This week in West Orange County history

OLD TIMES

85 years ago

Mrs. C.C. Clark underwent a tonsillectomy Tuesday in Orlando. B.G. Reams also underwent a sinus operation and tonsillectomy that day, too.

75 years ago

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley C. Clark announced the engagement of their daughter, Georgiana, to Mr. James D. Hendrix Jr.

55 years ago

Harry Smith, president of the 40-year-old Winter Garden Ornamental Nursery Inc., said the corporation has been sold to Donald L. Biggers.

40 years ago

Mrs. Sue Crabtree, Lakeview PTO president, urged parents to assist in the comfort of teachers this year by donating furniture for their lounge.

As of last weekend, Scott Henry was off the crutches he had been using since injuring his leg at junior varsity football practice at West Orange High.

30 years ago

The IBM Corp. chose 20 schools, including West Orange High, to go on national television to test a new computer learning system. The system used an IBM PC 2, a mouse and a laser disk to place an entire library of information about a subject at the fingertips of the classroom teacher and the students. Motion pictures, live performances, history, background, biography – all are at the immediate command of the teacher. WOHS received the hardware and software for this program free.

Winter Garden City Commissioner Gerald Jowers and former mayor Bob Barber were “arrested” by Sgt. Ken Fisher of the Ocoee Police Department on the first day of the West Orange Jail and Bail to benefit the March of Dimes. Held in “jail” at Calico Jack’s in Ocoee, the men were among the men who had to raise “bail” money from their friends to get back out on the streets.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Sept. 26, 1991

Thirty years ago, Walt Disney World was gearing up for 15-month celebration of the vacation kingdom’s 20th anniversary. Disney called it a Bi-Tencennial and a Twin-Tennial and announced a surprise party featuring new shows and entertainment.

The “biggest, best parade in ‘World’ history” was planned with inflated Disney characters celebrate festivals from around the world.

The West Orange Times ran a photo on its front page that included many favorite Disney characters standing in the shape of a “20” and cast members celebrating 20 years of making magic.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

The citrus industry has always devoted much time and resources to marketing its product to consumers. During the first half of the 20th century, the nutritious benefits of Vitamin C were heavily promoted to moms who were instructed to keep their families healthy while dad was busy working at his job. In the days before canned juice and concentrate became readily available, conveniences such as electric juicers made it easy to provide fresh-squeezed juice at breakfast every morning.

The device pictured is a Sunkist Model 2700N electric juicer manufactured in the late 1930s. It stands 10 inches tall and weighs close to 10 pounds.