HARPER HOUSE

Built in the late 1870s, this house is the oldest building in Montverde. Pioneer merchant and citrus grower Reuben Wyatt Harper purchased it in 1891 after moving to Lake County from Alabama. At first, Harper ran a store and the town’s first post office out of the building, but after his marriage to Mary Jane McQuaig in 1892, he converted it into their residence. The house is a fine example of the adaptability of Frame Vernacular architecture. It was the home of a large, three-generation family. The two-story addition on the west side became a dining room on the first floor and an upstairs bedroom for Harper's father. Part of the porch was enclosed for Harper's office, and the screened sleeping porch in the rear accommodated the eight Harper children. In addition to the house, Harper owned other real estate in Montverde and helped stimulate agriculture and business along the western shore of Lake Apopka. He donated land to bring the Tavares and Gulf Railroad to Montverde, and in 1912, aided in the founding of the Montverde Industrial School, later renamed the Montverde Academy. Harper was designated a Great Floridian 2000, and the Harper House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.