The home of a midwife who helped to deliver over 1,500 babies in Orange County is likely to be named a historic Local Landmark by the City of Orlando.
Mary Jane Johnson, who also assisted underprivileged mothers and elderly women in the area, was a renowned midwife in the county and practiced her whole life up until her death at 80 years old in the early 1980s. She learned the trade from her mother and grandmother and was heard to say that the skill was a “gift handed down from God.”
Her home, located at 1502 Bruton Boulevard [GMap] by Clear Lake, was ground zero for the majority of those births, and as such, it has been nominated by the current property owners to be listed as an official Orlando Local Historic Landmark to aid in protecting it from future demolition or redevelopment.
The home, which was built in 1925, was further nominated by the Historic Preservation Board on May 5, 2021, and seconded by City Council on January 10, 2022, in large part because of the lack of representation for historic designations on the west side of Orlando and local Black heritage sites and those that focus on women in Orlando’s history.
I am a grandson of Mary Jane Johnson
Thank you, Brendan! I love Black history especially history from this area that I now call home. Great article.
Hope they save it! Also want to know what happened to the bust of Rev Martin Luther King, Jr at the Tinker Field Memorial behind Camping World. Used to take my grandchildren there on MLK’s birthday but it has been missing since they had that soccer thing this past summer.