Morse Boulevard - history
 

Can anyone tell me the history of Morse Boulevard north of CR466, or point me to a reputable source?

Going back as far as I can on Google Earth shows just a small section leading off CR466 but nothing at the I27 end (Avenida Central is showing in its entirety).

I assume that, before the development of the area south of I27, CR466 was a single-track road, so there might have been no point in linking the two.

Also, the name "Morse Boulevard" suggests that it was built to service The Villages, unless an existing road was renamed.

Is it true that it is maintained by the county? If so, why are there gates at each end?

Thank you

While I cannot answer all of your questions, virtually ALL of the roads in The Villages are county roads, as for the gates, these are usually installed to control traffic at golf cart crossings. THIS IS NOT A GATED COMMUNITY. While I am not sure of all of the arrangements in Marion and Lake counties, the portion of the villages in Sumter county are county roads except for the villas locations, where these are private roads.

Also, Google Earth has a "history" function that allows you to go back about 2 decades (or more) to see that aerial photos for decades ago, this might help.

Yes, I looked at that, thanks VT, but the "new" version is rather confusing as all of the current roads are overlaid on the photo. The old version just showed what was actually there. Turning off the "Roads" makes it look as if it was mainly farmland, with the odd track going across.

Wasn’t all land NNW of 441/27 other side of historical side cow pasture/ farmland? When they development late 70’s and early 80’s when all streets and roads came to be? IMO unless you find some old paper map how else would you know? I seen intergrity plat map shows remains of old historical side lots sales west of Rio grand rec center with lots sold with no development. Probably why that section surrounded by villages not developed? I don’t know it lots been brought out or not?

There’s a series of aerial photos in the Rohan Recreation Center that were taken annually showing the phases of development from the beginning of The Villages. At probably show some of the details that are intriguing.

Why is that? Why would villas be private, but everything else county?

Just a guess: In order to have higher density housing, streets might not be built to standards for right of way, width, or setback

We started to come down to visit friends who lived in The Villages back in 2000. At that time Spanish Springs was the only town center and they were just building along Buena Vista Blvd, around Glenview CC and Lopez CC. And 466 was just a 2 lane country road. So Morse Blvd was just another exit to get out of that section of The Villages. And at that time, The Villages was REALLY a gated community. The entrances for guest were manned and the Residents Only entrances required a Card. There were NO buttons on the gate controls. So to get into The Villages, you had to either go through a manned gate or have a card. And during those first few years, golf carts didn't have lights and had to be off the streets by 6:00 pm. And since Morse Blvd didn't go anywhere but out to 466, the only golf cart traffic along that stretch was just the local residents in that area. Not much car traffic and very little golf carts.

When we came back down and visited our friends in 2001/2002, he inidicated that there was a rumor that they MIGHT be building some houses and a new town center south of 466. And each year we visited following, the main activity was to drive further south and say "I can't believe how far south it is". Then, around 2004 or 2005, when we came down to visit, we learned that Marion County had ruled that since the roads were public, The Villages had to provide access through all of the gates. So they left the gates but installed red buttons on the Residents Only gates. It was a short while later that Sumter County required the same thing and the red buttons were installed everywhere.

And since anyone, residents and visitors, could now use any gate there wasn't any real reason to install a manned gate in the newer sections of The Villages. In addition, I suspect that the Morse family hadn't originally planned on building south of 466, and that has created the current problem with golf cart traffic on that section of Morse Blvd. Just like they hadn't anticipated building south of 44, until they did. And the rest is History !!!!

Maybe we can get one of the people I have met who have lived here all their lives in this area to look at this thread on Talk of the Villages. And I do not mean the various teen, twenty or thirty somethings.

One lady said this was all cow pasture or farms. I am not going to mention her age though as I am likely to run into her again. She has been here most of her life though-- born and raised. Think she also said she was part Seminole or one of other Florida native tribes. She has roots.

There may not be a reason for manned gates down south but they are here nonetheless.

maybe a sales office can give you the info you are looking for. I had heard that Orange Blossom Gardens was the first actual village, built in 1968. All houses were mobile homes. That's where Schwartz lived ( the founder with his son Gary Morse). They had 3 failed tries ( bankruptcies) to establish the villages and met with Levitt ( the founder and builder of Levitown, L.I. for the returning G.I.'s ( WW2 and their families) for help. Eventually had success with the "free golf" concept.

They are not county maintained, and they are not private, they are owned by the CDDs. Why?

Because Villa roads have an inverted crown - they are lower in the middle and have storm drains in the middle of the roads, the opposite of standard roads which are crowned and the storm drains are on both sides.

The county standard is for a road to be crowned as it provides a higher drainage rate and minimizes the water pooling on the road making it safer for traffic flow. The roads in villa communities are all very low utilization roads - a limited number of houses and no through traffic, and all low speed - 10 MPH in ALL villa communities; because of the volume and speed differences they are considered an acceptable alternative.

The Villages villa community roads in unincorporated Sumter County are maintained by the CDDs because of their non-standard configuration.

