MUSEUM & CULTURE
Sebring Historical Society Museum
Highlands County · Central Florida
The museum of a town laid out in 1912 as a circle, copied from the plan of an ancient Egyptian city.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
George Sebring, an Ohio industrialist, founded this town in 1912 and drew its downtown as a circle with roads running out from the middle like spokes. He took the idea from Heliopolis in ancient Egypt. The plan is still there under the modern streets, which is why Sebring is called the City on the Circle. Cattle, citrus and the railroad built the place; the Seaboard Air Line's Orange Blossom Special ran through and brought northerners down. By the mid-1920s the population had grown enough to justify resort building, including the Harder Hall complex financed with Biltmore money. The Depression was survived partly on the back of work at Highlands Hammock State Park and later on military construction. The 12 Hours of Sebring started in the 1950s and is the oldest sports car race of its kind in North America. Downtown Sebring is a 1920s historic district in the National Register. The Historical Society and its museum share the Cultural Center downtown with the public library and the Highlands Art League, so the three can be seen in one stop
Keep comparing