HISTORY: West Orange County of yesteryear for week of Oct. 17, 2024

OLD TIMES / THE WAYS WE WERE

80 years ago

All of the Winter Garden schools reopened after a week’s holiday caused by the recent hurricane.

Winter Garden was a beehive of industry when the citrus fruit season opened full blast. Sixty cars of the new crop had been loaded out by midweek, with coloring rooms filled to capacity at practically all of the seven packing houses in the city.

Transfer papers of 80 acres of property in the extreme southwest section of Orange County for $13,000 between members of the Britt family were filed in the county clerk’s office.

The voters registration books closed, reported Mrs. J.F. Keller, in charge of the books for the Winter Garden precinct, and about five percent of the 1,200 votes were Republicans. The precinct included Tildenville and Gotha.

Men over age 38 who were anxiously watching the mailbox to learn of their final disposition under National Selective Service were able to relax and continue their civilian work with the assurance they were in the age group not acceptable for induction for military service.

55 years ago

The teen council of the West Orange Youth Center had a busy season with four successful dances being held. The decorating committee, with chair Becca Ball, Wes Rutherford, Joann Twinam and Shatauka Brown, painted a fabulous Peter Max-style mural. Also on the committee were Kathy Ellis, Nanette Ball, Lenore Hart and Kathy Daniels. They worked under the supervision of Betty Burch.

50 years ago

The First Baptist Church in Windermere dedicated its new worship center. Pastor Gordon Smith delivered the dedication message. The new 12,000-square-foot structure consisted of a 500-seat sanctuary, a fellowship hall and kitchen, nursery and preschool Sunday school departments, a choir room, and an office suite.

Bill Breeze of Ocoee was installed as president of the West Orange Chamber of Commerce.

20 years ago

The town of Windermere broadened its local-traffic-only zone by three streets. The town instituted the zone in response to pleas by residents who were seeing an increase in traffic in front of their homes on the side streets. Motorists wanting to avoid congestion on the main streets were venturing into the residential portions of town.

For many years the West Orange Youth Center was the place to find local junior high and high school students on Friday nights. The center closed its doors in the spring, but the Winter Garden Recreation Department took over hosting monthly dances at Tanner Hall for middle-schoolers.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

OCTOBER 24, 1974

There once was a time — long before the days of immediate contact through social media — when your name, address and telephone number were printed and distributed for all the world to see.

Florida Telephone announced in an October issue of The Winter Garden Times that Nov. 1 was the deadline for submitting changes or new listings for its annual telephone directory. Each year, a new book was distributed to all residents and businesses in Central Florida. It was organized in two sections: residential and the Yellow Pages, which listed local businesses.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

Shared by descendants of the Bluford Sims family, this image shows the “new boathouse on Lake Apopka. The undated image appears to be set sometime in the 1920s, possibly earlier. Sims operated steamships on what was Florida’s third-largest lake at the time. His crafts ferried citrus and vegetables from the villages situated along the south shore to points further north, where they were hauled a short distance to a train that connected to Sanford or brought by wagon to that small city on Lake Monroe.

You can imagine the constant threat of spoilage if connections were somehow delayed or compromised. Keep that in mind the next time you shop and gaze upon a seemingly endless array of fresh fruit and produce!