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Orlando, Florida: A Brief History
Orlando is known internationally as a tourist destination, attracting fifty million visitors each year to its numerous resorts and parks. In all that excitement, it’s easy to overlook the city’s interesting past. In the 1800s, the area was embroiled in the Seminole Wars, and Fort Gatlin was constructed to shield citizens from attacks. Soon, a city grew around the fort. During the cowboy era, thousands of cattle, ranchers and cowboys crossed the central Florida terrain moving livestock. Those pioneers soon moved to farming, and Orlando became the center of the Florida citrus industry. Join author and historian James C. Clark as he reveals the remarkable history of one of the world’s most popular destinations.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 1, 2026
“ the last name impossible to read, the spot became known as "Orlando's grave," and eventually the city took the name. So strong was the belief in the legend of Orlando Reeves that, in 1939, students at Cherokee Junior High School-located between Lake Eola and Lake Lawsona—placed a stone marker near Lake Eola.
ORLANDO REEVES
In Whose Honor our City of Orlando Was Named Killed in This Vicinity by Indians September, 1835
"How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest."
-William Collins
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL
Erected by the students Of Cherokee Junior High School, 1939
With each retelling, the story added detail. In one story, there was one "log" another many "logs." Reeves became a martyr and his funeral identified as the first Christian burial in what is now Orlando. There were even descriptions: he was "tall, lanky, wiry and dark complected, some of a furreigner," and "quick on the trigger." Supposedly, the tree was cut down years later, despite the pleas of local residents to spare it.
The story is wonderful, but the problem is that it is false. There is no Orlando Reeves on any of the military rolls from the Seminole War, and there is no record of a battle fought near Lake Eola.”
“CONWAY HAS PLAYED A VARIETY OF ROLES in the growth of Orlando. From cattle to oranges to immigrant center to a residential neighborhood, it has been home to everyone from polo players to rustlers to executives.
Conway is just a few miles southeast of downtown Orlando, and the first settlers began coming in the 1870s. By 1874, a log cabin served as a combination church, school and meeting hall. At first, Conway was a cattle center, as rugged and violent as any to be found in the West. It is impossible to know exactly, but as many as a dozen people were killed in cattle feuds in the Conway area.
In the late 1800s, newspaper ads attracted people from England to the Conway area. They planted citrus trees, cleared land for polo fields and built a yacht club on Lake Conway.
Some of these English settlers were retired military men who came for the gentle climate.
Within a few years, the polo team was challenging teams from throughout the country.
Their stay was brief; most left after the killer freeze of 1894-95. Eventually new settlers arrived, planting new trees and creating a new citrus industry. Nearly a century later, there was another freeze, and this time the citrus fields gave way to thousands of homes and schools, and the polo field became a shopping center.”
“The other important change in the Orlando economy came from the military and the space program. In 1940, as the nation began to ramp up for possible entry into World War II, the city's municipal airport, located near downtown, became a training facility. A second airstrip was built south of downtown in 1941, and thousands of airmen trained in Orlando. Even before the United States entered World War II, Florida had become a training center for British pilots. The warm weather and large expanses of empty land made it perfect for year-round training. The Pine Castle airbase eventually replaced the city's municipal airport.
The airport was named for Colonel Mike McCoy, who died when his plane
imploded and crashed
while flying over Orlando. While the official name is
Orlando International Airport, the luggage tags passengers receive are stamped
MCO for Mike McCoy.
Before World War II, there were eight military bases in Florida; at the end of the war, there were 172. Camp Blanding in North Florida became the fourth-largest city in the state during the war. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and pilots came for training. John Kennedy and George H.W. Bush underwent training in Flor-ida. The impact extended far beyond the war. Thousands of the soldiers and sailors came back to live when the war was over, and thousands more made a note to retire to Florida.
On August 6, 1945, Thomas Ferebee pushed a button at 9:15 a.m. on board a B-29 and sent an atomic bomb on its way toward Hiroshima, ushering in the atomic age.
In 1970, Ferebee retired from the air force and spent the final thirty years of his life in Windermere, working in his garden and fishing on Lake Down.”
“In 1959, Disney told the Miami Herald that he thought Florida would be better in many ways than California for a park. He was considering about six thousand acres north of Palm Beach for a planned City of Tomorrow, but that fell through.
Early in 1963, Walt Disney told a close group of associates to find five thousand to ten thousand acres in Florida. He kept pretending that St. Louis, Niagara Falls and a site outside Washington, D.C., were still in the running, but it was a ruse to draw attention from Central Florida. He flew to all three cities and then headed for his true objective, Florida.
He did not want to compete with the beach for tourists, so he wanted an inland site. He arrived in Tampa on November 21 and drove from Tampa to Ocala to look at the area.
The next morning, he flew over Central Florida. Ocala was promising but did not have the road network Disney wanted. The area was familiar to Disney, who as a child had visited his aunt, who lived between Orlando and Ocala. The plane headed toward Orlando.
As they flew over an area outside of town, Disney looked out the window and said,
"That's it." Later he said it was the highways that attracted him, as the Interstate and the Florida Turnpike crossed just where he wanted to put his new park.”
