Hettie Austin, a proper church-going woman, moved here from Indiana in 1876. Indiana Avenue is actually named in her honor.
Hettie hated the wild and untamed Florida frontier, but she thought a Methodist church would make her life more bearable. She traveled around DeLand in a ramshackle mule cart, raising money for her cause. And then, one momentous day, she met Henry DeLand himself. Naturally, she hit him up for a sizable donation. He told her he'd give her money and land — on this very corner — if Hettie would build a schoolhouse that the whole town could use for church on Sundays.
Hettie's little one-room church and school stood here until it was outgrown, and a retail store went up in its place. Today it's a wine bar. Would Hettie's ghost approve? Try asking her!
