Winter Park’s very own James Wren “Zach” Taylor was the first homegrown Florida boy to play Major League baseball. Inducted into Florida’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1974, he was also the first developer to transform Winter Park’s original Block 19 into a business district as the owner of a storefront at 316 N. Park Avenue, the home of Writer’s Block Bookstore today.
As an author of Florida history, I enjoy sharing the origins of locations where I am scheduled to hold a history event. So, as I will be at Writer’s Block Bookstore this Saturday, August 10, 2024, from 4PM until 7PM, here’s Part Two of a bit of Winter Park history about 316 N. Park Avenue (Part One was posted earlier).
James Wren “Zach” Taylor
Born 27 July 1898 at Yulee, near Florida’s Amelia Island, James Wren Taylor grew to adulthood in Winter Park, coming to Orange County at age four. His father, William B. Taylor, was attracted to Winter Park because his father, James R. Taylor, had settled here in 1899. William, like so many of the earliest pioneers, got into real estate, starting with the acquisition in 1902 of an entire block on Fairbanks near the railroad tracks. Twenty years later, James Wren Taylor followed in his father’s footsteps by purchasing Lots 25 and 26 in the mostly undeveloped Block 19 of Winter Park.
James Wren “Zach” Taylor (1898-1974)
James Wren Taylor was in his third season as catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1922 when he bought the vacant lots from Winter Park Land Company. Only two buildings in the expanded block existed at the time, both being south of his land. North of Taylor’s lots 25 and 26, where the historic Proctor Building is now situated, remained undeveloped in 1922.
James married Marguerite Almond Moore of Tennessee in 1924, and the following year, Taylor began work on a two-story building at 312-316 North Park Avenue. That same year, the City of Winter Park began promoting itself to the world as the “City of Homes.”
Also in 1924, the Orlando Evening News reported that Winter Park’s Chamber of Commerce announced plans to beautify the Dixie Highway inside its city limits. “Imagine if you will,” the article stated, “fifty thousand petunias in bloom along the two mile stretch and you will have gained a mental picture of Winter Park’s addition to highway beautification this fall.”
Like that of the building Writer’s Block Bookstore occupies today, the James Taylor building at 316 North Park Avenue had a storefront on ground level and apartment rental units upstairs. One second floor apartment became the Taylor residence for the next twenty years. “Ole Zack Taylor,” reported the Orlando Evening News of 21 February 1945, “the St. Louis Mentor, who is one of those characters they call pioneers of Winter Park, owns his own apartment house, knows all the bird hunting spots in 25 miles and can look back on more than 30 years in major and minor league baseball.”
Although born 3 August 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, during the baseball season, Edd Taylor, the only child of James and Marguerite Taylor, was raised in Winter Park at 316 N. Park Avenue. A fourth generation Winter Park resident, Edd became an Orange County educator. His 33 years with the schoolboard included teaching and serving as Principal at Winter Park’s Killarney Elementary.
The first building of a transformation of the north-half of Block 19 into a commercial district, James Taylor’s building at 316 N. Park Avenue was followed by snowbird Eugene R. Phillips, of Providence, Rhode Island, acquiring the entire block 19 north of Taylor’s property. Phillips built the historic Phillips Building, which was sold in 1948 to New York City’s retailer Eve Proctor, who modernized and renamed it the Proctor Building.
For 16 seasons Zach Taylor was a major league catcher, says his Find-a-Grave memorial. Teams he played for included the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, and New York Yankees. But when not touring the countryside, catching for major league teams, James Wren “Zach” Taylor and his family called an upstairs apartment at 316 North Park Avenue home, in a1920s structure he built and continued owning until 1945.
In Honor of America’s 250th Anniversary:
In addition to researching the history of locations of my history events, I have begun dedicating each of my history events during the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution to a Central Florida descendant of a Patriot of the Revolution. My Writer’s Block Bookstore book signing event is dedicated to a very special Winter Park pioneer, Dr. Cory (Babb) Holden, Great-Great Granddaughter of Patriot Peter Babb.
Peter Babb (1764-1842) enlisted in the Continental Army at the age of 17. Wounded during the War, Peter survived to raise a family, including James Babb (1792-1882), a Patriot of the War of 1812.
Dr. Cora Millett Babb graduated 17 March 1882 from Pennsylvania’s Women’s Medical College. In 1884, Dr. Cora Babb married Daniel W. Holden, the first Postmaster of Snowville, Florida, a post office renamed three years later as Altamonte Springs, Florida. Daniel W. Holden, together with two brothers, developed a subdivision in 1884 they called West Winter Park. Cora and her husband Daniel are featured pioneers in my new book, Altamonte: A History of Altamonte Springs.
Stop by Writer’s Block Bookstore and say hello on August 10, 2024, from 4PM to 7PM, at historic 316 North Park Avenue (Lots 25 & 26 in Block 19) in downtown Winter Park. I will have my books on Central Florida’s fascinating history available to peruse and purchase, including my Five Star rated, Orlando: A History of the Phenomenal City.
See you Saturday!
Comments