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Heritage group envisions use for old building
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET, Times Staff Writer
FLORAL CITY -- The county won't be needing the old fire station on Orange Avenue much longer, once the work is finished on the new 5,000-square-foot station at U.S. 41 and Spanish Trail. But the community has a new idea for the red block building that has been a downtown fixture for years. The Floral City Heritage Council says it hopes to convert the old station into a community center with space for historical exhibits, Scout troops and other clubs. Council chairwoman Marcia Beasley outlined the proposal in a two-page letter to county officials and asked the county to consider leasing the building to her group. Assistant County Administrator Ken Saunders said the matter likely would go to the County Commission early next year. "We've never had a home, so even though it's not an historic building, we feel it is in the center of the activities," Beasley said. "And as we develop more of our town's center around the historic community building, we feel it's very appropriate to have a museum and a library and activities in the downtown area." The idea has a familiar ring: A sister organization, the Hernando Heritage Council, has been transforming the former Hernando Elementary School into a community center. The old fire station offers Floral City a similar opportunity, Beasley said. Under the proposal, certain groups would have permanent space, while other areas would remain open for clubs to use. The proposal includes a small souvenir shop where the Floral City Heritage Council could sell T-shirts, old maps and postcards. Friends of the Floral City Library would have space to store and sell used books, and the Floral City Garden Club would have an information center. The building also could showcase Floral City's historic artifacts, such as the surveying instrument that set the county's southern border in 1887, and an amethyst-colored stained glass window from the Baptist church that was built in the 1890s when the railroad came through town. A separate activity room could be used by 4-H clubs, Scout troops and other groups. The Floral City Heritage Council isn't the only group with sights on the old fire station. Saunders said Citrus United Basket expressed interest in the building after losing its space in Inverness, where the county is building new offices for the property appraiser and tax collector on the Stovall property. "I think once people know it's available, they want to do something about it," Saunders said. -- Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached at 860-7303 or bhall@sptimes.com .
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