Kennedy Boulevard and Sewell’s Place

Kennedy Boulevard and Sewell’s Place. . Kennedy Boulevard, originally known as Old Apopka Road, has always been the Town of Eatonville's "main street." It has functioned since at least 1846 as the primary traffic artery connecting Maitland and Winter Park in the northwest section of Orange County to Apopka, located in the southeast part of the county. The road began as a carriage/wagon trail no more than 10 feet wide. By the 1890's the dirt road was wide enough for two vehicles to pass. In 1928, the road was graveled, and two lanes wide with sand shoulders. Road improvements over the years have resulted in the asphalt-paved, two-laned thoroughfare with concrete curbs. Scattered along the thoroughfare is a mixture of business establishments., One of the earliest homesites in Eatonville, Sewell's Place, was situated at what is now the intersection of East Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard. The Sewell Place was the first piece of property within the eastern boundary of the Eatonville Town limits. The vacant lot on which the house and groves once sat remains the eastern boundary of the Town, dividing Maitland and Eatonville., "Maitland is Maitland until it gets to Hurst's corner, and then it is Eatonville. Right in front of Willie Swell's yellow-painted house the hard road quits being the hard road for a generous mile and becomes the heart of Eatonville. Or from a stranger's point of view, you could say that the road just burst through on it's way from Highway 17 to 441 scattering Eatonville right and left." , , Zora Neale Hurston, Eatonville When You Look At It, (captions) , Drivers on Highway 17-92 were invited to visit the "Hungerford School, 1 mile." This c. 1936 view was taken at the junction of Lawrence Avenue (once called Eatonville Road, now called Lake Avenue) and Maitland Avenue (now called Orlando Avenue and US 17-92), looking north toward Lake Lily. The car is a 1936 Ford., This is a view of "Downtown" Eatonville, c.1955. The staircase provides access to living quarters above the businesses., Band greats Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, bluesman B.B. King, and rhythm and blues king James Brown performed at Club Eaton during its heyday in the 1950's and 1960's.