HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

Ehren

See also Ehren schools. A few pictures of Ehren are here. This page was last revised on Oct. 2, 2011.

Ehren Pine Sawmill was established near the 26-Mile House by Fredrick and Louis Müller of Germany along what is now County Road 583. Ehren Pine Sawmill employed about 100 workers and had homes for some to live in. Others owned property near the mill in the community that became known as Ehren. According to MacManus, Ehren is named for the hometown in Germany of Müller.

A post office opened in Ehren on Jan. 17, 1890. It burned and was rebuilt several times before closing in 1950. At one time it was listed in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not as the smallest post office in the country.

There was a white Methodist church, a black A. M. E. church located by the black school on Ehren Cemetery Road, and a black Baptist Church next to the black cemetery, known as Mount Carmel Cemetery.

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (and its predecessors) ran northeast through Ehren at an angle permitting three section houses to be built between the main dirt road and the railroad. Blacks who worked for the railroad lived in these section houses. Old timers called the area north of the railroad tracks “Old Ehren” and that to the south “South Ehren.” The tracks formed a racial divide. Whites lived on the north side of the tracks and blacks on the south. Most of the mill hands were black. They occupied 20-30 company houses that were scattered on the south side of the railroad, on the same side as the sawmill.

Rev. Byrl Dawkins, preacher at the A. M. E. church, moved to Ehren with his wife Mary in 1918. They had 13 children, 11 of whom were born in Ehren. He worked at the sawmill for $1 per day, saved his money, and bought a parcel of land for $150 and began farming. He sold fresh vegetables house-to-house and was known as “Preacher Dawkins, the vegetable man.”

(Some of the information in the above section was taken from Citrus, Sawmills, Critters, & Crackers by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and Susan A. MacManus.)

Jan. 17, 1890. The Ehren post office is established. The first postmaster was James J. Head. (The post office application stated that 60 persons lived in Ehren but that the post office would serve about 300 persons.)

July 10, 1900. Ben Stafford is killed near Ehren. [The following year, Granville and Tom Ellis were charged with the murder.]

Aug. 23, 1904. A newspaper reports that Mr. Jones, the captain at Dunn’s convict camp near Ehren was shot and killed by one of the guards on Aug. 21. He was to have been married that day.

June 12, 1905. The Ocala Evening Star reports: “Mr. R. S. Hall sold last week 20,000 acres of good pine timber land, located near Ehren, in Pasco County, to Mr. F. E. Miller of Ehren. The land was bought for sawmill purposes, as it has been turpentined. The consideration was about $50,000.”

June 25, 1905. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports:

The Gulf Cypress Lumber Mill is running full blast. F. E. Muller, the manager, is well known in Tampa. He is a live man and hustles around in his automobile looking after the business, which is large and requires careful management. Anyone having business with Mr. Muller at his office, Main street, if he is not there, will be waited upon by his advisor, Harry Weldon, who is a gentleman in every respect.

G. B. Messick, who is proprietor of the large dry goods and grocery store here, is away on business. However, his gentlemanly and efficient clerks are ready to wait on you at any hour.

The meat shop formerly owned by R. M. Williams has been thoroughly renovated and repaired and is now carried on by Louis Muller of San Antonio.

Mrs. Handley and Mrs. Seal have removed their ice cream parlors to Market street.

Work on the Woodmen Hall is soon to commence again. The frame was erected several months ago, but nothing has been done since the explosion of the mill, which occurred some time since. It is now soon to be completed and will be a great addition to the town.

the postoffice changed hands June 1. R. M. Williams, the former postmaster, has moved to Blanton, and A. H. Pinkham, who is well known in and around Tampa, has been appointed to take his place.

Melons on every corner can be had for almost nothing.

The mill boarding house is now run by Mr. Berry.

Dr. Warren, whose office is next door to the Great Cypress Lumber Company’s office, Main street, is a practicing physician and surgeon in this place.

Building is going on here nearly all the time. Soon Ehren will be a much improved town. A nice little four-room cottage is soon to be erected for the new postmaster, in the same lot with the office.

J. C. Williams, express agent and telegraph operator, is thorough and efficient and always at his post. ...

A very enjoyable social was given by the Woodmen of the World the evening of June 17, at the Berry Hotel parlors and notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather the house was filled.

June 29, 1905. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “G. B. Milton, tonsorial artist, has taken new rooms on Market street, where he is now prepared to do all kinds of work in his line. R. H. Garner is making some repairs on the postoffice that will make it much more convenient.”

Aug. 6, 1905. The Tampa Tribune reports, “The boarding house conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Berry is full to its utmost capacity and the landlord is all smiles as new patrons come in daily. Mr. Pinkham, the new postmaster, is kind and smiling as he gives us our mail. ... C. B. Messick has sold his store to Hinson Bros., of Holder, who are now living here. Mr. Messick has bought a turpentine business at Bowling Green. Mr. Waters has moved to Georgia, where his relatives are and has a good situation in business.”

Sept. 14, 1905. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports that W. P. Smith has sold his interest in his turpentine business in Ehren to Mr. Wilkerson and Mr. Howell of Inverness. It reports that Dr. L. C. Warren left Monday for north Georgia, where he intends to marry, and that Mrs. J. M. Berry left to visit her grandchild, who is very sick at Bushnell.

