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BHistory
History · Mount Dora

Mount Dora’s post office opened in 1883, and 5 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #38 of 638 in Florida. What drives it

Most of Mount Dora was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 564 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1920.

1883first post office
5on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mount Dora’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mount Dora began

When was Mount Dora founded?

1883

The Mount Dora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 725 in 19202020 census: 16,341143 years

How historic is Mount Dora?

B

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Mount Dora post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Mount Dora’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Dora is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #38 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Dora’s overall grade.
Founding era1883, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19405.8% of homes (±1.9) · typical FL town 0.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register5 listings, 572 historic buildings, 331 per 10,000 residents · typical FL town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder
Florida towns of 2,500+ (638)Ahead of 94%

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 Mount Dora’s 331 sits above most of its state (99% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 572 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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 (±1.9 points) is firm at this size. 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 Mount Dora’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Mount Dora Historic District takes in 564 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1906 to 1920, drew every building in Mount Dora.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

5 listings protect 572 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
572
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Donnelly House
Donnelly HouseLakeside InnMount Dora A. C. L. Railroad Station, OldWitherspoon Lodge No. 111 Free and Accepted Masons (F&AM)Mount Dora Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Jacobean1
Wood Frame Vernacular1
Frame Vernacular1
Colonial Revival1
Italian Renaissance1
Donnelly HouseQueen Anne
Lakeside InnJacobean
Mount Dora A. C. L. Railroad Station, OldWood Frame Vernacular
Witherspoon Lodge No. 111 Free and Accepted Masons (F&AM)Frame Vernacular
Mount Dora Historic DistrictColonial Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Mount Dora’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mount Dora’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGroup portrait of Civil War veterans: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Mount Dora, building by building, 1906–1920

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Mount Dora fire insurance map, 1906, sheet 11906Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Mount Dora came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Dora.

Read it all →

The town of Mount Dora began in 1874 when the area was settled by David Simpson, his wife, and two children. In 1880, Ross C. Tremain became the town's first postmaster, and later a major real-estate developer for the area. A post office called Mount Dora has been in operation since 1883. Tremain named the unincorporated village Royellou, after his children, Roy, Ella, and Louis. The community was renamed for Dora Ann Drawdy, who was an early settler of the town in the mid-1880s. In 1846, the surveyors named Lake Dora after her, and in 1883, the town was renamed after the lake. The Mount in Mount Dora reflects the fact that the town is on a plateau 184 feet above sea level. In addition to this, Dora is memorialized through Dora Drawdy Way, an alleyway located in the downtown area. The town’s original name is honored in a similar fashion through another alleyway simply named Royellou.

ChaptersHistoric sites

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mount Dora, 1883 to 1996

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Mount Dora post office opens
  3. 1895In the archiveGroup portrait of Civil War veterans
  4. 20th century
  5. 1960In the archiveJ.P. Donnelly house
  6. 1965Born hereJosef Norris is born here
  7. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1996In the archiveSeal of
By decade

Mount Dora, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Group portrait of Civil War veterans1895Group portrait of Civil War veterans
1900s–1950snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1960s–1990s2 items
J.P. Donnelly house1960J.P. Donnelly houseSeal of1996Seal of
Today21 recent
Flag of2017Flag ofLake Apopka North Shore2016Lake Apopka North ShoreMount Dora, United States (Unsplash)2015Mount Dora, United States (Unsplash)Florida Faience Gallery2015Florida Faience GalleryFirst Green Bank Headquarters lobby in2013First Green Bank Headquarters lobby inGreetings from Mount Dora, Florida - Large Letter Postcard2011Greetings from Mount Dora, Florida - Large Letter Pos…DocumentMount Dora FL Milner Academy022010Mount Dora FL Milner Academy02Mount Dora FL Milner Academy012010Mount Dora FL Milner Academy01Mount Dora FL Milner Academy plaque012010Mount Dora FL Milner Academy plaque01Christian Home & Bible School2010Christian Home & Bible SchoolMount Dora FL History Museum022008Mount Dora FL History Museum02Mount Dora City Hall022007Mount Dora City Hall02Mount Dora City Hall012007Mount Dora City Hall01Road photo from October 9, 2004 442004Road photo from October 9, 2004 44MDPDcar2004MDPDcarLobster Car in Orlando, Florida2004Lobster Car in Orlando, FloridaFLMap-doton-MountDora2004FLMap-doton-MountDoraRoad photo from May 31, 2003 472003Road photo from May 31, 2003 47Mount Dora Railroad "Herbie"2003Mount Dora Railroad "Herbie"Road photo from January 1, 2002 302002Road photo from January 1, 2002 30Road photo from January 1, 2002 292002Road photo from January 1, 2002 29
On the map

Mount Dora on the map, 1966 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Dora. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Mount Dora on the 1966 USGS mapMount Dora on the 1980 USGS map1966Eustis 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 Mount Dora.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Group portrait of Civil War veterans
Retake this viewGroup portrait of Civil War veterans, 1895

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mount Dora’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Mount Dora, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018,00019201940196019802000202016,341

Grew from 725 people in 1920 to 16,341 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Dora’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Mount Dora’s post office has been open since 1883.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Southernaire Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Milner Rosenwald Academyschool
1cemetery inside Mount Dora
Pine Forest

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Eustis10 historic placesB+

Questions about Mount Dora’s history

What year was Mount Dora founded?

The Mount Dora post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Mount Dora rank for history?

Mount Dora is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #38 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 Mount Dora?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Donnelly House (listed 1975, the first), and 1 historic district, the Mount Dora Historic District, with 564 contributing buildings. 572 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Mount Dora?

6% of Mount Dora’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1993.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.