In 1948 the city of Winter Park made this area surrounding the depot a park with a sand beach. It had benches, a board walks, a beach and a few docks where others could fish off of. In 1967 the depot was taken down and the last trains to and from Oviedo stopped running that same years.

During the earlier part of the 1900s Rollins college students had used the train quite often to travel to Orlando except on Sundays where they were prohibited from traveling. On that day they could not drive, go boating, or get on board the trains. If you are curious about Rollins College it surrounds this little park and also has alot of history to it being that its a theological type of college.  The land was eventually donated to the Rotary Club of Winter Park in 1956 where a monument was laid showing where the train station once stood. We investigated the park and Rollins College as a joint investigation. You probably will see more photos of the park then the college since its just a large area that sits on the lake but in general one can theorize that most of the campus and its buildings have ghost stories. 

Now to get into a little more history into Rollins College Fredrick W. Lyman is known to be the original founder of the college. Dr. E.P. Hooker which was the former president of Middlebury College joined the founder urging the building of Rollins College. Before Rollins College was built the Florida Congregational Association considered Mount Dora, Jacksonville, Daytona and Orange City sites for this college.  So they took subscriptions for various areas and Winter Park was a winner with $114,000 in funding and thus the college was incorporated in 1885 by Rev. EP Hooker, Rev JA Tomlinson, Hon. Frederic W. Lyman and Rev SD  Smith. 

The college name derived from its largest single contributor. Alonzo W. Rollins which donated $50,000 which back then was more like $200,000 in today's world. The brother George Rollins  worked on building two dormitories which costs $25,000 and Dr EP Hooker became its first president. This would be the start of many structures over the years.

In 1885 their was over 40 students attending and the tuition was roughly 32 dollars for a 33 week course. The opening exercises took place in the audience room of the Congregational Church which Rev SF Gale the secretary and treasurer would give a speech to the students. White's Hall was used as the adminstration, a chapel, library and class recitations. The Male students lived in the Deacon Larrabee's House while the female students lived in the Ward Cottage.  The first female to graduate from Rollins was Alice E. Guild in 1890 and was believed to be the first female with a college degree in the state of Florida. 

The schools theme was that of a New England idea of education. A marker was placed in 1940 in the narthex of the Knowles Memorial Chapel to recognize the contributions of the Congregational Educational Society and individuals who were part of the Pilgrim Faith. This was the first educational institution at college rank established in the State Of Florida. 

Also on site is the Batchelor Cottage where Pioneer Citrus Grower in 1885 at one time had a large home built here when the college opened its doors. The home had a 5 sided tower with an open belvedere topped by a conical cap.  At one time Rollins College used the home in 1957 as a women's dormitory and now the site is called the Sutton Place South Apartments which is next to the park but many students still use it as a dorm. Over time many other buildings were built on site like boat docks, the park which has a gazebo, museum and much more. 

One of the most well known sites of Rollins College is the Annie Russell Theatre. Annie Russell was an English Born actress who acted from 1877 to about 1917. Mrs. Edward Bok who financed the Bok Tower in Lake Wales.....a future investigation of ours admired Annie Russell and gave $100,000 to built a theatre in her name in 1931. Russell had moved to Winter Park and taken interest in the Rollins College Drama students. Hell I wish someone would just give me $100,000 to our organization with that money we could own the mystery machine lol. 

Russell worked at an artistic director for the theatre and served as a consultant in the dramatic arts until she died in 1936. The building was designed by Ralph Adams Cram in a Spanish Mediterranean Style structure much like the rest of the college. The front of the building has a plaque honoring Mary Louise Bok and other plaques have remembrances for Edyth Bush, Rose Skillman, and Dorothea Thomas Lynch which was the first director of Rollins College Dramatic Arts Dept from 1925 to 1934. 

I did alot of studying for awhile on the Haunting's here and its pretty low town but I am sure some of the students eventually will submit to us there version of the story. But one of the most famous Haunting's that goes on here is that of Annie Russell. Many students have seen her or had encounters with her ghost while working in the theatre or doing audition pieces, sets or lights. 

There have been stories of seeing Annie's statue move across the theatre and also her favorite seat as she watched rehearsal today being seen banging up and down, pulled down when nobody is sitting in it and clapping from that area of the theater. Some have seen her walking around at night wearing a purple dress and seeing her ghost up in the balcony. She has been even seen sitting in a prop rocking chair. 

There is also a story about a guy who was working alone in the theatre fixing a light grid. He fell of the ladder accidentally and was alone laying there for a few minutes. Later on someone came in and saw him laying there. The person immediately went to call for help and an ambulance. When they called for one they were told someone already called and one was on its way. A minute later one appeared and took the injured boy to the hospital. What was strange is that nobody was in the theatre when the boy was injured. Did Annie call for help?

Here ghost seems to reside in her most favorite place which is the theatre because she put her heart and soul into the students and career. So perhaps she is not such a residual entity after but rather one that enjoys being around the drama students.

As far as the rest of the college we only walked around a few buildings if we do a second investigation we will explore more into the theatre area and older areas on campus. But between the park and campus there was a real dismal feeling to the area with alot of history. Oh and one last thing yes the owl is real I was able to walk up to him close enough to pet so this will always be a real memorable investigation for myself and our team.

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Rick-AngelOfThyNight