10/22/2026
Before Lake Wales became a town, someone had to convince people to build a life here.
You probably recognize the names Tillman, Johnson, Bullard, and Stuart from our streets. But who were these four founders, and how did they become men capable of helping establish a community?
George Vernon Tillman came from Belleville, Georgia, with experience in the turpentine and rosin business. He explored this area in 1902 while searching for pine forests suitable for production. He saw both a business opportunity and the potential for a town. Later, as vice president and general manager of the Lake Wales Land Company, he helped turn that idea into surveyed streets and property for sale.
Charles Leon Johnson began as a railroad conductor in Georgia. A connection with turpentine businessman Alexander Sessoms changed his direction. Sessoms offered him a management position in Florida for $50 a month and a one-third interest in the business. When that business sold for $150,000 in 1903, Johnson received one-third. He brought that experience into ventures that eventually included Lake Wales industry, banking, utilities, and citrus.
B.K. Bullard came from a Savannah family involved in the naval-stores business, producing and selling products such as turpentine and rosin. His father, B.F. Bullard, sent him to Florida to help develop its turpentine interests. Bullard became a businessman, commercial developer, and civic leader. He later served as the first president of the local Board of Trade, chaired the town council, and represented the area in the Florida Legislature.
Edward Crosland Stuart was already an established businessman in Bartow. Originally from South Carolina, he built substantial interests in phosphate land and banking. As president of the Lake Wales Land Company, he brought financial experience and connections to the venture. His investments also helped provide services such as power and ice.
Their business interests connected through the Sessoms Investment Company, established in 1906. In 1911, the four formed the Lake Wales Land Company and purchased 5,000 acres from the Sessoms company to develop the townsite.
They had experience, business relationships, and money invested in its future. Now they needed others to see the possibilities.
One of their earliest major projects was Hotel Wales, built for the land company by Bartow contractor L.Z. Tate.
We’ve covered this hotel before under its later name, the Plantation Inn. It stood on North Scenic Highway, on the property where Plantation Inn Realty sits today.
The hotel accommodated prospective buyers of grove land and business property. The land company established its office in Room No. 1, and the Johnson, Tillman, and Bullard families resided in the hotel before their permanent homes were built.
Think of someone considering citrus acreage, a merchant looking for a place to open a store, or a family weighing a move to a developing Florida community. The hotel gave them somewhere to stay while exploring those possibilities.
Land agent J. Walker Pope was already promoting Lake Wales property in 1911, emphasizing the area’s natural beauty. If that name sounds familiar, he was the father of Richard “Dick” Pope Sr., who later founded Cypress Gardens with his wife, Julie. The Pope family’s role in attracting people to Central Florida stretched across generations.
Tomorrow, we’ll step into the settlement’s first commerce, beginning with a general store whose owner handled much more than shopping.
Do you have any additional information on these five families that you’d like to add to flesh out the story?
What brought your family to Lake Wales, and who from your lineage was the first to arrive?
