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STETSON HISTORY DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER
August, 1975
WHY DON'T YOU: Sharon Wynn '74 read proof on my last Newsletter and said:
"Why don't you write your former students when you aren't asking them for money?"
This letter follows that suggestion. I will be saying too much about us, but
that is because I have heard from relatively few of you. I hope to hear more
from you in the future.
THE CHANGING SCENE: DeLand and Stetson do not change much. Indeed, our
students like to say that Stetson is one of the few colleges that is fighting
progress and winning. We are tradition minded at Stetson, and most of our
changes are slow and easy. These are changes that we have noted:
Many of my friends think that DeLand is uninhabitable in the summer months.
They flee to Cape Cod, North Carolina, and other places with the mistaken view
that it is oppressively hot In DeLand. These people simply do not get up early
enough to enjoy the cool mornings. This summer has been especially pleasant with
relatively few hot days. Occasional showers and our luxuriant oaks have kept the
temperature down. My walks to the campus have been serenaded by numerous birds—
the raucus blue jays and crows, the cooing mockingbirds, and the chirping redbirds.
Genevieve "Jennie" Lewis, our retired reference librarian and resident ornithologist
says that despite appearances we have fewer birds in the summer than in the winter.
To my list she adds blackbirds, red bellied woodpeckers, red headed woodpeckers,
tit mice, house sparrows, hummingbirds, and brown thrashers. The red bellied
woodpeckers are supposed to go north for the summer, but, being unable to read
the bird books, they stay. DeLand must be the woodpecker capital of the world.
The woodpeckers are attracted by those famous DeLand oaks whose planting was
encouraged by Henry DeLand.
Speaking of DeLand's oaks, I sadly report that an early summer storm damaged
the largest tree on the Stetson campus. Two major limbs were ripped off the huge
tree between the old men's gymnasium (now only a pile of rubble) and the book
store wing of the Carlton Union Building. Repair was beyond the resources of the
University's crew, and a tree service was brought in. Ralph Harper, our Superintendent of Grounds, says that while the damaged oak appears to be over a hundred
years old, he estimates its age at seventy. He accounted for its huge size by
explaining that in its early years, Stetson's garbage dump was located around its
base.
North Amelia Avenue, which borders the east side of the campus, has been
widened by several feet. Do not be disturbed at the result. The city did a
nice job without disturbing the landscaping or oak trees; the shoulders adjacent
to the widened areas are nicely sodded. Unfortunately, plans to extend sidewalks
southward from the southeastern corner of the campus to Rich Avenue have been
deferred.
You may remember the John B. Stetson House on Camphor Lane. The huge
Victorian structure, built in the 1890's, looks like something out of a
Charles Addams cartoon at which you might be met at the door by someone
carrying a cup of cyanide. The house was half-way into a residential zone,
and a prospective purchaser requested commercial zoning for the entire property.
He plans to convert the house into a restaurant. The Volusia County Zoning
Board rezoned the property, but some residents of the area have announced that they
will appeal the ruling.
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