Conant, Florida, once a thriving community started
by a firm named Hollinshead, Dunning and Spaight, was named after
Sherman Conant, one of the financiers of the Florida Southern
Railroad.
Structures in the town included a 3-story hotel; the Osbern House, a
ladies' finishing school built in 1884; the McLean Farm; a post
office; Conant's General Store; and numerous nice homes.
Conant should have been a successful town of today with its
promising start, but all that marks the site of the once flourishing
town is a railroad sign. According to Lake County historian, William
T. Kennedy, the demise of the town occurred because the promoters
were snobbish and did not accept people who did their own work or
who sent children to a public school. The sincere hard-working
people who comprised most of the town's population moved to more
congenial towns. The spacious hotel, suffering from lack of guests,
was sold and torn down. The timber was transported to southern
Florida to build a new hotel. Conant is the only town known for this
practice of snobbery; the spirit of most thriving communities was
comradeship, helpfulness and hospitality.
After Lady Lake was incorporated in 1925, the area previously known
as Conant became a part of the town.