Carol Moseley, a descendant of Hungerford Prep’s original landowners, is sharing her family’s history and raising questions about the future of the land once donated for Hungerford Preparatory School.
Moseley spoke outside the Moseley House Museum, her grandmother Matilda’s former home. She said she spent much of her childhood there and remembers her grandmother as a caring woman who helped raise legendary Black author Zora Neale Hurston.
Hurston grew up in Eatonville and later featured the historically Black town in several of her books.
Moseley’s family also has ties to Hungerford Prep, one of the first schools for Black children in Florida. According to a 1904 deed provided by Preserving the History of Maitland and Eatonville Inc., her relatives Samuel and Mattie Moseley donated 80 acres of land for one dollar.
Moseley said the agreement included a provision that the land would return to the Moseley family and four other families if the school was torn down or removed.
Records show the school board fought to remove restrictions from a 1951 deed and won the case in court in 2022.
Dr. Phillips Charities has assumed responsibility for the land while working to close on the property. The organization’s plans include a health facility, affordable housing, a festival space and a cultural museum.
A separate space is also planned for a town hall that could also function as a museum. Moseley said she believes one museum would be enough and wants her uncle, Joseph Clark, one of the founders of Eatonville, to be honored in the site’s name.
On Tuesday, Dr. Phillips Charities provided an update during the Town Council meeting, saying it is working to keep community members better- informed about its plans. The organization said residents should receive an update at their doors within the next two weeks.
Another dinner and conversation meeting hosted by Dr. Phillips Charities is scheduled for Oct. 7 at Macedonia Church.
In the meantime, OCPS provided News 6 with the following statement:
Per the Office of Legal Services, on May 9, 1951, the Circuit Court of Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange County entered a final decree in Coddington v. Ervin, Case No 23174, in which the Court ordered the conveyance of all real property and improvements held by the Hungerford Trust to OCPS. The Court termed it in paragraph 6 of the Final Decree that the property was “convey[ed] outright to the public school system of Orange County, Florida.” There was no right of requirement to give back any land to any family who donated property in the case that OCPS did not use this land for a school for African Americans.
In Fenske v. Coddington, 57 So.2d 452 (Fla. 1952), the Florida Supreme Court approved the outright conveyance of all property to OCPS. The Court described the property as follows:
“For 17 years it has been judicially determined that this property since its creation has been publically and notoriously used and actually occupied and well-known as a Negro industrial school and exists for no other purpose. It has always been considered and dealt with as a public trust and charity and not an enterprise for profit. It has never been self-sustaining but has been supported by gifts, donations, beneficiaries and endowments made by charitable people interested in Negro vocational education in Florida. It is entitled to be considered as a part of an educational system for the vocational education of Negroes as a public undertaking in this state. See Jordan v. Landis, supra. In the voluminous testimony before the Chancellor he found that it was impractical and inexpedient to operate further a private boarding school on the premises and that the carrying out of the basic object and purpose and the dominant thought and idea of the trust would be best served and most nearly accomplished by conveying outright to the public school system of Orange County the real and tangible property mentioned in his order.” Id. at 454.
The Supreme Court approved the decision of the Chancellor in the Circuit Court to outright convey all of the Hungerford property to OCPS: “The Chancellor heard all of the evidence in this case, and he was familiar with the operations of this institution for many years. There was more than sufficient and ample evidence to support his findings and decree, and it should not and will not be disturbed on appeal. Id. at 456.
Media Relations Administrator Michael Ollendorf, Orange County Public Schools