Fruitland Park’s post office opened in 1889, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #108 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Fruitland Park was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2011. Its Register listings are the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Hill Crest. Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1930.
Founding year: the first Fruitland Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fruitland Park’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fruitland Park is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #108 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fruitland Park’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fruitland Park’s 3.4 sits above most of its state (79% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Fruitland Park’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fruitland Park antedates the American Civil War, although the name of the town only came later, as it was originally called Gardenia. The earliest settler was M. Calvin Lee, of the Evander Lee family of Leesburg, who planted a citrus grove. After the war, a son-in-law of the Lee family, P.S. Bouknight, homesteaded 40 acres (160,000 m2) near Mirror Lake.
In 1875, the State of Florida sent Captain Kendricks to the northern part of the United States to talk about the advantages of living in Florida. Due to Major Orlando P. Rooks' poor health, and already considering a move, he had his wife, Josephine, moved to Fruitland Park. They built their first home on Crystal Lake in 1877. It was here that the first white child, Frederic, was born in 1882.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fruitland Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1966Leesburg West sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fruitland Park.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Fruitland Park
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Fruitland Park post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fruitland Park rank for history?
Fruitland Park is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #108 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Fruitland Park?
Two places: the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (listed 1974) and the Hill Crest (2015).
How old are the homes in Fruitland Park?
3% of Fruitland Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2011.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (18), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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