History of Casselberry

We're older than you might think! The history of Casselberry goes back far beyond the formal incorporation of the city in 1940. Casselberry traces its roots to the historic Concord Settlement of the Third Seminole War period of the 1850s. It was the oldest settlement in the southwestern portion of Seminole County. Concord Cemetery is all that remains of the settlement today. By the 1870s, the homesteading of early Seminole County pioneers, like Stephen J.L. Hooker and his family, helped to settle the area as farmers. In fact, the oldest building in Casselberry is the former Hooker Homestead on the shores of Lake Griffin. It dates to 1887. In 1889, Annie E. Griffin platted the first subdivision in the area. Growth continued in the area as the twentieth century dawned. Evergreen Cemetery was founded in 1903. Casselberry's agricultural roots blossomed in the 1920s when Gordon Barnett opened his fernery and hired an Illinois native named Hibbard Casselberry as his sales agent. Hibbard Casselberry bought up large swathes of land in the late 1920s and 1930s and established his own fernery. After the city incorporated in 1940, it played a large effort in supporting the US as it fought during World War II. Sewing factories supplied the US military with silk parachutes, bandoliers, and tent liners for Allied soldiers. The baby boom of the late 1940s and 1950s saw suburbia come to Casselberry with many buildings designed by famed Winter Park architect James Gamble Rogers II. The town prospered and grew into the modern city that still flourishes today!