ORLANDO REEVES
In Whose Honor our City of Orlando Was Named Killed in This Vicinity by Indians September, 1835
"How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest."
-William Collins
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL
Erected by the students Of Cherokee Junior High School, 1939
With each retelling, the story added detail. In one story, there was one "log" another many "logs." Reeves became a martyr and his funeral identified as the first Christian burial in what is now Orlando. There were even descriptions: he was "tall, lanky, wiry and dark complected, some of a furreigner," and "quick on the trigger." Supposedly, the tree was cut down years later, despite the pleas of local residents to spare it.
The story is wonderful, but the problem is that it is false. There is no Orlando Reeves on any of the military rolls from the Seminole War, and there is no record of a battle fought near Lake Eola.”
“CONWAY HAS PLAYED A VARIETY OF ROLES in the growth of Orlando. From cattle to oranges to immigrant center to a residential neighborhood, it has been home to everyone from polo players to rustlers to executives.
Conway is just a few miles southeast of downtown Orlando, and the first settlers began coming in the 1870s. By 1874, a log cabin served as a combination church, school and meeting hall. At first, Conway was a cattle center, as rugged and violent as any to be found in the West. It is impossible to know exactly, but as many as a dozen people were killed in cattle feuds in the Conway area.
In the late 1800s, newspaper ads attracted people from England to the Conway area. They planted citrus trees, cleared land for polo fields and built a yacht club on Lake Conway.
Some of these English settlers were retired military men who came for the gentle climate.
Within a few years, the polo team was challenging teams from throughout the country.
Their stay was brief; most left after the killer freeze of 1894-95. Eventually new settlers arrived, planting new trees and creating a new citrus industry. Nearly a century later, there was another freeze, and this time the citrus fields gave way to thousands of homes and schools, and the polo field became a shopping center.”
“The other important change in the Orlando economy came from the military and the space program. In 1940, as the nation began to ramp up for possible entry into World War II, the city's municipal airport, located near downtown, became a training facility. A second airstrip was built south of downtown in 1941, and thousands of airmen trained in Orlando. Even before the United States entered World War II, Florida had become a training center for British pilots. The warm weather and large expanses of empty land made it perfect for year-round training. The Pine Castle airbase eventually replaced the city's municipal airport.
The airport was named for Colonel Mike McCoy, who died when his plane
imploded and crashed
while flying over Orlando. While the official name is
Orlando International Airport, the luggage tags passengers receive are stamped
MCO for Mike McCoy.
Before World War II, there were eight military bases in Florida; at the end of the war, there were 172. Camp Blanding in North Florida became the fourth-largest city in the state during the war. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and pilots came for training. John Kennedy and George H.W. Bush underwent training in Flor-ida. The impact extended far beyond the war. Thousands of the soldiers and sailors came back to live when the war was over, and thousands more made a note to retire to Florida.
On August 6, 1945, Thomas Ferebee pushed a button at 9:15 a.m. on board a B-29 and sent an atomic bomb on its way toward Hiroshima, ushering in the atomic age.
In 1970, Ferebee retired from the air force and spent the final thirty years of his life in Windermere, working in his garden and fishing on Lake Down.”
“In 1959, Disney told the Miami Herald that he thought Florida would be better in many ways than California for a park. He was considering about six thousand acres north of Palm Beach for a planned City of Tomorrow, but that fell through.
Early in 1963, Walt Disney told a close group of associates to find five thousand to ten thousand acres in Florida. He kept pretending that St. Louis, Niagara Falls and a site outside Washington, D.C., were still in the running, but it was a ruse to draw attention from Central Florida. He flew to all three cities and then headed for his true objective, Florida.
He did not want to compete with the beach for tourists, so he wanted an inland site. He arrived in Tampa on November 21 and drove from Tampa to Ocala to look at the area.
The next morning, he flew over Central Florida. Ocala was promising but did not have the road network Disney wanted. The area was familiar to Disney, who as a child had visited his aunt, who lived between Orlando and Ocala. The plane headed toward Orlando.
As they flew over an area outside of town, Disney looked out the window and said,
"That's it." Later he said it was the highways that attracted him, as the Interstate and the Florida Turnpike crossed just where he wanted to put his new park.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2022
It’s not the most gripping book, but it is an informative read - sort of like a quick class on Orlando history. You leave the book more knowledgeable for sure.
The layout makes some chapters a challenge as the callouts make a single para bridge two pages, but once you figure out how to handle it (complete the chapter then double back for the insert bits), it’s not a big deal.
Probably more like a 3.5 but Goodreads gonna Goodreads. I grade on an upward curve because I feel more knowledgeable about Orlando history than some of the longtime residents I know.
The layout makes some chapters a challenge as the callouts make a single para bridge two pages, but once you figure out how to handle it (complete the chapter then double back for the insert bits), it’s not a big deal.
Probably more like a 3.5 but Goodreads gonna Goodreads. I grade on an upward curve because I feel more knowledgeable about Orlando history than some of the longtime residents I know.
December 21, 2018
Informative
Good book for anyone looking for a brief history of Orlando and what made the city what it is today.
Good book for anyone looking for a brief history of Orlando and what made the city what it is today.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews