Oakwood Villa Community

Written by Cleve Powell
Originally published in the History Corner of the April 2008 OAI Newsletter

For our April, 2008 history corner I decided to follow up our article on Gilmore with one on the area originally known as Oakwood Villa that is now known as Woodland Acres. This is the largest single subdivision in our Old Arlington area, located now between the Atlantic Boulevard corridor and Mill (Strawberry) Creek and Silversmith Creek and Mill Creek Road.

Growing up on Lone Star Road, Oakwood Villa was about the same walking distance from my house as the Arlington crossroads. The children that lived in that area went to Arlington Grammar so I had friends scattered throughout the area. Also we caught the city bus to town or the beaches at the intersection of Arlington Road and Atlantic Boulevard. I remember well my parents taking me to see the Ringling Brothers Circus ca. 1948, leaving in the early morning and walking down Arlington Road in the dark on the way home.

The area was originally a combination of two Spanish land grants. Francis Richard, who owned Strawberry Plantation, applied for grants to impound Strawberry Creek and its tributary Red Bay Branch to provide water power for a proposed saw/grist mill. He also applied for lands for timber and farmland both north and south of the creek to support the mill, part of which became Oakwood Villa in later years. The dam that years later became part of Arlington Road was completed in 1821. With 12′ of depth at the dam, the south bank of the creek that fronts Oakwood Villa would have been the shore of a lake at least 12′ deep in places. The headwaters backed up to approximately where Century Boulevard now crosses to the Arlington Expressway. Early maps show a wagon road running in the same location from the Phillips Highway area across the creek to Lone Star Road, probably a haul road to get logs and crops to the mill. The mill’s wood lot was located on the south bank with a flowing well – maybe the first one in the area. The creek was widened from the dam to Arlington River for transportation of logs and goods.

The other grant was to his son, John B. Richard, for a plantation of 250 acres, which ran from Strawberry Creek between Silversmith Creek and a line that approximates what is now Arlington Road well south of Atlantic Boulevard. The point of land that fronts on Strawberry Creek and Arlington River was referred to in early transactions as the “Oakwood tract” and may well have been the name of John Richards’ plantation. Surveys in 1845 indicate old fields scattered throughout the area. John Richard was granted the land ca. 1800. He had a daughter named Elizabeth who was believed born on the Oakwood tract in 1805. John died in 1810 and his widow was granted title ca. 1823 by proving she lived on the land. Elizabeth later married Robert Bigelow and is buried in the Bigelow Cemetery on Floral Bluff Road. As you can see the area was full of history and parts of the mill were still visible into the 50s.

After the deaths of both Francis Richard Sr. and his son John and his other son Francis II, heir to his lands, a large part of the grant sold ca. 1840 to John Sammis. Sammis had operated the mill for Richard and retained title until after the Civil War. The mill was operational until ca. 1870. Eventually in 1909 part of these grants, which would become Oakwood Villa, belonged to a man named Holt. The opening of Pablo Road – or Atlantic Boulevard – in 1908, with dedication in 1910, created a market for businesses and building lots. The first plat of “Oakwood Villas” was filed in Plat Book 3, page 100 in 1910.

The original subdivision extended from Mill Creek to well south of Atlantic Boulevard following Silversmith Creek and a point of land extending into what is now part of Glenlea. In 1921 Mr. William Nolan purchased a large parcel of Oakwood Villas land south of Atlantic Boulevard from County Commissioner D. C. Brown. Mr. Nolan operated Nolan’s Dairy on the property until 1971/72, employing many people from Oakwood Villa including myself briefly. This area is now Century 21 Apartments. Mr. Brown had a home across Atlantic Boulevard from the dairy. Per Mrs. Lucy Pilling, Mrs. Brown gave silver dollars to all the children born in the neighborhood. In later years, after his death it was turned into a nursing home by the lady who cared for his wife. It was then sold to the Cheshires and is now the Southwood Nursing Center.

Most of the area north of Atlantic Boulevard and East of Johnson Avenue was replatted in 1924 as “Oakwood Villa Estates”, Plat Book 8 pages 23 through 25, by the Standard Realty Development Company. The layout was in the general configuration that exists now with some streets renamed and some of the area replatted – such as Tidewater Estates. Businesses quickly sprang to life along Atlantic Boulevard to support local families and traffic to and from the beaches. There were gas stations and garages such as Browns on the corner of Arlington and Atlantic and then (going east) Marvin Ellis’ station and Slims Garage and then Jim Davis garage and wrecker. Closer to Mill Creek was Tee Dee’s (9062 Atlantic) on the south side of the road and as long as I can remember there have been small independent gas stations on the NW corner of Mill Creek and Atlantic.

There were also grocery stores such as Blackie’s, Champions Corner and Crews and liquor stores such as the Raven and Phils’. There was a night club called the Tropics at Atlantic and Arlington Road and the “Five O’clock” club close to Phil’s. Captain Steeves had a saw shop and Mr. Kite had a small garage next to Brown’s Gas Station. There were some auto salvage yards through the years – Victor Culp, Mr. Dube (whose son was an Olympic weight lifter) and Johnny Johnson’s. Mr. Parnell had a machine shop at his home across from Woodland Acres School and Mr. Utsey repaired starters at his home on Zona Avenue. The Arlington Lumber Company came in the early fifties. Humphreys Gold Mine on Mill Creek Road provided many jobs for the area. There were also several churches located in the area. One of the ministers was George Highsmith who grew up on Cesery Terrace.

There were several developers for the area including Raymond and Grace Trout Sage, who developed Tidewater Estates, Frank Aderhold in Silver Lake Terrace and then Mr. Stancell who built apartments and houses on and near Arlington Road. Most of the original homes in Oakwood Villa Estates were built by the owners and some of the ones between Mill Creek Road and Arlington Road were small as the lots were very narrow. As time progressed the narrow lots were just right for mobile homes. A grammar school was built in the area ca. 1956, which was named Woodland Acres and this, I believe, was the beginning of the change in the community’s name. Today there is a move to replace the original smaller homes with modern townhouses. The city is now installing new sewer and water service. Oakwood Villa is a mixture of beautiful old homes and attractive newer homes with areas of smaller older houses, trailers and a concentration of apartments near Mill (Strawberry) Creek. The Atlantic Boulevard corridor has anything you need from restaurants to a funeral home.

A few Oakwood Villa family names from the early days are as follows: Nolan, Sharpe, Miller, Steeves, Bea, Utsey, Cordell, Aderhold, Smith, Baker, Nabi, Pinkston, Williams, Sage, Parnell, Pennel, Kite, Merkle, Ellis, Harrison, Champion, Dowling, Pilling, Longino, Bunch, Stancell, Graham, Mette and Vaughn.