Jonestown: Orlando's first Black community, slated for "complete removal" (Orlando, c. 1880–1962)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1880 · Places: Florida, Virginia, Africa
SUMMARYJonestown: Orlando's first Black community, slated for "complete removal" (Orlando, c. 1880–1962) [Connections: Tallahassee & Orlando, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDFormerly enslaved people founded Orlando's first African American community around 1880, when Sam Jones and his wife Penny settled on Fern Creek, about a mile east of downtown. It had 21 families in 1891 and 76 residences in 1939, at least 19 owner-occupied. In early 1939 the city withdrew a rebuilding permit after white protests, and the Orlando Morning Sentinel reported a plan for the "complete removal" of Jonestown, to be replaced by low-cost housing for whites; Reeves Terrace, white public housing, was built on its north section. The last resident, Virginia Spellman, died in 1962
PATTERNA city permit decision and a white housing project replaced a 60-year-old Black community
LENS (WW9)"Complete removal" was the newspaper's own phrase: we were replaced
OPENThe federal or local housing agency behind Reeves Terrace is not named on the page
SOURCEThis Was Jonestown (Tana Mosier Porter, Reflections, Summer 2010, Orange County Regional History Center).