Why the inverted crown? Because it is less expensive to build as the storm drains do not have to be built on both sides of the road. Looking at the history of the villa communities, they started out as a lower cost alternative to the more traditional home designs in the early days of The Villages. Villa homes built today have changed significantly from the early days and are now similarly priced to many designer and cottage homes but still remain in demand due to two aspects – pets and privacy. These same two factors have also fueled the high demand for the Veranda series of homes that The Villages started making about 10 years ago. The community layout for Veranda subdivisions is nearly identical to the villa communities, so the inverted crown road designs have remained.

Villa & Veranda roads within the city of Wildwood are maintained by Wildwood and not the CDDs or the county. The folks in CDD4 (Marion County) have the financial responsibility for all the roads (villa and non-villa) in that section of the Villages, a very expensive burden.

^ Thank you Don. As always you are the primary authority on many of these inquiries. Thank you for your contributions.

Quote: “ The folks in CDD4 (Marion County) have the financial responsibility for all the roads (villa and non-villa) in that section of the Villages, a very expensive burden.”…
Yeah, right, and it is going up by almost $25 in the next property tax bill. No Starbucks for us for a couple of days…

If you want the history of the villages make a trip to Rohan Rec Center. They have the wall full of drawings of the growth of the villages from day one to 44

I looked up just one example of a home in CDD4. The maintenance assessment was in the neighborhood of $900 while mine in CDD10 is about $620.

- The $900 is quite high compared to mine
- The $25 increase (about 3%) looks like it might be due to inflation
- My $47 increase (7.5%) is more than double inflation

All very interesting - thank you for taking the time to respond

South of 44, most roads are CITY roads (Wildwood and Leesburg). There are some county roads (in Wildwood, Meggison is a Sumter County road but in Leesburg it is a city road - not Lake County). Marsh Bend Trial is Sumter CR 501, for example.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Clearly my idea of "Quick Reply" and TOTV's are different. My comment didn't attach to the post I wanted, and I can't delete it. Aaarrrggghhh.

We moved here in 2021 - and the area at SW of 466A and Powell was farmland back then. There were cows in that area back then and now we have a CVS and a Home Depot!

I would love to see pictures of what the Villages looked like in the early years!

History of The Villages..
The Villages, Florida | encyclopedia article by TheFreeDictionary

More fireside (?) reading, outdated but 100+ fun facts about The Villages….
Over 100 Interesting Facts about The Villages, FL - Google Docs

No maintenance assessments in my neck of the woods.

So a little history trivia: I worked briefly for a shop in The Villages after moving here a few years ago. One of the shop owners was the granddaughter of one of the horse farm owners in the area. She told me about her family history in the area. That area is now the Village of Country Club Hills. There is a road named after her family in the Historic section, as well. South of that was citrus farms (thus, Orange Blossom Gardens). West Boone came out onto 441 (at the Boone Gate), and everything west of that was more horse farms and citrus farms, with a few cow pastures. If I remember correctly - the road we now know as Morse Boulevard existed, but wasn't called that, and wasn't as wide, didn't have golf cart lanes, and obviously didn't go to all those village neighborhoods since they hadn't been built yet and were still farms.

Here's a picture of Orange Blossom Gardens from 1975:
https://www.florida-backroads-travel...ardens1975.jpg

Morse Blvd north of 466 didn’t exist before The Villages built it — the only road fully in place back then was Avenida Central, which shows up on aerials in the early ’90s serving Spanish Springs. CR-466 itself was just a small two-lane rural road, so there was no point in tying it together until The Villages expanded south and west. The first stub of Morse south of 466 appears around the late ’90s, then it was extended northward in stages, with the bridge connection to Avenida Central finished around 2005.

The road today is actually maintained by Sumter County, not privately. The county owns the pavement and bridge, while the Villages’ CDDs handle the landscaping, golf-cart paths, and drainage along the sides. The gates you see at each end aren’t there to restrict access (they legally can’t on a public road) — they’re just traffic-calming devices to slow vehicles and manage the mix of cars and golf carts.
Hope this helps!

Thank you for the history. So interesting.

It is amazing the changes since I drove down Morse Blvd. for the 1st time in 2011. Late afternoon in December and there wasn't much traffic. I was totally amazed when I got to Sumter Landing! And the story continues.

Thank you! Great picture!!!

We moved here in 2010 and enjoyed taking our golf cart down to Colony Cottage and under 466A then to Buena Vista and back north. South of 466A was a building site - I think they were scraping the golf course. Even the homes just north of Colony Cottage - Village of Hadley? - were in various states of completion. We were surprised by the hills along Odell Circle - thought we'd left Florida!

It was a shame when, much later, they started filling in areas between 466 and 466A, rather than just building south of 466A. Mission Hills (just south of 466, off Morse) was a field of cows - I think there used to be buffaloes there? The area to the west of Lake Sumter Landing was also a large open space, but I guess the demand for CYVs was just too loud to be ignored.

My Grandfather owned land here before "The Villages" even existed (small farm). If I come across the pics, I'll post them here.

I lived in Ocala in the late seventies. I remember that the Villages was only mobile homes on the historic side. Unfortunately, I don't remember so much about the rest of the area except that there were pastures and orange groves. My daughter remembers the buffalo.

I will add that Courtyard Villas also have the option of Gravel Landscaping ie: Zero Grass or Turf. Huge option for those who prefer less maintenance.:clap2: