Where is Gotha headed?

The community of Gotha is working to keep its identity as a preservation district while at the same time looking for ways to grow and prosper.

By Amy Quesinberry
| 2:37 p.m. January 4, 2017

Fischer' s Country Store in Gotha, 1236 Hempel Ave. The structure was at one time a private residence. Constructed c. 1910. The sign above the front entrance reads Gotha Est. 1879. Gasoline pumps and retail vending items line the front.

Southwest Orange
Neighborhood

With its recently obtained 501(c)3 and newly designed logo featuring pine trees, the Gotha Rural Settlement Association is looking for ways to merge its past with the future.

Members want to preserve the rich history of the community and retain its identity and individuality. One idea is to create an artists’ colony.

GOTHA'S HISTORY

Gotha was established in 1885 when Henry A. Hempel came to the area with the plan of forming a German town. He had been paid for a patent on improving the printing press and bought 1,000 acres at 25 cents apiece here. Through German-language advertisements and the promise of a hotel, store, homes, a post office and citrus groves, he encouraged northerners to resettle in the area he named Gotha — in honor of his birthplace in East Germany.

The main street through Gotha is named for the settler.

According to county records, Bernhart (or Bernard) Huppel was likely the first person to respond to Hempel's ads. He bought 10 acres from Hempel and produced citrus.

Between 1885 and 1896, ornithologist and horticulturist Henry Nehrling bought 65 acres and established a 25-acre garden, which he named Palm Cottage Gardens. In the early 1900s, this became one of Florida's first USDA horticultural experimental stations, where Dr. Nehrling tested more than 3,000 plants.

Following Nehrling's death in 1929, Julian and Maggie Nally bought the property. Upon their deaths in 1977, the property was purchased and subdivided by developers; the original 1880s wood-frame home was preserved on six acres in the middle of the development.

In 1981, Howard and Barbara Bochiardy worked to restore the home and gardens.

In 1999, the Henry Nehrling Society was organized as a non-profit corporation to save this important piece of Florida’s pioneer history. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 2000.

Nine years later, the society purchased the property to preserve the home and remaining historic gardens and to create an education center and community resource focusing on historic preservation, horticultural education and environmental conservation.

In 2013, the official Florida Heritage Landmark marker was installed.

Another important Gotha family was Henry A. and Emma Wilkening and their three daughters, Esther Wilkening Fischer, Rose Wilkening Droege and GertrudeWilkening Klare, who arrived in the area in 1911.

Zion Lutheran Church was established between 1887 and 1894 on what is now Morton Jones Road. The Rev. Edward Fischer, one of Gotha's earliest and longest-serving Lutheran ministers, pastored this church for years. It burned down, but the church cemetery remains.

A new church was constructed of pine at Hempel Avenue and Gotha Road sometime after the turn of the century. It still stands today.

Severe freezes in 1894 and 1895 destroyed most of the citrus groves that were planted by northerners who had made Gotha their home, and many of the families left.

Hempel filed a plat for Gotha with Orange County; however, the community never incorporated.

In its heyday, the West Orange County settlement had schools, churches, a railroad, social hall and sawmill.

A brochure from about 1925 proclaimed the population was 204.

Gotha Water Works was established either in the late 1920s or early ’30s when a ground-level water tank — constructed to replace a number of shallow wells — was housed in a large building to service several new nearby homes and businesses, as well as the clubhouse.

History archives recall two Army depots in Gotha during World War II. The 47-acre site was used for ordnance storage and training, and the government built close to 100 structures, including warehouses, a shop, pump houses, tent frames, a water reservoir, septic tank system, paving and fencing. The War Department had exclusive use of the site.

In 1992, Orange County amended its charter to allow the designation of rural settlements as preservation districts; the Gotha Rural Settlement was then established. In 1995, it was designated as a historic preservation district.

And to get people interested in the community’s future, they first need to know about its past, said Rita Schoeffler, a longtime Gotha resident who is involved with the Gotha Rural Settlement Association.

She sets up a booth at most of the community events in West Orange County, eager to share the history of Gotha with anyone who stops by.

“I couldn’t believe the number of people who stopped by and said, ‘My grandmother used to live there,’ ‘My pappy lived there,” Schoeffler said.

Many of the buildings and homes in Gotha are close to a century old, if not older. Schoeffler and the Gotha Rural Settlement Association are making it their goal to connect the past with the future through preservation.

This push really started when a 1930 Florida Vernacular lake estate was demolished.

“We missed out on buying (it),” Schoeffler said. “That's what got me involved. … It was right behind Maguire Road in the woods behind the veterinary clinic. There's no street; it's just in the woods.

“It was preserved; the whole thing was made out of wood, no drywall,” she said. “It was a mansion for its time. They had a grand piano inside. And they just took a wrecking ball to it. But that's not going to happen again. We all have our eyes open and will preserve them.”

The yellow dog eats restaurant, located at 1236 Hempel Ave. and owned by Chris “Fish” Morgan, operates out of a former home built around 1910. Besides a private residence and eating establishment, the building served as a country store for decades.

Morgan's eclectic eatery is an example of what an artists' colony could look like, Schoeffler said. Another artist bought a nearby home and created a shabby chic look that caught the eye of a French magazine.

“That's the future of Gotha,” she said. “(To see) the Craftsman houses that stay here fixed up. That's the goal of 2017: to fix them up. People want that little Craftsman house. … I don't want to see them torn down.”

The association has been moving forward with its historic preservation efforts. There have been conversations with Orange County Government, and Schoeffler has had phone conversations with Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, who put her in touch with foresters.

Gotha was a pine tree forest decades ago, and foresters offered to provide pines once the 501(c)3 was set up.

“We have people who want to be involved just for the instatement of our pine trees,” Schoeffler said.

She thinks Windermere's Arbor Day celebration would be the perfect time to start the planting, since Gotha and the town next door are “sister cities.”

About a dozen people have expressed interest in the pine tree project, and a few dozen more are needed. People who have an interest in Gotha can contact Schoeffler at (407) 739-4622 or [email protected].

There have been talks of organizing a founders day to recognize April 20, 1885.

Association members have talked to residents for feedback, and many have said they would like to see Gotha incorporate some of Winter Garden success with events and festivals.

An art fair was held last year in the front parking lot of yellow dog eats and two other buildings, and artists brought their creations to sell.

“There are certain people who want to buy little houses here and move here,” said Schoeffler, who has been a Realtor for 35 years and lives in Lake Nally Woods, a stone's throw from downtown Gotha. “I've had two artists call me and want to buy here. They are interested to live in a horticultural neighborhood, like Thornton Park.”

“Gotha certainly has the potential to accommodate an artist’s colony,” said newly elected County Commissioner Betsy VanderLey. “The residents of Gotha are very engaged and as such would have a strong voice in determining its future.”

Whether or not Gotha becomes an artists' colony, the preservation plan is still in the works.

Schoeffler said Gotha has already received a neighborhood improvement grant to make improvements to the streets. Orange County also has grants available for helping senior citizens fix up their homes' exterior, and her plan is to go street by street, interviewing the homeowners, documenting their stories and submitting grant applications.

“We have a lot of history,” she said. “We want to have that history flare with a bit of art. We don't want a lot of stores, a lot of restaurants.”

“Gotha’s identity is well established; people settle in the area for the unique charm it offers,” VanderLey said. “Any growth would be expected to fit into, preserve and respect the deep history and unique nature of the community.”

Contact Amy Quesinberry at [email protected].