When people think of Sanford they often think of the great restaurants and fun shops, but the city also has a long rich history.
News 6 director Bob Meyers is a fourth-generation Sanfordite.
He said his great-grandmother came to the area as a farmer.
“They were Swedes, they were part of the Swedish settlers that came over to work the groves, general Sanford brought them over to work the groves in the area in the 1870s,” Meyers said.
Years later, his parents met at what is now the Rotary Club of Sanford.
“In my time, it was the Chamber of Commerce building, but it was originally built as the USO. The Navy came here in ‘42 and they were really here throughout the 50s and that’s where my mom and dad met,” Meyers said.
The building sits on E. 1st Street, one block up from the marina, which Meyers pointed out also has seen its fair share of action.
“This is the St. John’s and of course, this was the navigable part of the river from Jacksonville to right here. All of the produce, citrus and everything that needed to be loaded out of here, you know there would be rail lines and dock lines out into the river,” Meyers said.
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If you walk a few blocks up from the river, you’ll reach the center of the historic district and be greeted by a charming old clock. It sits at the edge of Magnolia Square which Meyers said used to be one of the prime shopping areas.
“The only other place was to go way out like to Winter Park,” he said.
He said what people know of Sanford today is completely different than what the town looked like when he was a boy, and his experience was quite different than his grandparents’ experience.
“Think about my grandfather in 1910, a 19-year-old being down here. Well, all of those shops don’t exist anymore. But it’s nice to see that people come down here for the restaurants, for the little shops as it evolves as people try to do new things,” Meyers said.
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