A Century-Old Lifeline: Welbourne Preschool Endures Amid Loss of Black Landmarks
As change continues on Winter Park’s west side, a preschool that opened in 1927 continues to provide a heartbeat for the neighborhood
Nov. 24, 2025
By Beth Kassab
On Sundays, you can find the Rev. Ronald Critton preaching at Bethel Baptist Church, one of Winter Park’s oldest historically Black sanctuaries.
But more than 65 years ago, Critton started out just steps across Welbourne Avenue from his pulpit as one of the tiny voices on the playground of the Welbourne Nursery and Preschool, once known as the Winter Park Day Nursery Association for Colored Children.
“I do recall the merry-go-round,” Critton told a group gathered recently at a celebration of Welbourne’s history and a fundraiser for its future. “Back then, being a young Black kid, we weren’t allowed to be in certain environments, and that was the only school for us … I felt that I was loved and cared for.”
The Rev. Ronald Critton speaks at an event for the Welbourne Preschool.
On Winter Park’s west side — where old homes and buildings disappear almost as quickly as parking spots along Park Avenue at Christmastime — the Welbourne has remained a beating heart of the historically Black neighborhood for nearly 100 years.
This year, Hannibal Square, founded in 1881 by free Black families who worked for the city’s wealthy white winter residents, lost the Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center.
The first licensed facility for Black seniors, dating back to 1956, announced in September that it would close — the latest in a wave of redevelopment over the last two decades as land values have soared.
But the Welbourne, which opened in 1927, continues to buck the odds.
Artwork from Welbourne students was displayed at the event.
Executive Director Latonya Pelt said the school’s mission is too important to let go. She is grateful for a group of loyal supporters, including alumni like Critton, who have helped raise about $70,000 toward the school’s $100,000 goal. Local business leaders such as Gary Lambert of Gary Lambert Salon on Park Avenue and Rick Baldwin, founder of Baldwin-Fairchild Funeral Homes and Cemeteries and now operator of Baldwin Brothers Funeral & Cremation Society, were recognized among key supporters at the recent event.
“I tell our teachers all the time — we care beyond the classroom,” Pelt said. “We care if the children are hungry, if they need anything. We are all a village.”
A Welbourne student hands out pens to guests.
The Welbourne provides child care and preschool for free or on a sliding scale based on a family’s income. Full tuition for an infant is $315 per week and decreases to $170 per week for a 4-year-old.
The school currently serves 53 children, from infants to age 4 and is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The fundraising campaign helps provide reduced tuition for qualifying families and increase teacher salaries to reduce turnover. Payroll is the school’s biggest expense but also its greatest asset.
“It’s not a high-paying industry,” Pelt said. “We want to make sure we keep qualified teachers.”
Minnie Woodruff recounts her family’s story and her experience at the school.
Minnie Woodruff remembers one such teacher from when she attended Welbourne before graduating at age 4 in 1943.
Rick Baldwin talks with Mary Daniels, who once worked as a teacher at the school and later served as president of its board, and Mayor Sheila DeCiccio.
At the recent gathering, she recalled Mrs. Richardson, whom she described as “the teacher, the cook, and if you got sick she would blow your nose.”
Woodruff went on to attend Spelman College and graduate school and enjoyed a long career as an educator. She credits the preschool with helping lay a solid foundation for herself and her seven siblings in a segregated world.
That work continues today, though the school now draws families from a broader area than just Winter Park. Many parents choose Welbourne because they work in Winter Park or face long waiting lists for subsidized child care elsewhere.
“The average two-parent working family in the U.S. cannot afford high-quality childcare,” said Sharon Carnahan, who serves on Welbourne’s board of directors and recently retired from Rollins College as a psychology professor and executive director of the Hume House Child Development and Student Research Center.
Critton, the pastor at New Bethel, said he hopes more Welbourne graduates find their way back to supporting the school and the neighborhood, where he recently became a resident once again.
Upcoming Demolitions: At Racquet Club, a Gamble Rogers House and Park Ave Apartments
Two city advisory boards will consider the three projects this week
Oct. 7, 2025
By Beth Kassab
One of Winter Park’s most exclusive hang-outs wants permission to demolish a 5,400-square-foot two-story building at the front of its property and build a larger one-story structure to house a fitness center, locker rooms, tennis shop and offices.
