On August 18, 1887, only ten years removed from Reconstruction (1863-1877), a group of twenty-seven African American men (led by Joe Clark) convened with the purpose of founding, what would turn out to be, the first incorporated African American settlement community in the United States. Eatonville, the town born on that day, was named for a White man, Josiah Eaton, who served as mayor of the neighboring town of Maitland from which most of the future Eatonville residents originated.
The Town of Eatonville is the oldest municipality in America. Eatonville is a town rich in black history, tucked away just north of the City of Orlando and home to a little over 2,000 people.
