This week in West Orange County history: July 6, 2023

OLD TIMES

90 years ago

L.A. Stevens of the better food store in Winter Garden advertised the following: 3 pounds of neck bones for 16 cents, 2 pounds of spareribs for 15 cents, 5 pounds of sugar for 23 cents and Campbell’s Pork and Beans for 5 cents.

85 years ago

On account of the heavy expense of operating the swimming pool, the city of Winter Garden placed a charge of 10 cents per person for swimming in the pool on Sundays and Thursdays.

The Sunshine Home Laundry, located at Fleming’s Corner in Winter Garden, advised its customers of the following prices: Bachelor Finish, for all wearing apparel, 20 cents a pound; Family Finish, clothing, 15 cents a pound, and flat work, 8 cents a pound; Rough Dry, 5 cents a pound; and Wets, 4 cents a pound.

50 years ago

Bobby Ficquette led Winter Park Post 112 all the way to the regionals in American Legion baseball action and chalked up some impressive stats on the way. Ficquette, Trinity Prep’s ace moundsman, topped off his second year of legion baseball by leading his team to an 18-5 record and a first place in the district.

The city of Winter Garden introduced a bold new concept for refuse collection with the delivery of a “hobo” to each homeowner. The containers were dog-proof and weather-proof, mounted on wheels, and carried as much refuse as three or four regular trash cans.

West Orange Library was featuring the films “Clown” and “Hailstones and Halibut Bones.”

45 years ago

Bret Traywick, 11, won a 10-speed bicycle donated by the West Orange Kiwanis Club, and Mark Holland, 12, won a camera donated by the Focal Point Camera Shop in a Bike-A-Thon organized by the Kiwanis Club on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

New officers and directors of the Lions Club Auxiliary were Ruth Holley, Pauline Dees, Betty Duppenthaler, Marjorie Deariso, Allie Hagan, Enta Thompson, Peggy Valdes, Beulah Zeigler, Wilma Maiberg, Betty Hawthorne and Mary Vanlandingham.

30 years ago

Helen Dewey Vick Mathews, 95, died. She had been a member of Oakland Presbyterian Church since childhood, was a registered nurse, owned Colonial Corners Florist Shop in Winter Garden and served as mayor of Oakland in the 1940s and ’50s.

Health officials issued a medical alert to residents in the southwest corner of Orange County regarding Eastern equine encephalitis, a mosquito-borne viral illness that principally affects horses but can affect humans.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

JULY 2, 1954

The Winter Garden Times ran an advertising page in 1954 for business owners who wanted to remind residents of their services on a weekly basis.

Citizens could call 363 Blue to request a 24-hour wrecker service through Traywick’s Garage, get watches and other jewelry repaired at downtown’s Pittman Jewelry, phone 307 to inquire about Highfill Dry Cleaners, get a free demonstration of the sensational new Philco TV (with no obligation) at Bradford Furniture Co., and a chance to see the new Jacobsen lawn edger at Bob Kerr Marine Service on the new Highway 50.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

A gathering of local residents posed for this 1935 setting taken at either Mrs. Williams’ home at Black Lake in Ocoee or possibly Mrs. Dillard’s in Tildenville. Back, Madge Robinson, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Simmons, Mattie Simmons, Rosie Lee Nolen, Mrs. Weir and Mrs. Dillard; front, David Robinson, Carol Simmons, Arthur Paul Nolen, Molly Nolen, Mary Virginia Dillard and Aunt Kate Kilgore. Many of the surnames resound today in Orange County history.

Thanks to Charlotte Dickerson Marchant, who recently donated a slew of newspaper clippings, photographs and brochures to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation archive.