The Planning & Zoning Board will consider the proposal Tuesday evening by the Winter Park Racquet Club, a private club that dates back to the early 1950s on Lake Maitland that offers swimming, dining, pickleball and tennis with initiation fees that run upwards of $22,500, according to one document that advertised a job posting there.
The changes at 2111 Via Tuscany have drawn criticism from neighbors on the residential street who say they are worried about commercial-like development, traffic and noise. As a result, the proposal has gone through revisions since the concept was tabled at the Sept. 2 Planning & Zoning Board meeting.
“The style will add cohesion to the rest of the club buildings, including the original clubhouse which was designed by [local architect James] Gamble Rogers,” read a description submitted by the club. “It will also mimic the aesthetics of neighboring homes, and the intent is for people driving by to assume that it is a residence that has been here all along.”
Residents expressed concerns about the disruptions to be caused by construction, light pollution, parking and other issues, according the minutes of a neighborhood meeting.
“I am extremely concerned that this project continues to seek to convert this house into a commercial multi-use facility,” Marci Greenberg, who lives across the street, wrote to the city, one of a number of emails received about the project. “With the new plans, there will still be a significant increase in traffic, parking in front of the building (as the new circular drive is 20 ft wide which is as wide as Via Tuscany) and an increase in noise. The current house, as such, contributes to the character and ambiance of the neighborhood. The proposed building looks commercial and detracts from our residential neighborhood.”
A sign in the neighborhood near the Racquet Club opposes changes there.
The club manager did not return a call for comment, but documents say the club is on a “membership waitlist” and is not accepting new members, meaning the project is not intended to allow any growth or expansion of services.
In response to concerns, the club has removed from the plans new parking that was to be added in front of the building and replaced it with a circular driveway.
City staff is also requesting other conditions such as the hours of operation remain the same, no new lighting be added and most exterior lights (other than for safety purposes) be turned off by 10 p.m.
Noise issues are also being addressed, according to the staff report.
“[The club] is proposing a six-foot acoustic sound barrier behind the eight-foot podocarpus hedge in front along Via Tuscany to screen the parking and buffer the noise concerns raised by the neighborhood,” it said. “This sound barrier will be the same barrier used to buffer the pickleball courts that is designed to reduce noise levels in outdoor settings and is made of a dense, soundproofing composite, and unlike a solid and rigid concrete wall, it both blocks and absorbs sounds more effectively.”
Another Gamble Rogers House Likely Gone
Not far from the Racquet Club is a secluded peninsula that stretches into Lake Maitland from its eastern shore called the Isle of Sicily — one of the city’s richest streets. James Gamble Rogers II, who also designed the racquet club, constructed the first home on the isle about 1930, an 1,800-square-foot French provincial home known as Four Winds that the famed architect lived in with his family until 1949.
Now the house at 3 Isle of Sicily is likely to be torn down as part of a plan to builder a larger home on the property.
A view of the home at 3 Isle of Sicily today as recorded by the Orange County Property Appraiser.
Over the years, the house was renovated extensively and now sits at more than 7,000-square feet.
Owners Kamran and Mina Khosravani, who acquired the property in 2011, are looking to build a new home that will top 10,400 square feet.
The home is not on the city’s historic register so the owners don’t need permission to demolish it, but will ask the P&Z Board today for approval of the new lakefront construction.
A rendering shows proposed new construction at 3 Isle of Sicily.
Jack Rogers, architect and son of Gamble Rogers, said he’s sorry to see the house come down, but it hasn’t looked like the original in decades.
“Unfortunately, the damage was done 50 or more years ago,” Rogers said. “The original house is completely gone.”
His father, who is also known for the Florida State Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee and the Olin Library on the Rollins College Campus, built about 50 houses in Winter Park, he said. His papers and plans are preserved at the Winter Park Library.
“There’s probably 15 or 20 left and eight or 10 are absolutely precious and we seem to be losing them at the rate of one or two a year,” Rogers said. “We still have several wonderful examples.”
