Eatonville, Florida

Eatonville, Florida
Town
Location in Orange County and the state of Florida
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Orange
Area
• Total	2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi)
• Land	2.6 km2 (1 sq mi)
• Water	0.3 km2 (0.1 sq mi)
Elevation	29 m (95 ft)
Population  (2000)
• Total	2,432
• Density	838.6/km2 (2,210.9/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	32751
Area code	407
FIPS code	12-19650Template:GR
GNIS feature ID	0282054Template:GR

Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, six miles north of Orlando. The population was 2,432 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 2,272[1]. It was one of the first all-black towns to be formed after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and, on August 15, 1887, was the first such town to be incorporated. Zora Neale Hurston grew up there.

Every winter, Eatonville stages its annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities and the Zora Neal Hurston Library (note unusual spelling) opened in January 2004.[2], [3], [4]

Eatonville was also the hometown of former professional football player David "Deacon" Jones. Artist Jules Andre Smith did a series of paintings depicting life in Eatonville during the 1930s and 1940s. Twelve of these works are at the Maitland Art Center in Eatonville.[5]

While sources seem to disagree on the exact date and even the year of the town's incorporation, the town's own official site [6] provides a detailed account of the process and the dates. According to that official source, the town is named after Josiah C. Eaton, one of a small group of white landowners who were willing to sell sufficient land to African Americans to create a large enough tract of land to incorporate a black town. In addition to this, Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God presents a brief overview of the founding of the town through the eyes of Janie Starks, the main character of the novel, and some suggest a foil for Hurston herself. The novel also mentions several places in the state of Florida that many outsiders would have no concept of without the novel.

Geography

Eatonville is located at 28°37′7″N 81°23′0″W (28.618727, -81.383440)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.8 km² (1.1 mi²). 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (9.17%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 2,432 people, 761 households, and 548 families residing in the town. The population density was 958.2/km² (2,469.5/mi²). There were 858 housing units at an average density of 338.0/km² (871.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 89.31% African American, 7.5% White, 0.49% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 1.56% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.54% of the population.

There were 761 households out of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.0% were married couples living together, 37.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.9% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.42.

In the town the population was spread out with 33.6% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $29,457, and the median income for a family was $31,042. Males had a median income of $21,719 versus $21,328 for females. The per capita income for the town was $11,257. About 21.9% of families and 25.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.3% of those under age 18 and 24.5% of those age 65 or over.

External links

• Town of Eatonville official site

• "Their Eyes were Watching God"