Around 1909, Eugene C. Howe and George H. Currier of Chicago, Illinois purchased 35,000 acres of land west of New Smyrna Beach from the Bond Lumber Company (DeLand News, June 4, 1909). The ten-acre plats surveyed in the Howe and Currier allotment formed the basis for the communities of Indian Springs, Alamana (near Lake Ashby), and eventually Samsula. This exhibit features newspaper articles and other artifacts from the early twentieth century that talk about Howe & Currier and their efforts to develop this area of Volusia County.
| A very brief statement in this 1909 DeLand newspaper, under the heading “New Smyrna,” mentions Howe & Currier setting up shop in New Smyrna. Transcript: “Howe and Currier, who recently purchased 35,000 acres of land from the Bond Lumber Company, have established an office in this city with Mr. Leidersdorf as agent. Mr. Leidersdorf says they are expecting several hundred settlers down next fall.” |
By December of 1909, Howe was discussing the need for drainage on the Lake Ashby properties, and plans for expanding Indian Springs to include a hotel and general store. Excerpt: “Mr. Howe informs the Editor of the [New Smyrna] Breeze that the matter of drainage will be gone into very thoroughly this winter. The land which was placed on the market November 15 will be drained north into Spruce Creek. . . Mr. George Moody will erect a good sized hotel building at Indian Springs to take care of the settlers as fast as they arrive. Mr. Moody will also erect a large store building at Indian Springs and put in a first class stock of general merchandise.” (click on image to open in new tab.)
This 1912 ad from the Washington, D.C. Herald as well as the following promotions illustrate the marketing efforts Howe & Currier were putting into their Florida investment (click on the ad to enlarge). Among the advertised features is “The most delightful climate in the world–the temperature is a balmy, mild, and pleasant as Indian summer in the north, during the winter months; and not excessively hot in the summer.”
This ad also ran in the Washington Herald on February 4 and 18, 1912 according to the Library of Congress digitized records.
1925 ad from Howe Realty in the Miami Daily News. This ad campaign is happening after the drainage district has been completed, and word of good farmland is spreading.
The Miami Daily News and Metropolis, pg. 37, Sept. 16, 1925. Retrieved from University of Florida Digital Collections, Jan. 29, 2026. Permanent link: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/aa00089090/00267
This ad makes the claim that Samsula farms will produce “$400 per acre” plus a harvest of corn in the same year, as well as recounting record-setting awards won by local farmers at the Tampa State Fair.
Miami Daily News and Metropolis, pg. 6, Sept. 19, 1925. Retrieved from University of Florida Digital Collections, Jan. 29, 2026. Permanent link: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/aa00089090/00269
In the same paper, different page, Howe Realty makes another pitch for Samsula property, claiming Volusia as “the banner agricultural county of the whole state of Florida . . . in the famouse [sic] Samsula section.”
“Acreage For Sale,” Miami Daily News and Metropolis, pg. 32, Sept. 19, 1925. Retrieved from University of Florida Digital Collections, Jan. 29, 2026. Permanent link: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/aa00089090/00269
