In 1881, the Hannibal Square neighborhood was built to house to Black families who worked for white residents and visitors and in the railroad or service industry.
[1] In 1936, Mertie Graham Grover, a former teacher, was hit by a car and killed in Winter Park.
[2] Her husband, Rollins College professor Dr. Edwin O. Grover, started a fund to build a library in her memory in the Hannibal Square neighborhood that would serve the Black residents who were barred by segregation laws from using the county library.
In 1955, a children's room was added, funded with donations of time, labor and money.
[3] The Hannibal Square building was moved to a place behind the Winter Park Community Center.