Museums

Tantie School House

1850 US Hwy 98, across from the airport

Around 1897 the first school, a thatched roof structure, was established at the “Bend”. Peter Raulerson’s family did not have enough children of school age so they borrowed five children from Platt’s Bluff and hired a teacher, Dr. George Hubbard. The children and the teacher boarded with the Raulerson family. In 1902 this area became “Tantie”, named in honor of a schoolteacher, Tantie Huckabee.
In 1909 a one room schoolhouse was constructed and located on the west side of Parrott Avenue. Built for the contract price of $500 by Lewis M. Raulerson, the white-frame structure was designated school # 14 by the St. Lucie County School Board. Dr. George M. Hubbard, MD became the first teacher at this school with 36 students.
In 1911, Tantie became the City of Okeechobee. Due to population increases a one room addition was made in 1914 and a second addition in 1915 but by the fall of 1915, the school was so crowded that a tent was set up for the overflow.
In 1916, construction began on the Okeechobee Public School which caused this building to cease being used as a school. In 1917, Okeechobee County was formed. This building was moved to this site in 1976 and restored to become the Okeechobee Historical Society museum.
Information and Photos Courtesy of the Okeechobee Historical Society

Okeechobee Primitive Baptist Church

1003 SW 3rd Ave

The church was established on May 24, 1919 with 11 members and Elder Dan Wilkerson serving as the first pastor.
It was originally located on Conner’s Highway (441 S) until it relocated to 8 Miami Street (1003 Third Avenue) in 1923. The building was built by Barney Blum. This church was part of the Pilgrim’s Rest Primitive Baptist Association which formed in 1875.
The church property was given to the church by Peter and Louisiana Raulerson, first settlers of Okeechobee. It ceased services in 2015 and in 2022 the City of Okeechobee was able to purchase it for preservation. In an agreement between the City and the Okeechobee Historical Society, it will be a museum for the citizens of Okeechobee.
Some more detailed explanation: In 2015, after 96 years, the Primitive Baptist church disbanded. According to the original patent, if this occurred the building and land reverted to the descendants of Peter and Louisiana Raulerson, who provided the land. Being that there are many, many descendants and no one was aware of this clause, this was not acted on.
Since it was no longer a church and exempt from property taxes and no one was paying the bills for utilities, liens were placed against the property. An out of state company purchased the tax lien as a future investment but the City of Okeechobee wanted to preserve the historic property. After much deliberation, the City went through all of the various steps and acquired the property through auction in 2021. The City invested $102,547.98 to acquire this property then entered into an agreement in June of 2022 with the Okeechobee Historical Society to convert the space into a museum for the community.
Using the theme “God and Country”, the proposal was to preserve the history of local churches that were inventoried in the 1937 WPA project charged with that assignment. The sanctuary would remain as it was with church pews and podium area with historical church banners being displayed on the walls. The hope is that the sanctuary could be used by the community for presentations, meetings, weddings, or other purposes as well as a museum.
The fellowship hall has been designated with the “Country” theme where exhibits honoring the long history of agriculture in our community will be featured. These displays will show various aspects of our agricultural community as well as affiliated businesses.
Information Courtesy of the Okeechobee Historical Society

Raulerson Log Cabin

811 SW 2nd Ave

In 1896, Peter and Louisiana Chandler Raulerson moved to “The Bend” and established a home site in a barn where they lived with their children Lewis, Adline, Ada, Meb, Harmon and Faith. After three years, friends and family from Basinger came to the area to construct a log cabin in three days. This is that cabin which was built in the “dog trot” architecture which consists of two rooms with an open breezeway between them.
In 1901, their youngest child, Cornelius was born in the log cabin. Family folklore says that when he was a toddler, his mother placed a cowbell around his neck in order to scare off possible predators.
From pictures we have, the cabin faced the east with a fireplace on the southern end. The logs were unchinked and porches were on three sides of the home. They also fenced in two and a half acres with cabbage logs to provide an area for raising of vegetables. The homestead stretched from the Onoshohatchee to the east, the Kissimmee River to the west and the lakeshore to the south. The family lived in the log cabin until 1916 when a large two story home was constructed directly east of the cabin. The remnants of that home are included in the two story part of Jeanette’s Interiors.
After the larger home was built, Meb and Harmon converted the log cabin into a more modern home for them. They encased the logs with siding, enclosed some of the porches and lived in this home until they married and moved out. These actions are what allowed the logs to be relatively well preserved until now, over 100 years later.
As time went by, Adline Raulerson Clements, the second daughter moved into the log cabin with her family and further modernized the home. In the late 40’s, one of her daughters, Marie Clements Box moved in with her husband and son. They modernized the home which is how it appears today. The Box family lived in this home until their deaths at which time it was inherited by their only son, Paul. Upon Paul’s death in 2017 the home was purchased by the Okeechobee Historical Society.
The log cabin has remained in the custody of the family of Peter and Louisiana Chandler Raulerson until today.
Information Courtesy of the Okeechobee Historical Society