HISTORY: West Orange County of yesteryear for the week of Aug. 15, 2024

OLD TIMES / THE WAYS WE WERE

Excerpts from the newspaper archives:

80 years ago

The 20-acre citrus grove on the Zellwood-Rock Springs Road was purchased by M.G. Britt Produce Co., of Winter Garden, from R.T. and Fannie M. Carlton for the consideration of $12,000.

Capt. Edwin H. Pounds of Ocoee was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters at a Ninth Air Force fighter station in Europe. Pounds flew the P-47 Thunderbolt.

Cpl. Charles Hawthorne of Ocoee and Pvt. Theodore B. Tyndall of Winter Garden graduated from the AAF Training Comand’s Flexible Gunnery School at Buckingham Field, Fort Myers.

70 years ago

Mrs. Fred Cross returned from a visit through the New England states and Canada.

Winter Garden announced two new businesses. Ned Vick Inc. opened an air-conditioning and service store at 15 N. Boyd St. and a sheet metal plant just south of the T&G Railroad.

50 years ago

Ora Burgess, Florida Telephone’s chief operator, retired 27 years after she first said, “Number, please.”

45 years ago

West Orange Lumber Co. in Oakland was sold, but customers need not worry about any change in the quality of the merchandise and service. Ward Britt Sr. sold the building supply business to his son Neil, a 1971 graduate of Lakeview High School.

40 years ago

Billie Jo Hudson, of Ocoee, was one of Central Florida’s 15 talented, attractive contestants for the 1985 Miss Florida/USA pageant title.

35 years ago

School bells rang for tens of thousands of Orange County students. In West Orange County, West Orange High School Principal Joe Worsham was expecting more than 2,500 students this school year. At Dr. Phillips High School, the only other public high school in the area, Principal Bill Spoone was looking at an enrollment of 3,600.

Orange Tree Cinema was showing “Uncle Buck” nightly, with matinees Saturday and Sunday. The one-theater cinema was making plans for upcoming films: “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “Parenthood” and “Lethal Weapon 2.”

30 years ago

Families were invited to Orange County’s most progressive single project to date with the grand opening of the West Orange Trail. The celebration of the first 4.6-mile segment of the scenic, multi-use, recreational trail was held in downtown Oakland with a community picnic, antique bicycle displays, live musical performances, Orange County Historical Museum exhibits and more.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made plans to host an open house and tour of its new 70,000-square-foot temple on Windy Ridge Road. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for non-Mormons to visit a Latter-day Saints temple. It was built on 13 acres overlooking Lake Down to accommodate 120,000 members of the Mormon Church.

20 years ago

Hurricane Charley came right through Orange County after gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico and making an unexpected right-hand turn at Sanibel Island and Port Charlotte. Charley blew through here with winds at the center of its eye reaching more than 105 mph. This was the most damaging hurricane to hit Florida since Andrew devastated South Florida in 1992. It also was the first major storm to hit Central Florida since Donna in 1960. West Orange County had significant damage in Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Winter Garden, MetroWest and Gotha.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

AUGUST 17, 1989

It’s back-to-school time this week in 2024, just as it was in 1989. The Winter Garden Regional Shopping Center advertised several of its shops and their fall savings.

At Ton’s Jewelry, high school seniors could spend their final year sporting an Art Carved class ring that included free custom features for $54.95.

Southern Footwear, formerly Skip’s, was holding a super sneaker sale with Avia for $29.99, Docksiders for $16.99 and Nike for $19.99.

All school supply needs could be taken care of at Six Star Factory Outlet, which offered big savings on notebooks, clipboards, paper, pens and pencils, carrying cases, scissors, rulers, and compasses, as well as toys, housewares, makeup, gifts and stationery.

Once they hit all these stores, shoppers could stop by Niccoli’s for a discounted sub or a free pizza topping.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

Cub Scout Pack 210 visited the Winter Garden Heritage Museum in September 2000. The visit was sponsored by the First United Methodist Church of Winter Garden, which also sponsors the scouts.

At top are Tim Gooch (Wolf leader), Hannah Hughes and Randy Schuster (Wolf leader).  The youngsters are Annie Gooch in white T-shirt; Nathaniel Rosa, brothers Ronnie Thornton Jr. and Jonathon Thornton, and Andrew Gooch; Michael Hughes and Joshua Johnstone; and Ryan Shultz, Michael Shuster and David Boyden.

The heritage museum’s archive of scouting photos and artifacts is growing and will be featured in a museum exhibit in late 2025.