This week in West Orange County history

OLD TIMES

85 years ago

There was a large crowd of children and adults at the Halloween party given by the Windermere Women’s Club. Prizes for costumes were won by Bobby Turner, Grace Tyner, Jerry Vihlen, Mary Ann Seidner, Bobby Lee Jones, Phyllis Madsen, Agnes Price and William Bronson.

80 years ago

Mr. and Mrs. Tell Minor entertained at dinner Sunday for the 15th birthday of their son, Miles.

Mrs. Ed Sessions entertained members of the Emily Webb Circle of the Methodist church in her home.

Mrs. J.C. Sayer entertained Monday honoring her son, David, on his fourth birthday. Invited were Bob and Britt Rogers; Austin Peele; Johnnie Rogers; Tommy Britt; Sam, Ben and Bill Carpenter; Jimmie McCord; Billy Britt; Jim Aitken; Billy Bob Davis; and Fritz and Gus Harter.

75 years ago

The Leader Department Store in Winter Garden announced Miss Joan Howard was the winner of the Doris Dodson Limerick Contest conducted at the store. All winners will be forwarded to New York for entry in the national contest.

Misses Trina Stanford and Frances Jane Stulck, sophomores and roommates at Florida State College for Women, were home visiting their parents.

70 years ago

The children in Mrs. Ina Henderson’s first-grade class at Winter Garden Elementary were given a party by a group of mothers. Immediately after school, the little folks were carried to the home of Steve Akin. Among the others attending were Bea Deariso, Sandra Austin, Kay Heidt, Frances Kilgore, Betty Jo Griffin, Patty Sanders, Linda Rees, Peggy Watford, Mike Fiedler, Ricky Valdes, Tommy Zeigler, Hugh Lee, Willard Brannon, Ronnie Borgard, Teddy Thompson and Donald Lau.

50 years ago

Women’s Lib took a setback in the Windermere election as Don Greer, George Williams and Sam Zeigler won the available Town Council seats. Eleanor Evans came within four votes of winning, however. Dean Kinzey was unopposed for mayor.

The citizens of Ocoee gave Mayor Hubert Fox a solid vote of confidence, returning him to office for another two years.

40 years ago

George Bailey, publisher of The Times, was the outgoing president of the Florida Press Association.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

NOV. 1, 1979

Remember the thrill of seeing your name in the phone book for the first time as an adult? It somehow made you feel legitimate. And it practically was the only way to find the phone number of the person you wanted to call.

In the Nov. 1, 1979, issue of The Winter Garden Times, Florida Telephone (United Telephone System) advertised the deadline for submitting additions or changes in the next edition of the phone book, for residential and business accounts, and its yellow pages.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

To mark Saturday’s Winter Garden Heritage & Music Festival, here’s one of the oldest images preserved in the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation archive. It shows Plant Street around 1905, when wooden buildings fronted a dirt road.

The view is looking east along Plant Street; the two-story Dillard & Boyd store standing at the southwest corner of the intersection with Main Street was replaced with a brick structure — today’s Bond Building — after a 1912 fire leveled the business center. To the right of the store are structures that house various businesses today.

The city of Winter Garden has been instrumental in helping the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation to collect and preserve West Orange County’s history. The archive is available to researchers, students, genealogists and historians. Call (407) 656-3244 to make an appointment or to share a part of your history.