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Local Information View Neighborhoods | View Local Links | View School Information ORLANDO IS THE NAME YOU KNOW. BUT CENTRAL FLORIDA'S TOWNS AND CITIES HAVE PERSONALITIES ALL THEIR OWN. It was 1880 and Gore, a well-regarded newspaperman from Iowa, had just purchased The Orange County Reporter. Walking another quarter-mile, Gore spied a wooden courthouse and a cluster of about a dozen building at what is today the intersection of Livingston Street and Magnolia Avenue in the heart of downtown. I can get you started. Following is a county-by-county primer, in which you'll find everything from new master-planned developments to funky historic districts. Located about 14 miles southwest of downtown Orlando, this area is home to many upscale subdivisions and is a popular home to many theme park executives. It boasts some of the best schools in Orange County and excellent bass fishing and water sports on the beautiful Butler Chain of Lakes. It is also the home of the world famous Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club, home of the Bay Hill Classic, a prestigious PGA Tour stop. OAKLAND More than 100 years ago, Oakland was a booming railroad town and the industrial and social hub of Orange County. Today the picturesque town, which lies two miles west of Winter Garden on the southern shores of Lake Apopka, is home to just 1,800 people. And “town” is how elected official refer to Oakland, despite the fact that it was incorporated as a city in 1959. Indeed, a designation of “city” does seem a bit incongruous for this rural enclave, where voters have rejected proposals to pave the narrow clay streets for fear that more people might want to drive on them. Still, change is coming. Oakland’s population has nearly tripled over the last three years, and planners say that 5,000 people will call themselves Oaklanders by 2010. New development in Oakland tends to be upscale and family oriented.
The 19 mile paved West Orange Trail, a mecca for hikers and bikers, begins in Oakland and stretches northeast to Apopka along the original Orange Belt and Florida Midland railbeds. More than 50,000 people per month traverse the trail’s length. Oakland is also home to the 128 acre Oakland Nature Preserve, where wildlife abounds and paths and boardwalks line the shores of Lake Apopka. OCOEE In less than a decade’s time, Ocoee has been transformed from an isolated citrus town clustered around Stark Lake t the third-largest city in Orange County, behind only Orlando and Apopka. Ocoee, population 30,000, was changed forever when devastating freezes in the 1980s destroyed thousands of acres of citrus trees and opened West Orange and south Lake Counties for development. Today, Ocoee boasts a 1-million-square-foot regional mall and at least two dozen new subdivisions with homes in all price ranges. Its beginnings, however, were inauspicious. In the mid-1850s, a physician named J.D. Starke led a group of slaves into the area and established a camp along the western shores of the lake that now bears his name. Capt. Bluford Sims, who hailed from Ocoee, Tenn., arrived in 1861 and bought 50 acres from Starke. He then platted what would become downtown Ocoee. Through the years, Ocoee developed into a thriving citrus-producing center. Today, however, housing is the city’s hottest commodity. The Florida Turnpike, the East/West Expressway and a new Western Beltway all pass through the city, meaning once –remote downtown Orlando is now just a 15-minute commute. Despite its growth, Ocoee has managed to retain some vestiges of its past. During the annual Founder’s Day Festival, held each October, visitors tour lovely Victorian homes such as the Withier-Maguire House, once a winter refuge for a Confederate general and now a museum. Also of interest is the circ-1890 Ocoee Christina church, with its Gothic architecture and Belgian-made stained-glass windows, as well as several vintage commercial building in the original downtown area. Away from downtown, commercial growth is booming, especially along the S.R. 50 corridor, here orange groves and cattle pastures once predominated. In Ocoee those rustic vistas have been replaced by Wal-Mart Super Center, A Best Buy, a Red Roof Inn, a West Oaks Mall and dozens of strip centers. |
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