That block and the one immediately to the east are part of the illustrious Heritage site. It was the location of a former post office and before that a temporary skating rink showed up every year for some time.
Now we come to the Civic Center which is seldom used. It is really a mini-convention center with break out rooms in the wing to the east. If its management was taken out of city hands and turned over to Main Street, it might generate a boost to downtown.
On the next piece of land if you strain your eyes you can see the artistic wall of the shuffleboard court building. For those of you that don't know, shuffleboard used to be popular with the snowbirds that came to Florida. One time, Parks and Rec, when asked who had the key to the courts, said, "the shuffleboard court lady."
Continuing east you see more ibis and more ibis. (The plural of ibis is ibis) The pond is called Lake Carola.
Now it gets complicated, there was a tennis court but Sanford is not a tennis court town like Lake Mary so the city bureaucracy got rid of it. It only took them fifty years to accomplish this task.
In the same area is the outfall for the drainage ditch which begins at the pond between Park and Oak just north of 25th Street. The one that flooded Lily Court two years ago. The city is making major improvements to that drainage system and has had First Street and Second Street blocked while working on the project.
Right in the middle of all this is a sewer lift station affectionally know as Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea is not as aromatic as his bigger brother, Stinky Jr. and certainly nowhere near Stinky himself.
Now we have the real Lake Monroe Park with playgrounds and picnic tables etc.
Next is the front side of 1000 East First Street. The Hotel Forrest Lake, then The Mayfair Hotel, then the Club El Ranch Grande, then the Hotel Mayfair and finally the Mayfair Inn. Later, the Sanford Naval Academy and New Tribes Mission. Now, who knows?
Seminole Boulevard stopped at San Carlos, now closed and given by the city to the owners of the building and the motel to the east.
The last block has had no real development except a forlorn single family home in the middle. A developer has tried to put less than desirable apartments on part of it, the neighbors are not happy.
Almost all this land behind the sea wall was pumped in during the 1920s and 30s. Why? To build stuff that would put Sanford on the map. Hasn't happened yet and maybe never will.
