Historic arch’s future includes restoration

WINTER GARDEN The piece of land that once hosted the old West Orange Country Club soon will become a park, but the historic brick-and-concrete archway — the only remnant of a once-thriving place for socialites to gather — still sits untouched.

First the site of the old country club from 1915 to 1924 and then Tucker and Son Ranch from 1941 onward, the 210-acre parcel of land sits on Avalon Road, east of Johns Lake. In 2011, the City of Winter Garden purchased the land and later announced plans to develop it as a legacy park, the first phase of which is set to open in early 2017.

Grace and Charles Mather-Smith moved from Chicago to Florida in the early 1900s and built the old West Orange Country Club in 1911. The club was designed and built by Augustus “Gus” Hart and was once the social hub for West Orange’s well-to-do.

However, despite plans for the land itself, the arched gate — a registered historic landmark — looks out over Avalon Road and provides passersby a glimpse into the past.

“Only the arched gateway, the silent sentinel to times past, stands alone by the side of the old Avalon Road,” wrote Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s previous executive director, Rod Reeves, in a 2002 email to the City of Winter Garden. “This arched gateway stands as a remnant and reminder of the unique part that the first West Orange Country Club played in the historical development of the Winter Garden-West Orange area. 

“Therefore, the Winter Garden Heritage Museum and Foundation, Inc. hereby declare this site historically significant to the Winter Garden-West Orange area,” Reeves added.

Although there are no current plans set in stone for the archway, Winter Garden staff assures the community that it will be preserved and will one day be restored to its former glory.

“When we bought the land, there was a stipulation that we restore the arch,” said Andrea Vaughn, community relations manager for the city. “We had said we would restore it. We’ve been approached by the West Orange Country Club because they were interested in having it on their site. It’s a costly endeavor, and right now, there’s no timeline on restoring it.”

In addition to the eventual restoration, the arch one day could be relocated. However, no decision on any possible relocation has been discussed.

“If it is moved, it’ll be expensive,” Vaughn said. “Preparing it for a move, even just restoring it and giving it a good structure, is expensive. Whether or not it’s relocated — to another spot on the land or another location — is still up in the air.”

Regardless of any possibility of relocation in the arch’s future, eventual restoration is definitely on the city’s radar.

But if the city does one day decide to relocate the arch, current West Orange Country Club General Manager George Holland said the club would welcome the historic landmark.

“It would be the greatest thing I could possibly ever hear, if the city decided to rest it at the club, because it would connect the 1920s to today,” Holland said. “The country club existing with that name is sitting just a few miles down the road, and it’s looking like we’ll be here for years to come. Several of our members and investors have grown up in the area and have passed by it thousands of times. We’d love to put it on display for the rest of the community.”

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].

THE WOMAN BEHIND WEST ORANGE COUNTRY CLUB
Grace Mather-Smith was the young bride of Charles Frederic Mather-Smith, a wealthy paper manufacturer. The two moved in the early 1900s to Oakland from Chicago, where she was a Follies Dancer and stage actress. She brought her flair for the dramatic and became known as a local legend.

Grace’s husband built her a 22-room mansion (later expanded to 28), which they named “Edgegrove,” on a bluff overlooking Lake Apopka. Edgegrove became the social hub of Central Florida, with boating parties, card parties, dances and buffets.

It was said the women of Oakland, already appalled at Grace’s wild behavior, were further shocked when she demonstrated the latest dance craze, the Turkey Trot, to the sewing circle.

Always ready for a social event, Grace invited every child, regardless of age, to the annual birthday party of her oldest child, Grace Mary.

Grace received a new car for her birthday every year. Once, while preparing for a social event, she realized she needed a last-minute item, so she headed to Orlando at breakneck speed in her fancy vehicle. She was stopped and fined $10. Grace flung a $20 bill at the constable, yelling, “Keep the change; I’ll be coming back through here flying like hell in a few minutes!”

The Mather-Smiths built the original West Orange Country Club on Johns Lake because Grace wanted a place in West Orange County to hold social events. 

The couple built and rented out the cottages around the golf course. The club’s success came to an end when the clubhouse and course were flooded by the overflow of Johns Lake after excessive hurricane rains in 1924. That property is now part of the Tucker Ranch.

In downtown Oakland, the Mather-Smiths sponsored a beautification program. Located west of Tubb Street, where the West Orange Trail cuts through, Grace Park was laid out and landscaped with the help of many local families who raised funds at events such as a Big Fish Supper. There were two circular pools with fountains, flowering vines on trellises, benches and a 12-column pergola with a latticed roof in the center.

Four concrete pillars are all that remain of Grace Park.

Charles died in 1941, and Grace died on New Year’s Day 1962. The two were buried side-by-side in a carved pink marble mausoleum on their property. It was vandalized in 1968, and the family had the bodies and pink markers moved to the Oakland Cemetery.
— AMY QUESINBERRY RHODE