Ellinor Village - A Bit Of History

You wouldn’t know it today, but the largest family resort in Florida in the 1940s and 1950s was right here in Ormond Beach. Merrill Ellinor with his brother Byron built 660 “cottages” and apartments in Ormond Beach in the 40s. Elinor Village resort opened on May 1, 1949 with triplexes, duplexes and single family units for rent.

The resort was a real family destination with plenty of activities for kids and adults alike. Then in 1951, Merrill Ellinor purchased what is today the golf course at Oceanside Country Club. The golf course was orginally part of the Ormond Hotel. He renamed the course the Ellinor Village Country Club. 1962, the club was sold to the new Oceanside Country Club Corporation.

Today the Ormond Hotel is gone. The Ormond Heritage condominiums now sit on the site. The original cupola from the hotel sits in a riverside park across from the condos. However, the legacy of Ellinor Village remains. The history of Ellinor Village is rich and the duplexes and triplexes that the Ellinor’s built have been modernized and renovated into beautiful homes and rental units. The properties were built rock solid with construction that just can’t be duplicated today.

In 1954 the Mrs. America contest was held at Ellinor Village, which attracted nationwide publicity.

Ellinor Village was sold to Milton Pepper, a local developer in the late 1950s. Pepper was also the man who bought the Ormond Hotel and then built the Ormond Heritage after the city of Ormond Beach would not let him restore the historic hotel. Pepper sold Ellinor Village in the late 1970s and it became a housing development.

Spent a couple of vacations there with my family, right at the beach. My how times have changed........like a/c with a fan rather than a fan and no a/c. Still I would like to have some of those days back to live over again.