksonville to Mosquito Inlet,
but the schooner wrecked off the coast and the lumber washed ashore.
It was collected though and brought up the Halifax River to the
settlement originally known as Tomocala. The store was built near
the site of a Native American mound in an area that was once part
of the Williams sugar plantation.
This store played a most important part in the beginning of Daytona,
serving as the site for the signing of the incorporation of the
town. The upper floor served as City Hall, village library, and
church on Sundays. Builder Laurence Thompson served as the first
Town Clerk and was on the Town Council for several terms. He took
an interest in the orange industry and planted an orange grove
on the property where City Hall now stands. He later began a real
estate and insurance business, was Commodore of the Yacht Club,
built Lilian’s Place on the peninsula on the river at Silver
Beach, and owned other property in that and other areas.
Mr. Thompson sold his dry goods store and home, and the property
at 426 was turned into a home by its new owners, the Lyman H.
Robbins family of Ohio in 1891. Mr. Robbins sold the property
to his sister Adelaide Robbins Rhodes in 1893 after the death
of her husband James.
James Harrison Rhodes and Adelaide Robbins were married in 1866.
When James Harrison Rhodes attended Hiram College in Ohio in he
was a roommate of James A. Garfield. James Rhodes subsequently
became a professor at Hiram, and was later an editorial writer
and attorney in Cleveland. He remained life-long friends with
President Garfield, and when James' son was born in 1871, his
name reflected that friendship.
When Adelaide moved into the home on South Beach Street with her
daughter Margaret, many changes and additions were made. A gable
roof and sun porches were added on the south, and an extension
on the north for a foyer, bath and closets and a butler’s
pantry, but the original structure was not changed. The home still
features oak beams, heart of pine floors, and a large sturdy staircase
ascending to the second floor. On the first floor is a large parlor,
dining area, library, kitchen with butler's pantry, a large storage
room, and a bathroom. On the second floor is a large common room
with room-sized closet and a sun porch, a small kitchen, three
bathrooms, and four bedrooms, one with a sun porch in the back.
The property is a large parcel that runs east and west from Beach
Street to Palmetto Avenue.
The property behind the main house is very private, and contains
two small houses which were servants quarters, and a double car
garage which faces Palmetto.
Harrison Garfield Rhodes was the only son of James and Adelaide,
was educated in the public schools of Cleveland and then went
to Harvard. He was a writer and became an author and dramatist.
He described himself in an autobiography as a "shy, reading
sort of boy". He wrote the first play ever accepted as a
regular work in an English course at Harvard. After Harvard he
went to wander in Europe. Then his friends from Harvard, Herbert
Stone and George Kimball started a publishing house in Chicago
and asked him to join them. They published two magazines, the
Chap Book, a literary magazine, and in 1896 began publishing "The
House Beautiful". Harrison continued to write plays and essays
for years, but was more successful with fiction and travel books.
He wrote many books while living in the house in Daytona, including
Flight to Eden, a fantasy novel about life in Daytona, based upon
the life of John Botefuhr. He and Margaret also continued their
mother's interest in the Daytona Normal and Industrial School
for Negro Girls, (later Bethune-Cookman College). They served
on the Board of Trustees for many years. In 1940 the Harrison
G. Rhodes Memorial Library was built on the campus. It was dedicated
in 1942, at a cost of $75,000.00.
The Rhodes family lived fairly lavishly in Daytona, with house
servants, a gardener, and a chauffeur. The beautiful old home
reflected the best quality furnishings and amenities of the time,
including many items collected from their world travels. Harrison
never married and continued to live in New York, winter in Daytona,
and travel abroad, spending his last years in Italy and England.
Harrison died in 1929 in Hereford, England.
Margaret continued to live in the house after Harrison’s
death, and sold it in 1957 to Dr. William P. Doremus. Upon Margaret’s
death in 1959 the Rhodes estate was settled, and Bethune-Cookman
College received $560,000.00.
Dr. Doremus, a surgeon from New York, bought the Thompson/Rhodes
home, sight unseen in 1957. He retired from practice in 1980 and
moved into the house, leaving the Rhodes furnishings intact, including
the library and Harrison Rhodes' books. In 1983 Dr. Doremus had
the home placed on the National Historic Register. He was always
interested in historic preservation and he lived in the house
virtually unchanged until his death.
Dr. William Paul Doremus was born in 1920 in New York. He was
a medical doctor and earned a B.A. from Hamilton College in Clinton,
New York, and his M.D. degree from Cornell University. Dr. Doremus
served during World War II as a flight surgeon with the U.S. Army
Air Corps in Europe and the Middle East. He was recalled by the
Air Force to serve during the Korean War, and he volunteered to
serve again in the Vietnam War as a Lt. Colonel. He also served
on the staff of the prestigious Lenox Hill Medical College, and
was associate professor of surgery at the New York Medical College.
When Dr. Doremus retired from his private practice in New York,
he moved to Daytona Beach where he served as president of the
Halifax Historical Society from 1991-1993, and continued to serve
in various capacities on the Board until his death. He was also
an active member of the Halifax River Yacht Club, and a member
of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Dr. Doremus died in March of 2002.
The home at 426 South Beach Street, and its wonderful antique
furnishings from the Rhodes estate are for sale once again. One
only hopes that the next buyer will be as faithful in maintaining
the wonderful home and property as those who have gone on before!
Footnote: There has always been a question about exactly which
store was used for the signing of the Incorporation of the City
of Daytona. Some say the papers were signed at the Jackson store,
others say the Thompson store was the site. According to research
done for this article at the Halifax Historical Museum, it is
felt that the Thompson store may have been the site of the signing. |
Dr. Rogers was born in Daytona the same year the town was incorporated,
November 26, 1876. She was the daughter of D.D. and Julia Rogers,
Daytona pioneers.
She graduated from high school in Ocala. In 1907 she received
her medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago,
Illinois.
Dr. Rogers practiced Homeopathic Medicine and Philosophy for the
next 50 years, starting her practice in Daytona in 1907. In 1947
she became Chief of Staff at Halifax Hospital.
She was active in community life and she belonged to many local
and national organizations. She became active in politics and
was elected City Commissioner and then in 1922 she was elected
as Mayor of Daytona.
She died April 30, 1975 and in her 98 years she was the first
woman doctor in Daytona, and she was also the first and only woman
to ever be elected Mayor of Daytona. |
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