This week in West Orange County history

OLD TIMES

80 years ago

All Orange County school children had to be within the boundaries of the county two weeks prior to the opening of school due to polio and other diseases.

The engagement of Miss Doris Tyson to Clarence Heidt, son of Mr. and Mrs. T.E. Heidt of Winter Garden, was announced by Mr. and Mrs. T.W. Tyson of Barton. Friends of the couple were invited to attend the wedding Sept. 7 in Barton.

70 years ago

Cpl. Tom Raden, who had returned from Korea, received his discharge at Camp Rucker, Alabama. Following his discharge, Raden and his wife spent a few days at Safety Harbor and Clearwater.

Miss Jackie Humphries, former student at Lakeview High, was made secretary to Principal James Garland at the school.

George Bray, Tye Youngblood, Malcolm McMillan and Elmer Youngblood spent the week deep-sea fishing in the gulf.

45 years ago

Robyne Teal, West Orange High School’s drum major, won first place in the drum major competition at the Heart of Dixie Halftime Camp held at Auburn University.

YMCA Director Ben Hargrove made plans for the kickoff dance at the West Orange Youth Center in Winter Garden with Teen Council officers Wes Rutherford, president, and Marcia Roberson, vice president.

30 years ago

It was back to school for thousands of local students, including the 1,350 pupils who would be attending the new Southwest Middle. Two new principals were announced at local schools, as well: Sarah Jane Turner at West Orange High and Jennifer Reeves at Ocoee Middle.

20 years ago

Orange County Public Schools celebrated the opening of a new relief high school, Olympia, in West Orange County.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Aug. 19, 1971

School has started! Do you have all your back-to-school outfits? If you were a student in August 1971, then you might have hit up Griffin’s Menswear on Plant Street for the latest fashions. Did you wear the Jarman shoe brand? Your options were chocolate brown or honeycomb in styles such as The Rube, Desert Boots, The Primitive and The Klunk.

Griffin’s Menswear was a frequent advertiser in The Winter Garden Times.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

This south-to-north (from left to right) view of Tildenville School Road was photographed from the South Lake Apopka Citrus Growers Association’s water tower almost a century ago. The beautiful Luther Willis Tilden home, known today as Meadow Marsh, is seen at upper left. Continuing north along the road, the structures at lower left no longer stand, though a barn constructed shortly afterward by the Hurley family survives today. The small buildings on the west side of the road are long gone; the structure at left was owned by the Sam Williams family, and the one at the right was possibly expanded as the two-story dorm for packinghouse workers. (The South Lake packinghouse is to the far right, out of view.) The large field, planted with rows of vegetables, was partly sold to South Lake for the site of an office that was built around 1925; it still stands today at the repurposed complex.