This week in history

OLD TIMES

85 years ago

A surprising opinion was handed down by Attorney Gen. Cary D. Landis, who rules that Sunday movies are illegal in Florida.

50 years ago

The officers and directors of the West Orange Youth Center Association are looking to raise funds to carry out their plans for the year. New officers are Charles McMillan, president; Jimmy Pitchford, vice president; Gertrude Britt, secretary; Bob Moore, treasurer. Elected to serve two-year terms are George Howard, Mabel Fenwick and Virginia Bradford. Serving one-year terms are Virginia Cappleman and George Barley.

40 years ago

Construction of Dr. Phillips Elementary School has just been started.

A reception was given by the PTA of Dillard Street and Winter Garden elementary schools in honor of their new principal, Jefferson “Jake” Voss.

35 years ago

The District XIV All Stars, with four Ocoee players in the lineup, earned the chance to represent the South in the Big League World Series. Locals are Randy Lee, Brent Hazen, Dean Hazen and Brent Casteel, all of Ocoee.

30 years ago

Jean Grafton, a 14-year employee of the city of Ocoee, was appointed city clerk.

10 years ago

Orange County Public Schools students attended the first day of school in the new year before having classes canceled on Tuesday because of the threat of Tropical Storm Fay.

Deputy Chief Charlie Brown, a 16-year veteran of the Ocoee Police Department, was appointed police chief of Ocoee.

The West Orange Times’ 2008 high-school football preview included information on the local public-school teams plus quotes from their head coaches: Chip Petree at West Orange, Dale Salapa at Dr. Phillips, Clint Moles at Ocoee High and Bob Head at Olympia.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The Winter Garden Times

Sept. 2, 1971

In the 1970s, nearly every little girl in West Orange County who wanted to be a ballerina went to Ruth Wood School of Dance for dance instruction. The dance teacher turned part of her house in Ocoee into a dance studio, with a side waiting room for the mothers of the young dancers.

Recitals were held at Tanner Auditorium, now Tanner Hall, at Newton Park in Winter Garden. Before its renovations, the Tanner had a large wooden stage to showcase Wood’s dancers.

FROM THE WGHF ARCHIVES

None of the young women has been identified in this 1928 photograph of Miss Bartlet’s Ocoee High School freshman Home Economics class.

The students attended the original school building, constructed in 1927, demolished in 2000 and replaced by Ocoee Middle School; high school students attended West Orange High. In 2005, a brand-new Ocoee High School rose in Crown Point, a former citrus-growing community in the city’s northwest. Donated to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation by the Bennett family, it is among many hundreds of images depicting Ocoee’s early years. Call the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation at (407) 656-3244 to help with identification.