The Eatonville Community Redevelopment Agency is inviting longtime residents and others with memories of the historic Club Eaton to come and share them at an event Wednesday evening.
The “restoration visioning session” is at St. Lawrence AME Church in the historic Black township of Eatonville beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The old club at East Kennedy Boulevard and W Street has been partially demolished, due to a collapsed roof, to get ready for the restoration using a $1 million grant from the Florida Division of Historical Resources.
The club goes back to at least 1950 and was one of scores of Black-owned venues, called the Chitlin’ Circuit, where Black musicians, including legends of jazz, blues and early rock-and-roll, could perform when they were barred by segregation and Jim Crow laws from other places.
On its webpage describing Club Eaton, the Eatonville CRA lists artists who performed there, ranging from James Brown and BB King to Sam Cooke and Etta James.
Later it became Mr. B’s Club, Heroes Night Club and Club KOHA, according to the CRA's grant application. The building became vacant in 2008.
The CRA said it was seeking to renovate the building and create a "performing arts center with a museum and entertainment vibe."
Malcolm Jones is the architect for the restoration project, working with the CRA and property owner David Barany. For this project, Barany has a nonprofit called the Floridian Heritage Society.
Jones said they want to hear the stories of people who experienced Club Eaton -- even in its later iterations through the years.
"[W]hat we're hoping to accomplish is to receive those stories from those individuals, also hopefully being able to collect some sort of data," he said. "If they have photos of the historic club, that would be amazing, because our goal is to ultimately restore as much of the club as possible."
Jones said they’re working toward a flexible venue for live performances and community events that also helps preserve the history of Eatonville.
"It's all about trying to preserve our history and the legacy of the community and the town," said Wanda Randolph, a town council member and interim executive director of the CRA.
It's important to preserve that history, lest people forget segregation and all that occurred back then, she said. "And then when you come across ... buildings and sites and places, you want to be able to preserve that part so you can tell the story."
