Saturday, April 21st the Town of Century and the Alger Sullivan Historical Society will be dedicating a marker commemorating the Alger Sullivan Lumber Company Residential Historic District. All are invited to the dedication ceremony starting at 2:00 pm at the corner of Front Street and Jefferson Avenue and to the reception following in the Leach House Museum (near the corner of Fourth Street and Jefferson Avenue).
Century began, under its current name, April 1901 as a sawmill town. The sawmill bosses laid out the town, built houses and schools, and gave lumber for the building of the Methodist and Baptist churches.
In the late 1980's Margaret Collier and Audra Leach and others did the groundwork to establish a historical society and have the residential district declared a historic district and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
More recently Russell Brown did the legwork to have a historical marker approved by the state of Florida. The historical society paid the costs of obtaining the sign and the Town of Century arranged for installing the sign.
Two weeks after the marker dedication, May 5th, will be Sawmill Day at James Houston Jones Historic Park at the corner of Fourth Street and Jefferson Avenue in Century. Please come join us if you can. We'll have entertainment, vendors and displays. ASHS's museums will be open and ASHS members will be available to answer your questions. (If you don't know how to find us, type James Houston Jones Historic Park in the Google maps search. We're on Google Maps now. If you use another maps program, you may need to type in 610 4th Street, Century, FL.)
In the Leach House Museum we have displays covering a wide range of Century area history. Agnes Grant, Jeanne Nolen and others will be on hand to show you the model of 1950's Century in the front room, artifacts from everyday life in Century's early years, artifacts from Mr. E,A, Hauss (the early leader of the sawmill and the town), displays about Century's drive-in theater, displays of items from Century's early hospital, Century High School memorabilia, and our honor wall of military service.
In the Boxcar Museum Bob Page and others will be on hand to show the dioramas of logging camp life as well as logging camp and railroad memorabilia.
In the Post Office Bennie Malone and David Green will show you more sawmill tools and records as well as early post office items and some of the collections of long time Century Postmaster Eva Vaughn.
In the Blacksmith Shop Joe Ross will be able to answer your questions about the tools on display. If you have unanswered questions about any other tools you have seen in the park museums, ask Joe. He's our resident tool expert.
Margaret Collier, one of the founders of the Alger Sullivan Historical Society, will also be available for questions. You will probably find her in the Leach House, but she is a busy woman; keep looking for her, you'll enjoy the visit.
Neil Collier will probably be selling books on the porch of the Briggs Building. He has done extensive research on Century history and can answer questions on a wide variety of topics. Our president, Jerry Fischer, and our vice-president, Russell Brown, will be all over. They have also done extensive research and can answer your questions.
Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, May 15th in the Leach House Museum. Everyone is welcome at our meetings. If you would like to be a member, dues are only $5 per year.
