Gifford, FL

In the middle of the 1880s the settlement of Gifford was created, according to the Indian River County Historical Society. Gifford had its humble beginnings as a small agricultural community, and its residents called the town Brownsville after farmer William Brown, one of the town’s first settlers. However, a town in the northern part of Florida was already carrying the same name, so as a result the town’s name would be changed to Gifford in honor of Charlie Gifford, son of Henry T. Gifford and the local railroad’s stationmaster.

By 1893, the early settlers of Gifford joined forces with black laborers to work on the Florida East Coast Railway, a new railroad project headed by Henry Flagler. In 1898 the first school in Gifford was built, but it would only serve white children. Three years later in 1901, a black railroad worker named William Edward Geoffrey came from Darlington, South Carolina to work on the local railroad. Seeing the void in education, Geoffrey opened a school that would serve black children.

In the 1900 census the area was identified as the Woodley precinct. The Historic Macedonia Church was built by black railroad workers in 1908, and it would be officially converted into the Gifford Historical Museum and Cultural Center on February 24, 2018.