FELLSMERE — Fellsmere historian Clarence “Korky” Korker is once again on a mission – to bring home the five-ton engine that ran the city’s own electric and ice plant in the early 1900s – after telling himself that he was done raising money to preserve and restore the Old Fellsmere School.
“I wasn’t going to get involved in anything else,” the octogenarian said. “But I can’t resist it. It’s a challenge.”
Korker and others in town are forming a group to start raising money to buy the 1917 Fairbanks Morse flywheel engine that was once connected to a generator that powered the electric plant at night and the ice plant during the day.
The power plant was once situated on Community Road, north of where Broadway dead ends, along the old railroad grade. The plant powered the city’s street lights and homes, along with the Old Fellsmere School.
The plant workers would switch the power off and on a few times each night as a warning to residents that the power would be cut off for the night and they should get their kerosene lanterns ready, Korker said.
The plant also produced ice, which meant residents didn’t have to travel north to Melbourne any longer to get it.
Korker envisions a building in which the engine could be displayed – preferably along the railroad grade near where it once called home.
The engine could run at certain times and those walking the trail nearby could peek in and learn a little bit of Fellsmere history.
Korker has the design plans for the original building the city constructed for the power plant and would like to see a replica built.
“This is going to take a lot of money,” Korker conceded, “and a lot of time.”
The engine’s owner, Johnny Perez, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, is willing to part with the engine for $15,000 – essentially what he’s put into restoring the engine over the years.
Perez hauls the engine around the state, displaying at Fly Wheel Association shows and at state fairs. He’s decided that he can only continue to haul and run the engine for a couple more years before his legs totally give out on him, the 84-year-old said.
“I’m an Old Florida boy,” Perez said, explaining why he wants the engine to go back to Fellsmere rather than sell it at a profit to someone out of state.
Florida, he said, didn’t have many large engines – the Fellsmere one was built specifically for Fellsmere’s needs – and he wants to ensure the engine stays in Florida.
In the early 1900s, the City of Fellsmere floated a $10,000 bond to purchase the engine, Korker said, citing articles that ran in the Fellsmere Tribune.
When the engine arrived, Mr. Morse himself (for whom the engine was named) set it up.
The city ran the engine until 1925, when a startup electric company known as Florida Power and Light bought it to run the Belle Glade power plant. Later, FP&L sold the engine to a would-be sawmill operation in the early 1950s.
The operation, positioned in Corbett Preserve west of West Palm Beach, went under before it even got started when the railroad company dismantled its rail spur track in the preserve.
The engine sat unused in a shed structure that eventually rotted and fell down around it, Perez said. In the mid-1990s, a friend of his discovered the engine and he and Perez purchased it.
Perez said his friend wanted to leave the engine precisely as it was – rusted and in bad repair. Perez wanted to fix it up.
Perez won out.
“It was in real bad shape,” Korker said of the engine when Perez got a hold of it.
Years passed and the engine became serviceable. Perez started showing it at fairs and other events. It was during one of the Fly Wheel Association events that someone got a photo of the engine and shared with Korker.
He then went to a show, found the engine – though Perez wasn’t there that particular day – and took his own photos to compare to historical images he had.
Korker left his card with a Fly Wheel member with instructions to pass his information to the engine’s owner.
“I immediately called him back,” Perez said, recalling how he and Korker met. Over the last couple years, Perez and Korker have forged a strong friendship, each often traveling to see the other and talk history.
Perez has become a fan of Fellsmere.
“It’s a nice little town,” he said.
It’s that connection to Fellsmere that has helped cement Perez’s decision to sell the engine to the city rather than to someone else for double the amount.
Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker said the city has to be cautious in making guarantees regarding the engine.
“We’re stretched a little thin,” he said of the city’s finances.
However, he said the city could help Korker and others in fund-raising, much like the city did for the Old Fellsmere School. He said the city would be looking for potential grants that could help secure a site or construct a building for the engine.
“We thought it’d be a good destination,” Nunemaker said of talking to Korker about displaying the engine in the city.
Where it could be located remains to be determined – there could be property available along the Rails to Trails right of way; there’s space near the Marian Fell Library though the city wants to reserve that space for historic buildings; and there’s a city-owned property on the south side of S. Carolina between Broadway and Myrtle that could be a possibility.
Korker said he would like to hear from anyone who has an interest in taking on the endeavor of bringing the old engine back to Fellsmere.
Those who would like to help organize the effort or would like to donate to the cause can email Clarence “Korky” Korker at korkykorker@gmail.com.