Goldsboro

Goldsboro. . , The west Sanford community of Goldsboro, at the turn of the 21st century, is home to more than 4,000 people, was the second Florida town incorporated by black citizens. William Clark opened a store in 1886 in the village of Goldsboro and on December 1, 1891, registered voters incorporated the town. Many of the residents were employed by the nearby railroad yard where thousands of carloads of citrus and celery were loaded for markets in the North. Others worked in the fields, groves and the icehouse and produce packing houses., The town boundaries generally triangular in shape were south of west Thirteenth Street, between Olive Avenue on the west and Clark now known as Lake Avenue on the east. The first elected officials: Mayor Walter Williams, Alderman David Wilson, A. T. Shepard, J. A. Williams, E. C. Carolina and Mr. Hubbard, Clerk J. W. Small, Marshal W. W. Clark, Treasurer Joseph White, Tax Assessor, J. W. Small, and Tax Collector W. M. Clark. A year later the first school was opened with Katie Stubbins as teacher. The first Post Master was John Wesley Small. The first church was The Zion Methodist., The town of Goldsboro prevented Sanford from expanding its boundaries to the west. On April 6, 1911 the City of Sanford passed a resolution on its intent to absorb Goldsboro. Despite pleas from the Goldsboro officials in the Sanford Herald, the state legislature voted to revoke the incorporation on April 26, 1911 and Goldsboro became part of Sanford., Community leaders are remembered through the naming of the Sanford Housing Authority complexes. William Clark is recognized as the merchant and home builder most responsible for the early development of Goldsboro.