War of 17–92: Casselberry v. Fern Park

Gordon Barnett’s Fern Park was riding high until Hibbard Casselberry incorporated a new town smack dab in the middle.

Ask your average Seminole County resident: Where is Fern Park? If they have even heard of it, they’ll probably tell you: South of 436 and north of Maitland Boulevard on 17–92. Long time residents may reference the former line of strip clubs that made it notorious.

But skipping back a few decades, an orphaned piece of Fern Park actually used to be north of Casselberry and south of Longwood. Rewinding the tape even further, we encounter a surprising coup d’etat that created the town of Casselberry smack dab in the middle of downtown Fern Park. It was an anything-but-civil war for the very right to exist.

For more background, see the previous articles I have shared on the earlier history of the area:

• Casselberry’s Concord settlement is oldest in south Seminole County
• Fern Park, Florida and the Largest Industry Under One Roof

Today we’ll pick up where we left off, starting in 1940 when the battle really began to heat up…