Park Ave Apartments Face Demo for Townhomes and Synagogue
The apartment buildings dating back to 1922 known as El Cortez could be demolished to make way for new townhomes and a new synagogue if the Historic Preservation Board approves a proposal up for consideration on Wednesday.
The board tabled the request at its Sept. 10 meeting in order to see if the developer could save one of the three buildings at 210 E. Morse Blvd. that are part of the Interlachen Avenue Historic District. The property is also the last R-4 zoned land just off Park Avenue that has yet to be redeveloped.
The El Cortez Apartments along Morse Boulevard.
The city discourages demolition of so-called “contributing structures” to historic districts such as El Cortez, but does approve knock-downs when preservation isn’t feasible.
The property owner and applicant for the project, a company called El Cortez LTD and managed by AGPM founder Scott Zimmerman, said the buildings represent a “frame vernacular style,” but have been significantly altered over time with no original exterior materials or features remaining.
The new development would create townhomes on Morse and a synagogue along Knowles Avenue. Staff received 32 letters in support of the project and one against, according to documents related to the meeting.
In the 1920s the building were constructed as upscale apartments amid growing demand for more housing in downtown Winter Park and near Rollins College. Over the years, a number of notable people lived there, according to National Register of Historic Places documents, such as “physician Benjamin Hart; Christopher Honaas, director of the Rollins College Conservatory of Music; Flora Magoun, secretary to the Conservatory; Margaret Windau, district director of the Florida Welfare Board; Helen Drinker, proprietress of a women’s fashion shop on Park Avenue North; and William Stein, a Romance Languages professor at Rollins College of Jewish descent who had recently immigrated from Austria to avoid Nazi persecution.”
Rogers said his dad told him he also stayed at El Cortez while Windsong, the Isle of Sicily property also likely set for demolition, was being constructed.
City staff is recommending approval of the project with the following conditions: A historic marker be placed there to commemorate the historical significance of the property and that the demolition not occur until the owner has a building permit from the city to ensure development plans don’t change between the time of the tear-down and new construction.
New Historic Survey Considered
The Historic Preservation Board will also on Wednesday consider a contract with Orlando-based KMF Architects for $75,000 to survey the city’s historic assets.
The proposal calls for updating the 2001 and 2013 surveys and will include an evaluation of Mid-Century Modern architecture (1950s-1970s), a era that hasn’t previously been surveyed citywide.
The work on Mid-Century Modern work will include a focus on Orwin Manor “to support the city’s consideration of a potential historic district designation.”
Four historic districts already exist in Winter Park — Downtown, College Quarter, Virginia Heights East and Interlachen Avenue — and those will be evaluated to determine if any non-contributing buildings now meet criteria for contributing status.
The survey will update records and remove properties on previous surveys that have since been demolished to produce a detailed report with photos that is both “informative and user-friendly,” according to the architects’ proposal.
New Park Avenue archway underscores historic Winter Park
A group of private donors combined with public dollars made the $400,000 project possible
Aug. 25, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park leaders on Monday celebrated the installation of the first of two archways that will bookend Park Avenue.
The $400,000 pair of signs emphasize the city’s commitment to historic preservation and were one of the last projects spearheaded by former Planning & Zoning Director Jeff Briggs before he retired at the start of the year.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio gives remarks at an event to celebrate the new signs on Monday.
The City Commission provided about half the money for the arches made by Don Bell Signs and eight private donors covered the remainder.
Briggs has said the calls for donations were among the “easiest” he ever made with lots of enthusiasm for the markers that call even more attention to Winter Park’s popular dining and retail corridor, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
The sign on the north end stands at the intersection of Park and Webster avenues next to the public golf course known as the Winter Park Nine and in sight of historic home-turned-venue Casa Feliz.
The city seal now adorns City Hall as part of a refresh of the building over the summer.
A second arch on the south end near Park and Aloma avenues and just across the street from Rollins College is slated to go up at the end of September.
Private donors to the cause are: Rick Baldwin; Jim and Diana Barnes; Mike and Gail Winn; the Allan E. and Linda S. Keen Family; Larry and Joy Williams Private Foundation; Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation; Joe and Sarah Galloway Foundation and the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation.
