In 1925, the Florida building boom was at its peak. Developments and buildings were springing up all over central Florida, and Winter Park was not to be left out of this boom. In that year, the Lincoln Investment Corporation was organized by Dr. Roland F. Hotard, H. W. Barnum, E. B. Mendsen, Arthur Schultz and W. B. Joiner. They built the 42 unit Lincoln Apartments to "fill a long-felt need for a high-class apartment house with reasonable rents."
The Lincoln Apartments were completed in 1926. The Spanish style building, located at 189 Morse Boulevard, was attractive, modern, fire-proof and over-looked small orange groves on one side and the rear. The one, two and three bedroom units were completely furnished, electrically equipped throughout, steam heated, had hot and cold water and incinerator service in the building. Mr. and Mrs. Philip Dale became the managers.
Clarence Gay bought the apartments in 1939 and in 1946 he sold them to A. Bornstein of Orlando for $105,000. A vacant lot next to the building was included in the sale. 20 feet of that lot went to Bornstein and 20 feet went to the First United Methodist Church of Winter Park. The building continued to serve as a home to Winter Park residents until 2001 when the Methodist Church purchased it. At the end of 2002, when the existing tenant leases expired, the building was razed except for the facade and now houses the church's classrooms, offices and a gathering space that doubles as a gymnasium.
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| A postcard of the Lincoln Apartments postmarked February 25, 1944. If you look closely at the cars in the card, you will see that the photograph used to make this postcard is much older, perhaps the late 20's or early 30's. |
A black and white photograph postcard of the Lincoln Apartments postmarked April 16, 1952. |
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| A photograph of the Lincoln Apartments taken in 1990 | A photograph of the Lincoln Apartments taken in 2002 Photograph by Diana L. Zimmerman Winter Park Public Library |
Click on the thumbnail photographs to view larger images.
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