ORLANDO, Fla. — The Association to Preserve the Eatonville community is currently suing the Orange County School Board over land previously used for the Hungerford School, and the group has now been joined by the great-granddaughter of the Hungerfords, who donated the land more than 100 years ago.

What You Need To Know

  • The great-granddaughter of the Hungerfords has joined a lawsuit against the Orange County School Board

  •  More than 100 years ago, the Hungerfords donated land and said they wanted it to go to people of Eatonville for education

  •  OCPS planned to sell the land to a developer, but the sale fell through after the community came out against the plan

The complaint was filed in March of this year which states the school district failed to comply with its legal duties to safeguard the land for educational purposes.

Bea Hatlter is the great-granddaughter of Edward Hungerford who donated the land back in 1899. She says the land was intended for educational purposes, not for a private developer who was planning to purchase the land from the school district.

Hatler may reside across the country in Oregon, but she says her heart and family’s ambitions for land they once owned remain in Central Florida.

The family always wanted to see that land go to the people of Eatonville either for education or ways to better serve their community, she said.

“I’m 34 years seasoned real estate agent, and trust me, that would squeeze the people out of their community,” Hatler said from her Oregon home.

In 1899, Hatler's great-grandparents donated 40 acres of land to the Hungerford School Public Charitable Trust. It was meant to provide a private school in Eatonville for African American children. In total, and over the years, 160 acres were donated. Hatler said she wants to see her families wishes carried through.

“It would be a junior college, it would be trade schools like the stem program,” she said. “It would be everything that would be hands-on trade learning, and give these people to leave Eatonville if they wanted.”

Prior to the lawsuit being filed in March, OCPS planned to sell most of the property to a developer for both mixed use residential and commercial development. The developer walked after seeing community opposition and the school board still has not made a decision about the future use of the property. 

Hatler's hope is that OCPS will use the land for its original intended use and honor that agreement, after more than 100 years later.

“Our family donated land for education," she said. “For the Black people to have their own trade, their own town, and that was always out there.”

With Hatler's name now attacked to the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff, she hopes that she can help hold OCPS accountable, and keep the district from abandoning its obligations to ensure her family’s donated land be used for education or other purposes for the public interest.