The following history is from the
Historical Society of North Brevard, Inc. website:
LaGrange, is a community in North Brevard County, it is an era as much as it is a place, it is a microcosm of all that went into forming these United States. The hardships and dangers confronting the early pioneers of LaGrange were no less than were those faced by early settlers in the other parts of the United States.
Everything that LaGrange was is represented in this picturesque church located on Old Dixie Highway just north of Titusville. The LaGrange church first begun in 1869, is the oldest church between New Smyrna Beach and Key West and the oldest Protestant church between St. Augustine and Key West.
Other than scattered Indians, there was little settlement activity in Brevard County until the David Nathaniel Carlile family arrived from Mississippi in 1852. He came well equipped to populate the area having brought his wife and ten children. The Carliles were followed by Feasters, Cuylers, Norwoods, Singletons and Warrens. The honor roll of early pioneers can be read off the gravestones in LaGrange Cemetery. The history of LaGrange is the thread that binds us to those who have gone before and made our lives possible.
The LaGrange area was accessible mostly by water, with the St. Johns River being the primary north- south artery for people and goods. Salt Lake provided the closest landing for items destined for the LaGrange community. Goods traveled overland on a two wheeled cart puled by men. Oxen eventually replaced the men and to avoid the deep sand, wooden rails were put in place to make it easier to roll the carts.
LaGrange Church was the social center for the early settlers. Non- denominational religious services were conducted for various faiths and all day meetings with dinner served on the grounds were typical. Food served was wild hog, venison, turkey and mullet served with cabbage palm, mangoes and sweet potato pie.
To the forefront of this community rose a Baptist minister, The Reverend William Chaudoin, who for 33 Years served the LaGrange Community. His prominence was such that when he died in 1904, the trustees for the then fledgling John B. Stetson University at DeLand, named Chaudoin Hall for him.
An historical marker at the church provides the following information:
Founded by Tom Johnson Cockshutt in 1869, this was the first organized Protestant Church on the East Coast of Florida between New Smyrna and Key West. Tom donated land for a cemetery and built a small log structure located on what is now the northern part of LaGrange Cemetery. It was used as a public meeting place, church, and the first public school in Brevard County. In 1872 a two-story structure of vertical logs was built on the present site. The first floor was used as a church and the second floor for public meetings and a schoolhouse. In 1893 the second story was removed, a bay window was added between the two front doors, and horizontal boards were placed over the vertical logs, encompassing the old structure within the walls of the new. Depicted on one of the eight memorial windows are the names of those who built the church: J.N. Feaster; J.C.C. Feaster; Tom J. Cockshutt; W.S. Norwood; B.J. Mims; R. Singleton; and W.P. Day. The first ordained pastor was W.N. Chaudoin from 1871-1904. Several other congregations were formed from this small church that included: First Presbyterian of Titusville; Mims Methodist Church; and Greater St. James Missionary Baptist Church of Mims.
An historical marker about the cemetery reads as follows:
In the early 1900s a two-acre parcel of land north of LaGrange Church and Cemetery was given to the Mims colored community for a cemetery. Earliest marked graves are dated 1903; many were unmarked. During the late 1800s both blacks and whites worshiped at LaGrange Community Church. In 1894, after organizing their own congregation, St. James Colored Missionary Baptist Church acquired land in Mims and in 1904 built their own church. In June 1913, trustees of that church purchased this parcel from the East Coast Cattle Company for use as a cemetery, then referred to as the Mims Colored Cemetery. Many of North Brevards pioneering black families rest in this hallowed ground with family names of Abrams, Bell, Brothers, Brown, Campbell, Cuyler, Grant, Gibson, Highsmith, McKenzie, Mitchell, Seigler, Simms, Strickland, Warren and Williams. Most noted ate the graves of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. Simms Moore, Florida civil rights activists. Moore was chapter president of the Brevard County National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later NAACP Florida Convention president/state coordinator. On Christmas Eve, 1951, the Moores were killed when their home, located near this site, was bombed.