The signs aren’t the only noticeable public upgrade along Park Avenue. City Hall, at the intersection of Lyman Avenue is sporting a new paint job with the city seal, featuring a peacock, now prominently displayed to passersby.
Winter Park city officials also said they were attempting to help Austin’s Coffee relocate and will try to negotiate a new lease with the Benefit Shop
May 15, 2025
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission approved changes to the historic preservation ordinance that are designed to discourage unapproved demolitions with clear potential consequences and to ensure homeowners don’t deviate from plans approved by the Historic Preservation Board.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to pass “Version 1” of the changes that say owners who knock down or dramatically alter historic structures without permission after going through the certificate of review process can be required to build the structure back exactly as it was, including using authentic exterior materials. In addition, they could lose any variances the historic board granted that allowed the project to move forward.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan was the only dissenting vote because, he said, he wanted “Version 2” of the proposed changes, which included the option of a financial penalty for such unauthorized demolitions capped at 30% of the building’s county assessed value — though Sullivan suggested the cap increase to 60%.
“I think 30% is way too little,” Sullivan said.
The debate over the ordinance, which had been delayed from earlier this year, centered on whether or not to include the monetary penalty, which drew fierce opposition from some in the city’s historic districts who viewed it as far too punitive.
But the version approved by the commission is potentially even more punitive when you consider the cost of losing variances on setbacks or other building rules.
Variances, or exceptions to the usual building code, are viewed as a clear benefit for historic owners to encourage them to preserve the outside architecture of buildings. For example, if the typical required buffer between a home addition and the property lot line is 20 feet, historic owners might be allowed to build to 10 feet.
As a result, losing those variances, as the ordinance says could happen in the case of an unauthorized demolition, is a “huge deal,” said John Skolfield, a builder who was elected earlier on Wednesday to serve as chairman of the Historic Preservation Board.
“If you think about the house in question that started all of this … we approved a beautiful design that brought it to 7,200 square feet,” he told the commission. “You have to build back without the variances, that’s a $500,000 to $800,000 ding.”
Last year, however, all but a small portion of the first floor and the chimney was torn down. The contractor agreed to pay $100,000 to make amends for the mistake and the project was allowed to go forward.
The episode set off a major debate and led to the ordinance changes.
Winter Park has about 400 historic structures including the College Quarter and Virginia Heights districts and individually designated homes and commercial buildings.
The historic board only has a say when it comes to major exterior alterations of buildings, not minor changes or repairs or interior projects. Window and door replacements or roof replacements, for example, are not required to come before the board so long as they stay consistent with the architectural style and must only follow the typical building permit process.
The new ordinance also requires additional checks on construction plans to make sure what the contractor does matches approvals given by the board. And it requires additional due diligence to make sure owners and contractors are aware earlier in the process if there is a part of the structure they won’t be able to save.
The city purchased the property rented by Austin’s and other businesses last year and the coffee shop has known for at least a year that the lease will end so that the city can use the property to add a turn lane on Fairbanks Avenue and make drainage improvements.
City Manager Randy Knight said the city has hired a broker to help Austin’s find a new location, will allow the owners to take anything from the property that they wish to take and will also return the security deposit.
But for Austin’s loyal supporters, that isn’t enough.
Speaker after speaker bashed the city for taking away a place that they said is considered a “sanctuary” by many in the arts community.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said she was frustrated by the misinformation she heard.
“We are not evicting Austin’s … they have had over a year to find a new space,” she said. “… We are paying a Realtor to help them.”
She explained that the intersection at Fairbanks and Denning is busy and accident prone and residents deserve a solution. They also deserve a fix, she said, to the drainage and flooding problems that occur in the area.
“Please take that into consideration when you criticize this commission,” she said.
Benefit Shop lease uncertain
The city is attempting to negotiate a new lease with the Benefit Shop, a thrift store that raises money for local charities by selling used household goods and clothes.
The group operated in City Hall for years but the space is now needed by city staff. The Benefit Shop is interested in moving to a small building at MLK Park where the city just spent $10,000 to fix the air-conditioning system.
