Inspiring Elements

 

“The Bell Hotel,” RICHES, accessed June 6, 2026, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/4230.

With the Shifter done enough for now, it's time to begin the Summer Challenge 2026: Orange Avenue! in earnest.  Let's start this journey with a close examination of the photo above; the Bell Hotel in Sanford, Florida.  It includes several elements that are typical of the 1920s that I want to include in my street scene.  It also includes some humorous history, but we'll come to that later.

So what do I want to include that is visible in this photo?  The building itself bears a strong resemblance to my Rosenbaum building, which is actually based on the Carmichael building in Ocala in the image below.  The commonality is the canopy above the sidewalk mounted below the transom windows.  Of course many similar buildings existed in the 1920s which is why I'm including one in the scene.

However, the Bell Hotel also utilizes window awnings, something the Carmichael building does not.  I've got some Woodland Scenics vacuum-formed plastic awnings but I plan to use them on the tobacco shop next to the Rosenbaum building.  I want to leave the second floor windows on the Rosenbaum open for viewing inside as I plan to add an interior there and the canopy will obstruct the view through the first floor display windows.

Sharp-eyed viewers may have already noticed a familiar structure to the right of the Bell Hotel.  Stripped of its veranda, now with the second floor door bricked up, stands the Ensminger building.  Having studied the brickwork of that cornice I can say without a doubt it is the same structure, decades later.  And that brings us to the next important aspect of this photo: the date.

The RICHES site dates it at 1917.  Nope.  No way.  The Central Florida Memory site offers the same date, but more importantly offers a transcription of the information on the sign board in the street.  "YMCA diamond ball tonight 7:30 by the Zoo free E. Side Farmers vs. Piggly Wiggly"  That's more than enough to give a more accurate date to this image, or at least a good date range.

Piggly Wiggly was the first grocer to offer self-service and was established in 1916 but didn't spread far beyond Tennessee until the 1920s.  "Diamond Ball" was the name given in 1922 to an indoor ball game which, in 1926, would be renamed to its more common and current name, Softball.  It was heavily promoted by the YMCA as an alternative to baseball which was, at the time, associated with drinking and gambling, even during prohibition.  Okay, now we're getting closer.

What about that Zoo?  Here's where things get strange.  I'll link to the source here if you want more details, but this is what happened.  In 1923 a travelling carnival went bankrupt while stopped at Sanford.  As the troupe broke up, their Rhesus monkey was given to a custodian at the Elks club.  After mistreating the female guests there, it was given to the fire chief who brought it to live at the firehouse.  A man gave the firefighters a dog, which the monkey befriended and learned to ride bareback.  Oh but wait there's more.

One of the firefighters found a female monkey.  The local ice man began collecting animals and bringing them to the firehouse for their growing collection, including racoons, squirrels, even an alligator.  The city tried to put an end to it but due to public outcry the collection was relocated behind the firehouse to the site of the former city jail and given official status as a zoo.  Though the location has changed a couple times it remains a zoo to this day.

Speaking of animals, there's an elephant in this image that hasn't been mentioned yet; the popcorn wagon.  That's really what caught my eye when scanning through these old images.  It's the prototype for Jordan's HO scale Popcorn Wagon, a Cretor Model C.  Dates for the Model C vary online, wildly, but Jordan pegs it at 1912, so let's just go with that.  I grabbed one for the streetcar station, a likely location for such a vendor.

That brings us to the last clues to date the photo; the vehicles and the stoplight.  I'm no expert, but I suspect those aren't 1917 vintage cars.  The stoplight isn't much more of a help, except that the standard three-light unit was patented in 1923 and spread throughout the county by the 1930s.  This at least puts the kibosh on the 1917 date.  I'm going to guess and say....sometime after 1925.

In the end the exact date isn't really important.  As with so many things from years long gone, our understanding of them is more than simply a fixed point in time.  A popcorn wagon from the teens would still likely be in use in the twenties and beyond.  A popular regional sport might still be known by an outdated name long after it was officially changed in some far away city.  

Even if they're not exactly right, those cars have the right look.  Sure, awnings and canopies are still used today but not to the same extent as back then.  Giving a historic scene the right flavor comes down to a careful selection of the elements that characterized the era.  I haven't mentioned the brick street or the broad sidewalks or the ornate multi-bulb sign on the corner of the hotel, all of which contribute to the feeling I'm after.

Up next, I prepare to install some sidewalks.  Thanks for reading.