Starr of the show

WINTER GARDEN — Dave Starr, Orange County’s longest-serving sheriff, witnessed two decades of phenomenal growth in Central Florida. His years of service, six consecutive terms beginning in 1949 and ending with his 1971 retirement, saw the transformation of Orange County from a small citrus farming community to a world-class destination.

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation is honoring Starr with “Dave Starr: Orange County Colorful Sheriff: A Photographic Exhibit.”  The exhibit is open through Feb. 13, 2015, at Winter Garden City Hall, 300 W. Plant St.

Born in 1898 in Savannah, Georgia, Starr’s career as a lawman began as a deputy under Orange County Sheriff Frank Karel. From 1926 to 1932, he learned the tools of the trade. After a few years working in sales and a stint in the Coast Guard during World War II, Starr entered his name as a candidate and won the Orange County sheriff election in 1948. He served six consecutive four-year terms.

As an elected official, Starr was keenly interested in retaining and growing his popularity. With a photographer always close at hand, he managed to turn routine fieldwork and social events into indelible photo opportunities. Whatever the occasion, he was present. He also met people and formed friendships through the many clubs and civic organizations he belonged to. An accomplished horseman, he was always available for a parade, astride Pepper, his favorite palomino.

The collection of photographs preserved and maintained by the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation includes many images of Starr with the celebrities he met in the course of his career, such as James Arness, Vaughn Monroe, Ronald Reagan and TV attorney Raymond Burr.

Under Starr’s leadership, his department kept up with the latest crime-prevention innovations. It was the first in the state to use radar equipment to determine traffic speed; to implement a mobile crime unit and laboratory; and to organize a sheriff’s mounted posse. His department was the first in Central Florida to organize and train a squad of scuba divers in connection with a water safety program. And it was the first Central Florida department to use breath analyzers in intoxication cases and to use Keeler “lie detectors.”

He also improved the conditions under which mentally ill patients were treated, having them sent to psychiatric hospitals instead of letting them languish in jails.

OAKLAND CONNECTION

Starr married the former Ann Doris Smith, of Oakland, in 1935, and the couple lived in Orlando until 1966, when they moved back to her childhood home. 

Doris grew up in the Oakland house built by Orange Belt Railway founder Peter Demens. When the railroad went bankrupt, Demens sold the house to Robert Fulton Smith, Doris’ grandfather. 

The framed vernacular home stood at the northwest corner of Oakland Avenue and Starr Street, across the road from the Oakland Presbyterian Church. Its fancy Victorian details were typical of the homes built by the Orange Belt officers. 

Doris’ childhood home was picked up and relocated to the Pollard property on Jefferson Street at the west end of town, and the Starrs built the brick ranch-style home that still stands on the site today. The original house no longer exists, though its black walnut “floating mantel”  now rests in the home of Doris’ nephew.

Dave Starr voluntarily retired as sheriff of Orange County at the end of 1971 but stayed active in local affairs. He died in 1985.