But the Benefit Shop wants a lease that extends to 35 years with the city covering all major costs such as maintenance and insurance.
DeCiccio and other commissioners said that term was too long and could prohibit future commissions from additional uses of the building. The commission voted to attempt to negotiate a three-year lease for $1 each year at the Lake Island Park building. The Benefit Shop would be responsible for the insurance beginning in its second year.
A final deal, if reached, will come back to the commission for approval.
An unapproved demo, a $100k penalty and hours of debate
How a demolition in College Quarter led to proposed changes to Winter Park’s Historic Preservation rules, which will be up for a vote Wednesday by the City Commission
May 13, 2025
By Beth Kassab
A year ago, custom builder Charlie Clayton stood before the Historic Preservation Board and apologized, offering to make amends for the unauthorized demolition of a large portion of 965 Lakeview Drive, a 1936 home overlooking Lake Virginia in the College Quarter Historic District.
“I can’t take back what happened,” Clayton told the board on May 8, 2024. “… My interest is not to decimate the resources of the city … I’m not a guy who goes in and tries to destroy the town. I don’t get in trouble like this, but I’m in trouble now.”
Clayton said he even went door to door in College Quarter, one of the largest collections of near-century-old homes in the region, to explain how the second floor of the house was torn down, leaving just the chimney and a small portion of the first floor standing.
The board had only approved the demolition of a garage behind the house and the city ordered work to stop on the project when it learned of the demolition.
Clayton blamed miscommunication with his crew on the site and told the Historic Preservation Board he was prepared to pay $25,000 toward the city’s Historic Preservation Fund and complete the project in a way that would deliver the same end result — a new face on the front of the house that adds additional second-story windows and removes historically inaccurate columns added before the current historic preservation rules were in place.
A photo from the Orange County Property Appraiser shows how the home at 965 Lakeview Drive looked in 2023. The above image shows what the home looked like last year after demolition.
Ultimately, the historic preservation board and staff negotiated the payment to $100,000 and allowed the project to continue. Clayton paid the money the next day.
The board, though, could have issued what some preservationists argue would have been a harsher penalty: Require the homeowner and contractor to reconstruct the home exactly as it was and take back the building variances granted to the project that allowed the homeowner to add square footage to the home.
That choice — a financial penalty or a requirement to build back what was lost and lose valuable variances — will be at the center of the debate expected Wednesday when the City Commission considers proposed changes to the Historic Preservation ordinance touched off by what happened at the Lakeview house.
Commissioners will decide if they want the ordinance to explicitly offer the option of a payment (capped at 30% of the structure’s assessed value) in the event of an unauthorized demolition. Or if they will lean more heavily on the threat of removing variances and requiring reconstruction of an improperly demolished building.
The proposals follow a year of intense debate over the demolition and the historic preservation board’s response.
Ryan Phillips, who owns the home, recorded a conversation with a board member on the sidewalk in front of his house without the board member’s permission and used that to allege he was threatened and treated unfairly.
He spoke at multiple public meetings to allege impropriety over the city’s request that Clayton pay the penalty and lodged state ethics complaints against members of the historic preservation board, a city attorney and former Planning Director Jeff Briggs.
The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed all eight of those complaints on April 30 because of a “lack of legal sufficiency.”
Phillips and Clayton did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.
The variances Phillips was allowed to keep for his new construction after the demolition allowed for the home to grow from its original size.
Such variances are key perks for homeowners in historic districts, which enforce architectural standards for the exterior of homes.
Members of Winter Park’s Historic Preservation Board, along with city staff, say they have a job to do: maintain the historic character and authenticity of some 400 properties in the city’s resident-approved historic districts and individually-designated sites.
Their job is not, as retired Planning Director Jeff Briggs once put it, to be the “Historic Replica Board” — or one expected to sign off on every requested demolition or ignore violations of the city’s code. That would render the group a toothless overseer of new construction.
“Basically, it opens the door for everyone to ask for forgiveness and not permission,” Briggs said of violations that harm or destroy historic structures without the board’s approval.
And while the Lakeview house is a recent example of an unauthorized demolition. It’s not the only one.
