Built as the bank of Oakland in 1911, it served as a bank until 1928. The building is a one-story masonry brick in a Colonial Revival Style with decorative brick dentil cornices and arch brick lintels. It is one of the most unique buildings in Central Florida because of its small town rural feel.

Town Foundation

Oakland was founded on the southern shore of Lake Apopka in the 1850s. After the Civil War orange groves replaced cotton fields. The first oranges were shipped by barrel on boats across Lake Apopka for the northern markets. The Orange Belt Railroad came in 1886 and established the Town as the railroad’s headquarters. Two other railroads followed, bringing business and population expansion to the small town. The railroads brought speedy shipments of oranges to northern markets.

Golden Age

The Town soon became a booming commercial center with a hotel, an opera house, stores, hospital, telegraph office and the “Southern Sun” newspaper. The Town of Oakland was chartered in 1887, with great hopes for its future. This “Golden Age” came to a sudden and disastrous end in 1885 when freezes killed the citrus trees back to their roots. In the late 1890s a fire swept through Oakland completely destroying the business district.

Town Hall

The Town used the Bank for its meetings until the Town purchased it in1928 which continued use as a government center. The original bank vault was purchased from Mosler Safe Company who built the vaults for Fort Knox. The Town applied for and received a Historic Preservation Grant from the Florida Department of State to renovate the Historic Town Hall.