Dec. 21, 1905. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “R. A. Bradley, of Ocala, has accepted a position with the Gulf Cypress Lumber Company as Superintendent of railway and will make Ehren his future home.” The newspaper also lists visitors registered at the Berry Hotel.

Feb. 2, 1906. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports:

Everything is moving along quietly and pleasantly in this little town at present. New laborers are coming in every week.

A force of men is working on the planing mill and the work is progressing rapidly.

F. E. Muller, who has been very ill, is slowly recovering.

The Sabbath School, which was organized two weeks ago, met again last Sabbath with a great increase of members, which is very encouraging. Rev. Mr. Keith of Owensboro will preach here once a month in the schoolhouse. It is hoped the new hall will be finished sometime soon, which will be a great convenience for many reasons. It is very much needed.

Allen’s Minstrels gave two entertainments here Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Mrs. F. E. Muller and son returned to their home in Tampa Tuesday morning. She has been her with her husband through his illness.

April 3, 1906. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “The mill, which has been closed down for two weeks or more, undergoing repairs, has resumed. Some of the old laborers have moved away and new ones have taken their places. The planing mill is completed and was running last week. F. E. Muller has returned to Ehren for business and pleasure combined. He has been very ill at his home, in Tampa. Eli Cooper is building a neat seven-room cottage on his farm at Old Ehren. He is also engaged in gardening, has about four acres of watermelons planted, besides many kinds of vegetables, such as collards, cabbage, turnips, etc.”

May 17, 1906. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “The Gulf Cypress Company is putting up a first class iron tank, which is to be 60 feet or more in height, which will give good artesian water and will also be an ornament to the town. It is situated near the Central Ice Cream Parlors. The boardinghouse is running to its utmost capacity. There is much building going on which speaks well for the improvement of this town. All the carpenters are busy.”

July 8, 1906. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “There is much improvement in town. Nearly all the buildings are taking on white paint, which makes all look neat, clean and tidy,and it will add much to the health of the town. Business is prosperous. The Gulf Cypress Company is cutting logs as fast as they can be furnished, form 40,000 to 55,000 feet per day,and shipments of lumber are regular from four to eleven cars per day. All regret to hear that F. E. Muller is suffering very much from a wound he received at his planing mill here some time ago. ... The ice cream parlor is a great pleasure to all this warm weather. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkham are always ready with something cool and up-to-date. Mr. Vincent has returned from a business trip of a week. There is a rumor that the school is to be put in a prosperous condition soon. All should join in trying to improve the school and church.”

May 9, 1907. The Ocala Evening Star reports:

News has reached the city of the cowardly murder of Lee Ellis, a well-known deputy sheriff and merchant of Ehren, Pasco county, which occurred Saturday night. Ellis was at work in his store weighing bacon for a customer, when someone discharged a load of buckshot thro’ the window. Nine buckshot entered Ellis’ body, one penetrating the heart, killing him instantly. No arrests have been made, although friends at once gave the assassin a chase through the woods. The killing, it is stated, is the result of a feud which has existed in that vicinity since the killing, seven years ago, of a man named Stafford, in Ellis’ house, by a brother of Ellis. Ellis was formerly a mail route contractor.—Tampa News.

Dec. 7, 1907. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “The Gulf Cypress mill is running on full time, and everybody seems contented and happy. F. E. Muller comes up from Tampa nearly every day and returns in his auto. ... J. J. Duren from Tampa has become a permanent resident here. He is employed by the Gulf Cypress company in the commissary. R. J. Holly, also from Tampa, employed in the same work with Mr. Duren, is expecting to move his family here in the near future.”

Dec. 14, 1907. The Tampa Morning Tribune reports, “Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Hall of Sanford have become permanent residents of Ehren. W. L. Holly’s family arrived last night and have already moved into the house formerly occupied by H.Tucker.”

Feb. 13, 1908. The Tampa Weekly Tribune reports colored Masons celebrated at Ehren.

Dec. 21, 1912. Ehren Pine Co. is incorporated, with officers E. L. Mueller, president; Louis Mueller, vice president; Curt Holzer, secretary; J. A. Barthle, treasurer.

1918. The 1918-1919 Florida State Gazetteer and Business Directory shows E. C. Rush as the postmaster of Ehren, which it reports has a population of 200. It also lists Ehren Pine Co., F. E. Muller pres., R. B. Haddon sec and treas; and W. F. Evans and Co., turpentine.

Apr. 2, 1920. The Dade City Banner reports: “The plant of the Ehren Pine Company at Ehren was entirely destroyed by fire last Sunday, entailing a loss estimated at $125,000. The fire was started by a high wind carrying brands from a burning trash pile to the mill which was ablaze in several places in a few minutes. A large boarding house and two residences were burned with the mills. The mill of the Ehren Pine Company has been destroyed by fire once or twice before. The president of the company and principal owner, is F. E. Mueller, and the secretary is A. E. Medard (?). With the sawmill gone there is little left of Ehren, and its future will depend largely upon whether Mr. Muller and his associates rebuild or not.”

Sept. 1, 1950. The Ehren post office is renamed Land O’ Lakes.