At the historic preservation meeting last month member Lee Rambeau said changes to the ordinances are needed and she was in favor of adding explicit language about fines.
“I’ve seen a number of properties come before us and the final outcome did not look like what we approved,” she said.
Proposed changes to the ordinance also include stricter application requirements and add a “pre-application” review by the board so that property owners can receive early design feedback before spending a lot of money on detailed renderings. The changes also would require property owners to give more detailed information about the materials they will use and architectural elements.
The change also attempts to cut down on unexpected requests for demolitions after a project starts by requiring applicants to submit a “due diligence assessment” identifying all proposed demolitions or alterations in advance.
A number of historic property owners, including Clayton, spoke out at a community meeting earlier this year against including fines as part of the proposed changes.
At the Historic Preservation meeting in April the board ultimately voted to recommend the version of the ordinance without the fines.
Aimee Spencer, who recently rotated off the board, said that version is potentially harsher on homeowners.
In the case of the Lakeview house, she said, the board attempted to “exercise empathy and kindness” and not penalize the homeowner for work done by the contractor without his knowledge. The project was allowed to proceed as planned rather than have its variances revoked.
But the case became one of what she saw as a “sore winner,” she said.
Wade Miller, who until last month served as board chairman, also said he saw the rebuild requirement and loss of variances as a harsher penalty.
But members of the public and board members spoke against including the fines in the ordinance.
“If that is what I am hearing from the community and members of the board, then so be it,” he said. “… we will see how that plays out … and I think it ultimately will become a much more severe outcome in the future for homeowners of historic properties.”
Betsy Owens, executive director of Casa Feliz, one of Winter Park’s most prominent preservation stories, said a fine could be viewed by some property owners as a cost of doing business rather than a preservation incentive. A requirement to rebuild a demolished structure is considered a best practice in other cities that also value historic preservation such as Coral Gables or Charleston, she said.
“I think the best way to make things right is to have you rebuild what you knocked down,” she said. “Losing variances is a stronger disincentive than a fine.”
New Manager Seeks to Build on Heritage Center's Programs
Jasmine Harris recently took over as the new leader for the center that preserves and shares Black history and art in Winter Park
April 14, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Unhappy as a data analyst doing financial reports at her corporate job, Jasmine Harris quit and took a leap. She went back to the University of Central Florida to get her master’s degree in public history.
Harris, who comes from an unlikely background merging storytelling and numbers, started last month as the new manager handling day-to-day operations at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center.
“I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” Harris said after finding her calling.
Harris is part of a resurgence at the Heritage Center as its new leaders hope to build deeper ties in the community and move past the former leader’s firing that played out publicly in the headlines.
The Heritage Center, which opened in 2007 in the heart of Winter Park’s historically Black Hannibal Square neighborhood, is run by the nonprofit Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park which hired Emily Bourmas-Fry to take over as school’s executive director in January.
The Heritage Center at 642 West New England Avenue in Winter Park.
“With any transition, there’s always going to be a new structure, a new vision, fresh ideas,” Bourmas-Fry said. “We have been busy.”
Bourmas-Fry and Harris said they are in the process of building an advisory committee of longtime Winter Park residents to help guide the center with its programming and exhibits.
They also hope to restart a quilting program and explore holding meditative classes similar to when people gathered there during the Black Lives Matter protests for a community healing space. Other ideas could be offering help for people researching their ancestry.
Bourmas-Fry said she wants the center to partner more with local arts organizations and work with other communities to help them document their local Black history too. She hopes the Heritage Center, which keeps written stories, photos and oral histories as well as offering walking tours, can be a case study on how to document local Black history.
While the neighborhood surrounding the center has been largely redeveloped over the past three decades, the center aims to “be a model for recording and celebrating the culture, history and heritage of threatened communities everywhere,” according to its website.
“Not every community has something like this,” Bourmas-Fry said. “And I’d like to really reach out to those communities and find out how we can help them.”
What’s also important, Bourmas-Fry added, is building a stronger link between Crealdé and the Heritage Center to remind people the two separate campuses are connected and under the same umbrella.
