Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainSeminole County's only legal hanging took place behind this 1887 firehouse — the convicted man reportedly never left
109 S Palmetto Ave, Sanford, FL 32771
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Accessible as a stop on the Sanford Ghost Tour; tour ticket required. Building itself is a private residence.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat downtown sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1887 · First Fire Station in Sanford · Site of Only Legal Execution in Seminole County · 1923 Hanging of Percy Bayliss
The brick building at 109 South Palmetto Avenue went up in 1887 as Sanford's first purpose-built fire station. At three stories, it was more than a firehouse: the upper floor held office space, a jail, and a courtroom — a common multi-use arrangement in small municipal buildings of the era that consolidated civic functions under one roof.
On March 30, 1923, Percy Bayliss was hanged in the open ground directly behind the station. Bayliss had been convicted of murdering James Cleveland Jacobs, 28, a deputy. The execution was conducted by the county rather than the state, and it remains the only recorded legal hanging in Seminole County history. Bayliss died before Florida switched its official method of execution to electrocution in 1924.
The third-floor courtroom and jail were removed in 1928 when structural assessments found the upper level compromised. The first and second floors continued in various municipal uses before the building eventually transitioned to residential occupancy. A former resident named Barbara Farrell reported hearing footsteps pacing above her in the building's upper areas at night.
Sources
The paranormal account attached to the old fire station is narrow and specific, which is what makes it worth noting. Barbara Farrell, who at some point occupied the converted second-floor apartment, reported hearing footsteps pacing in the floors above her after dark. The area corresponding to those sounds is the space that once held the jail and courtroom — where Percy Bayliss would have been confined in the period leading up to his March 30, 1923 hanging.
The Orange County Regional History Center documented this and other haunted accounts of downtown Sanford in a history-center publication, lending the claim a degree of archival framing it might not otherwise have. The building appears regularly on Sanford ghost tours as the execution site and the only location in the county where a legal hanging was carried out.
The structure is now privately owned and not open to the public. Tour groups view the exterior and hear the history from the sidewalk. No formal paranormal investigation has been published for this building.
Notable Entities
Walking ghost tour of Historic Downtown Sanford covering the fire station, the execution site behind the building, and other haunted locations along the lakefront district. Operated by US Ghost Adventures.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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