West Orange County in history

OLD TIMES

80 years ago

Mr. and Mrs. M.G. Parramore purchased the lot at the southeast corner of Main Street and Sixth Avenue in Windermere and are erecting a general store and service station. The building also will include living quarters.

50 years ago

Windermere’s new post office soon will be ready. The building will be attractive and in keeping with the design of business places in the town.

45 years ago

Site preparation and developmental work have been completed on the beautiful one-acre estates being offered in Kelso on Lake Butler.

Pauline and Cecil Dees retired and sold their grocery store in Oakland after 28 years. New owner is William Boatman, who has leased the store to Edyth Smallbone.

An overflow crowd gathered at the Winter Garden Inn to honor longtime community leader Carolyn Anderson upon her retirement after 42 years as an educator and, most recently, as a leader in the HeadStart program in Oakland.

35 years ago

Representing the Windy Acres 4-H Club of Clarcona, Scott West, 13, of Ocoee won first place in the State 4-H Horse Show.

30 years ago

Kyle Peterson of Windermere won a bronze medal in the trick water-skiing event at the Olympic Sports Festival in Oklahoma. He was the 1988 American Water Skiing Association’s Junior Trick Champion.

Winter Garden Detective John Gardner was named Police Officer of the Year by the Kiwanis Club of Central Florida Seminole.

The Board of Trustees of the West Orange Hospital System approved buying 38 acres in Ocoee to build a new hospital and medical offices.

10 years ago

The 11-12 Major softball All-Stars captured Windermere Little League’s first-ever state championship with a 3-1 victory over South Tampa and advanced to the Southeast regional tournament.

FROM THE WGHF ARCHIVES

The Britt Fruit Company packinghouse once stood on the northwest corner of Hennis Road and East Plant Street alongside the Atlantic Coast Line railroad track. In the photograph, Britt employees enjoy a company barbecue held on Lake Minneola in Lake County: Bill McRee, left, Jimmy McKey, Leo Faurot, Steve Holland, Benny Adams, Mark Britt, Joe Kennedy, Jack Ingram, J.B. Lyles, Edna Williams, Smitty Clark, Bill Peoples, Betty Fox, Jackie Bourbonnais and Emery Bourbonnais.

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation preserves an extensive collection of photographs and artifacts of West Orange County’s citrus legacy. Call (407) 656-3244 to make a research appointment.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The Winter Garden Times

Aug. 8, 1978

Grocery stores always have been famous for their dishware and accessory giveaways, and the Food World in Winter Garden was no exception. A 1978 advertisement in The Winter Garden Times notified shoppers of the latest freebie program, where customers could collect their cash-register receipts and exchange them for free Presto, Rival and Oster kitchen appliances. Shoppers could choose from a Hot Dogger or five-speed hand mixer for $300 in register tapes; Presto Burger or can opener for $400; WeeBakerie oven, two-slice toaster, ice crusher or crock pot for $500; Fry Baby deep fryer for $600; and WeeFry skillet or 10-speed blender for $700.