This week in West Orange County history

OLD TIMES

85 years ago

Several pupils of Mrs. A.C. Bray’s kindergarten, including Selby Burch, Ellen Corbett and Emily Pruett, appeared on WDBO’s radio birthday program.

75 years ago

At the meeting of the Winter Garden Welfare League, plans were made for the league to sponsor a “Womanless Wedding” and beauty contest.

This month, the scarlet emblem of the American Red Cross will appear in the windows of American homes, indicating that Mr. and Mrs. America are solidly behind the 1945 Red Cross War Fund campaign.

45 years ago

Editorial: How many were amused to learn a group of West Orange High School students painted the Beulah Road bridge columns orange and blue?

40 years ago

Vera Carter of Windermere filed as a candidate for the Orange County Commission, District 1 seat presently held by Lamar Thomas.

Nancy Heidt and Lisa Trombly were winner and runner-up in the Dillard Street Elementary School spelling bee.

The Winter Garden Police Department acquired a new employee, one of the canine variety. His name is Russ, and he is a German shepherd.

30 years ago

Professional golfers saw a different Bay Hill Club from years past at The Nestle Invitational. The Bay Hill golf course went through some changes for an even more exciting experience. All 18 of the championship tournament holes were redesigned, and three holes had par changes. The new greens were redesigned by tournament host Arnold Palmer and widely known golf architect Ed Seay.

A crowd gathered at a public meeting to view the Florida Department of Transportation’s proposed plans for the widening of a 12-mile stretch of State Road 438 (Silver Star Road/Franklin Street/Plant Street) from Hiawassee Road in Pine Hills to Dillard Street in Winter Garden.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The Winter Garden Times

March 19, 1954

If you were looking for a new Ford vehicle, you only had to look as far as East Plant Street in downtown Winter Garden. Winter Garden Ford Inc. advertised the addition of three cars to its inventory of 28 models in a March issue of The Winter Garden Times: the Crestline Skyliner, the Crestline Fordor and the Customline Ranch Wagon.

The Skyliner touted a “tinted transparent roof panel” with its open-car feeling. The Fordor “set the trending in styling for 1954” with its “clean, honest lines and completely new interiors.” And the new Customline Ranch Wagon was a “six-passenger beauty (that) converts to a cargo hauler in seconds.”

The average price of a Ford car in 1954 was $2,000.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

Longtime resident Cecelia Ledford shared this photograph of the Dodd home that stood until 1984 at 168 S. Lakeview Ave. in Winter Garden. From left to right in this photograph from the early 1930s are Buster Dodd, Sue McCann, an unnamed uncle and Madalyn and Louis Neal Howell.

Cecelia’s grandfather Dodd, who was married to her grandmother, Mary, was a cobbler who worked in a shop on South Main Street. Buster Dodd worked for Hoyle Pounds at the Pounds Motor Company on Plant Street for decades.

“The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation thanks all the people who have shared photographs with the foundation,” said Jim Crescitelli, WGHF operations and program director. “It makes the collection richer and more fascinating. When you can see history depicted in a century-old photograph, you gain an appreciation of your place in the world.”