Like all arts organizations, funding also remains a priority, Bourmas-Fry said. Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed millions of dollars from local arts groups last year — including $60,000 for Crealdé. Bourmas-Fry has joined arts advocates to lobby in Tallahassee for the funding to be reinstated.
The center also recently hired a new marketing coordinator, Xena de La Tour, to better promote the center on social media.
End of an Era
Having Harris on board fills a big hole for the Heritage Center.
Outgoing Crealdé executive director Peter Schreyer let go of previous manager and longtime community advocate Barbara Chandler in December.
Chandler did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and Bourmas-Fry declined to comment on the specifics of what happened.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Chandler’s termination came after “unapproved partnerships, failure to communicate key details, and repeated disregard for Crealdé’s policies,” according to an email Chandler shared with the newspaper.
“I hate to see personnel issues played out publicly,” Winter Park Assistant Manager Michelle del Valle wrote in a Dec. 30 email to a city spokesman that was obtained by the Winter Park Voice recently through a public records request. The city of Winter Park owns the Heritage Center’s building.
Chandler argued she had been wrongfully terminated in an open letter she sent out.
“In my humble opinion, this is a great loss since she was the only person fully-focused on HSHC, and no one else has the depth of connections and network to maintain that momentum,” wrote Ruth Edwards, the Winter Park Library’s education director, in a Dec. 13 email to Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio.
Since then, Chandler has been busy with her company, Barbara Chandler Productions, according to a recent Orlando Weekly story. Chandler is working with the Winter Park Playhouse for a quarterly cabaret series called Sounds of the World. The one-night show played last month with new shows coming in the future while Chandler also works on exhibits and gives walking tours.
Both Harris and Bourmas-Fry praised Chandler for her impact at the center and community-building.
“She left a wonderful legacy behind the Heritage Center,” Harris said.
Bringing Stories Out of the Shadows
On a recent tour to a first-time visitor, Harris paused in front of a photograph of a young Black man smiling in his high school band uniform.
Harris read the caption out loud that told the story of the young man later fighting in the Vietnam War and dying back home alone after suffering from PTSD.
Jasmine Harris stands near an exhibit inside the Heritage Center.
“The stories get lost,” Harris said as she reflected on the Heritage Center’s mission to remember Winter Park’s past. “It’s important to have them written down. If you don’t, then these stories stay in the shadows — marginalized voices.”
In her first few weeks on the job, Harris is learning Winter Park history and finding mentors who have lived it.
“I want to make sure I’m honoring the voices in this community because I understand I am an outsider coming in. I am African-American, but I am not from Winter Park,” said Harris, 29, who is originally from Boynton Beach and lives in Orlando.
It wasn’t until her high school senior year when Harris took African-American history. It clicked. In college, she switched her schedule to make room for history classes “even though my major was math and my advisors didn’t understand it,” Harris said. “OK, you’re taking Calculus 3 and then you’re going to the Psychology of the African-American? I dunno. I just like it all.”
Learning about Black history left Harris with a renewed sense of confidence and hope in a world where the lens into history is often framed by a white point-of-view.
“As a young African-American woman growing up and looking at the mainstream to see that there’s nothing there … I had to go seek that out,” Harris said. “And it just makes you feel more whole in your identity as you navigate this world.”
Harris will finish her master’s in public history at UCF next year after getting her bachelor’s degree in actuarial science with a double minor in statistics and history, also at UCF.
Her background makes her a good fit for the job since Harris is already surveying visitors and analyzing trends which will help with growing the center and grant writing, said Bourmas-Fry who had reached out to UCF’s Africana Studies program for a recommendation when hiring the manager job.
“That was really vital for us, making sure that we got the right person,” Bourmas-Fry said. “Her breadth of knowledge and her love of history and her passion and the fact that she was so invested” is why Harris stood out.
Harris’ background focuses on African-American history from a global scale. Now, she is learning the dates and details in the 100-year-old-plus history of Winter Park to run the Heritage Center.
“I just can’t wait to see how I can be of service,” Harris said.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Gabrielle Russon is a freelance reporter and former reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered K-12 education, colleges and universities and the tourism industry. She lives in Orlando with her family and writes about politics, education, theme parks and the courts.
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