Incorporated in 1925, Keystone Heights, in the sand hills of southwestern Clay County, was founded by the Lawrence family. The community’s name was shrewdly selected to attract investors and settlers from their home state of Pennsylvania, which designated itself the “Keystone State.”

One of the first projects was the building of a gracefully appointed inn, a bath house and dance pavilion with convenient access to Lake Geneva. The project was so immediately popular that some of the newest residents camped in tents while their homes were completed.

The gracious Keystone Inn soon provided accommodations for both settlers waiting for permanent homes and tourists who visited for varying periods of time to enjoy swimming, hunting and fishing.

Dancing at the pavilion and weekly moving picture shows were popular with both residents and tourists of all ages.

They invited the members of the Florida Press Association, attending their annual convention in neighboring Gainesville, to come for a day jaunt in Keystone. The members of the press enjoyed a little tour with lots of spirits and dining in the Keystone Inn and a cruise on the lake in the development company’s power launch.

With their presence announced statewide, the Lawrences began a sophisticated marketing plan to recruit winter visitors and permanent settlers from the North with color brochures and stereopticon presentation sets.

In a brochure produced by the freshly organized Board of Trade, climate was a primary focus swiftly followed by touting the opportunities for year-round agriculture and construction rather than the annual hibernation required by bitter cold and snow to the roof line during much of the winter in the North. Unmentioned was the sweltering heat of Florida’s summer dog days and instead they proclaimed “… an invigorating climate of sunshine and refreshing breezes all the year round – it’s spring’s hometown.”

Potential settlers were also made aware of Florida’s constitutional amendment barring the possibility of state inheritance and income taxes. In Pennsylvania and neighboring states living or dying cost hard earned money.

In keeping with the popular interest in good health through diet and exercise, promoters of Keystone Heights emphasized the advantages and convenience of fishing, swimming and boating in Lake Geneva and nearby lakes. Of course, it didn’t hurt that resident’s and visitor’s letters sent home dripped with tales of ten-pound bass and easily accessible woods filled with small game.

The community also boasted of an electric light and water plant, graded clay streets and concrete sidewalks on the main streets. A school building offered elementary and high school subjects and a community church. Not only could residents claim a Woman’s Club but they had already raised funds and built a club house.

That Board of Trade publication from 1925 made a lot of claims that some might question but for certain Keystone Heights remains “…an ideal place to live, work and play in the company of thrifty and intelligent citizens.”