HISTORY: West Orange County of yesteryear for the week of Aug. 1, 2024

OLD TIMES / THE WAYS WE WERE

Excerpts from the newspaper archives:

80 years ago

Stamps numbered 30, 31 and 32 in Ration Book 4 were good for five pounds of sugar indefinitely.

At the annual 4-H girls camp at Camp McQuarrie near Ocala, 22 of the 109 campers were from West Orange. Betty Barrs of Windermere won first place in handicrafts for her work on place cards. Sarah Lou Jones and Helen Jones of Orlando and Windermere were first prizes for their dolls handmade from socks, while Mary Cornell of Orlando won first place for her victory mittens. Darline Fischer’s cat won a first prize also.

One of the best productions screened at the Winter Garden Theater lately and shown to a capacity crowd was “Show Business,” produced by Eddie Cantor. Manager C.M. Biggers was to be congratulated for giving the theater-going public the best photoplays, features and news.

Rosa Mae McGinchy, while serving drinks at the Davis Pharmacy fountain, slipped and badly lacerated her right hand with a broken glass. Dr. Flanigan dressed the wound, and she was recovering nicely.

Pfc. Thelbert F. Peavey arrived to spend a month’s leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Peavey, in Ocoee. He had been overseas for more than two years and had seen combat duty.

70 years ago

The home of Mrs. Bert Roper on Lake Butler was the scene of a lovely dessert bridge-canasta party, with Mrs. Jim Bock as co-hostesses with Roper.

Mr. and Mrs. Bob Kerr and children went on a vacation that took them as far west as Iowa.

50 years ago

Lowell Teal of Winter Garden was named West Orange chairman of the United Appeal campaign.

45 years ago

Jill Pitchford Dunn was the honored guest at a baby shower given by Mary Farnsworth and Carol Mathews.

35 years ago

The board of trustees of the West Orange Hospital System approved the purchase of 38 acres in Ocoee to build a new hospital and medical offices.

Gene Murphy of Windermere renewed acquaintance with Bob Hope at a Republican Party Statesman’s Dinner. Murphy first met Hope 45 years prior when Hope was entertaining troops during World War II in Reykjavik, Iceland. They met again in 1975 at the Academy Awards in Hollywood when Murphy was in the Eastman Kodak Hollywood office.

30 years ago

The West Orange Chamber of Commerce awarded Main Street Winter Garden for its efforts to revitalize downtown Winter Garden. Kim Dryfoos, MSWG director, received a Member of the Month plaque.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

AUG. 7, 1969

School is back in session later this month, and parents will be shopping for clothes and school supplies. In 1969, Leader Department Store, 50 W. Plant St., advertised its back-to-school sale in The Winter Garden Times.

Imagine paying $1.99 for a pair of girls’ or women’s Keds today or up to $5 on your choice of spring and summer flats, sandals and dress show? How about $1.99 to $2.99 for children’s dresses or $3 for men’s or boys’ shoes? The store also offered a table full of clothing odds and ends for a buck apiece.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

It’s August, the beginning of an arbitrary season often referred to as “the dog days.” That term began with the ancient Greeks with the constellation that appears in the summer sky: Canis Major, “Greater Dog.” This star grouping contains the brightest star in the sky — the “dog star” known as Sirius. Greek astrology associates Sirius with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs and bad luck.

Dr. John Cappleman’s beagle, Sugar, doesn’t seem concerned with any of those things in this photograph taken around 1965 on North Highland Avenue between Henderson and Newell streets. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, seen faintly in the background, once stood at 127 N. Highland.