Any resident or frequent visitor to Wilton Manors likely drives past it at least once a week and never notices or thinks twice. It sits unassumingly nestled among the trees in Richardson Park on Wilton Drive. We’re talking about the Carriage House, which is the first building you drive past when you enter the parking lot.

It was built in 1925 and the Wilton Manors Historical Society (WMHS) is marking the 100th anniversary since E.J. Willingham became the first person to plat what would become Wilton Manors. During a ceremony on Nov. 20, they unveiled two markers that explain the building’s significance, as well as rededicating a stone urn stand that sits in the parking lot but was covered by overgrowth. The markers were designed by Ron Ulm.

“What a theme this brings to Wilton Manors of comfortable and caring,” lifelong resident and current Mayor Scott Newton said. “If you look at what we’ve done with the Carriage House is amazing.”

Willingham’s efforts in 1925 were wiped out a year later by a hurricane, and his vision was further hampered by the Great Depression. However, the seed he planted eventually blossomed into the city of Wilton Manors.

“He left a lasting mark,” WMHS President Mary Ulm said in her opening remarks.

Willingham’s original home was demolished in the 1980s, but the Carriage House survived and was renovated in 2013. The new markers and attention to the urn stand are tactile connections to the city’s past and, like Willingham’s original vision, serve as a jumping off point for the city’s future.

Photo by John Hayden.