DeLand has had six depots since rail started coming to the city in 1884. The first depot was built on the east end of the branch on West New York Avenue in 1885 by the Orange Ridge, DeLand and Atlantic Railroad. The second depot was built at the junction around 1890 by the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad. The third was built at the end of the spur line to serve the College Arms Hotel and was both a passenger and freight depot—wealthy northerners often shipped their automobiles via baggage car, and took them off there. The fourth depot was constructed between 1891 and 1895 for the orange grower and university founder, John B. Stetson, on North Spring Garden Avenue so that he could ship oranges more easily. The present Amtrak facility is the sixth and only surviving depot.

In 1874, Captain John Rich built a cabin in Persimmon Hollow to the east of the St. Johns River in an area that would become the city of DeLand. Henry Addison DeLand, a baking soda magnate from Fairport, N.Y., visited the Rich family and envisioned a citrus, agricultural and tourism center, and so he bought land and founded the town. He sold his New York business, hired people to clear the land and lay out streets and recruit settlers, most of whom came from upstate New York. Incorporated in 1882, the city became the seat of Volusia County in 1887.

Henry DeLand established the DeLand Academy in 1883 to enhance the community’s culture and stature, as well as encourage the land development boom. However, the momentous freeze of 1885 destroyed the orange crop, rendering the land almost worthless. Returning to his home in the north, DeLand entrusted the school to his friend, Philadelphia hat manufacturer John B. Stetson. In 1889, the school was renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of its chief patron, later just Stetson University. In 1900, it became the first law school in Florida.