ACV History
A Legacy of Compassion
Many in Suwannee County made their fortunes from timber products during the early 1900s, including Thomas Dowling, and Richard W. Sears, co-founder of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Mr. Dowling was the first person in Florida to own an automobile, and he built the first water works in the area. The water tower that he built still stands in Live Oak, FL and is the oldest one still in operation in the United States today.
In 1908, after building the Live Oak, Perry, and Gulf Railroad (popularly 
known as the “Loping Gopher”) to serve his sawmill and later freight and passenger traffic, Mr. Dowling moved his lumber mill to the west side of the County. The community that eventually evolved from it became Dowling Park. Mr. Dowling’s sawmill was one of the two largest sawmills in Florida (the other was also located within Suwannee County). By 1910, Dowling Park consisted of several stores, a resort hotel, a railroad depot, the lumber company’s administrative building, 73 tenant houses for sawmill workers, and several large homes along the river for prominent members of the community.
Dowling gave a 120-acre tract of land to the Advent Christian denomination, to which he belonged, with the intention of contributing 
additional acreage. The plan was for the property to be used as a campground. Shortly after this, Richard Sears bought the holdings of the Dowling Lumber Company, including the sawmill in Dowling Park and several thousand acres of Florida timberland. Thomas Dowling died before conveying all the land he intended to give to the Advent Christian church, but Sears, knowing of Dowling’s wishes, contributed the full 1,000 acres. He sold much of the remaining timberland through the Sears and Roebuck catalog.
In 1912, Thomas Dowling’s pastor, Rev. Burr Bixler, received a heartrending plea from a dying widow in Georgia for an Advent Christian orphanage so that her sons could be placed there. There was no such orphanage, but placement was found with a loving family. Later that year, Rev. Bixler recommended to the Campground Board that since the campground idea had not found sympathy with the Advent Christian people, they might instead use the property to establish an American Advent Christian Orphanage. In conjunction with the orphanage, he also recommended that a home be built for “aged and worn-out workers (ministers and missionaries) and their wives.” Work began immediately to convert a half-constructed building into the first children’s home.
Upon the completion of the children’s building in 1913, five children — Colene, James, Ted, Eula and Rena Setzer from Ferguson, N.C. moved to the orphanage when their mother died in childbirth. Their father was unable to care for his children due to health concerns. Ruth Brown, Burr Bixler’s sister-in-law was their “matron.” The first retiree, Henry Smith, took up residence there in July 1914. Consequently, the first retirement home in Florida was founded. Word spread, and by 1919, the Home and Orphanage reported a total of fifty children and twelve retirees.
It took a lot of faith to keep the Home and Orphanage running. Rev. Bixler kept the dream alive, even through fires that destroyed the children’s building, the Depression, floods and severe economic shortages. Advent Christian churches from across the country generously supported the ministry, and continue to do so.
Through the years, the ministry has survived and thrived, taking on slightly different forms and challenging different leaders. However, even after 95+ years, the mission remains the same, to express Christ’s love through service to others.