23.06.2017 Views

Sebring Chamber Visitor's Guide & Member Directory

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

History<br />

<strong>Sebring</strong> continues to extend<br />

the same warm welcome it<br />

has since it was founded in<br />

1912 by Ohio industrialist George<br />

<strong>Sebring</strong>.<br />

The pioneer visionary designed a circular<br />

plan as a focal point for the entire<br />

lakeside community he planned<br />

as “The City on the Circle.” George<br />

<strong>Sebring</strong>’s idea was that all roads<br />

would radiate from the center of the<br />

community. Despite many modern<br />

improvements, his design remains<br />

essentially the same today as when<br />

the concept was still a sketch.<br />

Archival records indicate the founder’s<br />

“Circle Plan” for the downtown<br />

area was based on the design of<br />

Heliopolis, an ancient Egyptian city.<br />

The unique design of the new town<br />

14 Welcome to <strong>Sebring</strong><br />

quickly caught the attention of<br />

investors, real estate entrepreneurs<br />

and bankers who were drawn to the<br />

layout of the community, seeing it<br />

as a potential financial bonanza.<br />

Adding to the allure was the development<br />

of cattle ranches and<br />

citrus groves complemented by<br />

connections via Seaboard Air Line<br />

Railroad’s famous “Orange Blossom<br />

Special” to other cities across the<br />

nation’s eastern coastline.<br />

By the mid-1920s, the population<br />

of <strong>Sebring</strong> had grown nearly<br />

fourfold, and much of the city’s<br />

early development had reached its<br />

peak. The City on the Circle had<br />

developed into the business mecca<br />

George <strong>Sebring</strong> had envisioned. But<br />

the demand for housing outpaced<br />

the ability of developers’ ability to<br />

<strong>Sebring</strong> Train Depot<br />

Ralph Lyon<br />

construct. That didn’t stop Biltmore<br />

investors from financing the $30<br />

million development of Harder Hall<br />

as a major resort complex complete<br />

with its own golf course and home<br />

sites.<br />

By the late 1920s, an end to the<br />

boom brought fraudulent land<br />

sales, railroad embargoes and<br />

clogged shipyards. The City of<br />

<strong>Sebring</strong> suffered along with the rest<br />

of the nation following the stock<br />

market’s “Crash of ‘29.” But the area<br />

got a tremendous boost from the<br />

establishment of Highlands Hammock<br />

State Park — Florida’s very<br />

first state park — and the construction<br />

of Hendrick’s Field by the U.S.<br />

Army Air Force. Today, the airfield<br />

is home to <strong>Sebring</strong> Regional Airport.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!