This week in West Orange County history

OLD TIMES

90 years ago

The game of horseshoes was introduced at Lakeview High School for these reasons: “It is a very interesting game to play. It is a clean game, and everyone can play it. It is a good game to have at school because after students get through playing, they aren’t hot and their nerves aren’t all torn up. When they go to class, they can put their minds on their work. But if they played a game like football, they would be hot and nervous and couldn’t study.

80 years ago

W.S. Pounds has announced he will at once begin the work of putting the Ocoee trailer camp and fish camp into tiptop shape for the coming season.

65 years ago

The last service in the old Ocoee Methodist Church building was held. It has stood for 65 years and is the third church building to stand on or near that location.

45 years ago

The long ride is over for Jane Fulmer and Virginia Spigener of Winter Garden. They are among seven young people from the Lutheran Camp in Montverde who have completed a 136-mile bicycle ride around Central Florida carrying their own bedrolls and food. Not only is it good exercise, but it can save on gas.

20 years ago

The Winter Garden City Commission presented a plaque to City Clerk Helen Pryor for her 11 years of service. Pryor resigned from her position and moved out of state.

City of Ocoee officials held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the city’s newest addition to its recreation department, the Jim Beech Recreation Center, on A.D. Mims Road.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The Winter Garden Times

Aug. 18, 1966

The bowling alley has been located on South Dillard Street for decades and has served as a recreational destiny for generations of West Orange County residents. In 1966, Manager Guy E. Neff advertised in The Winter Garden Times his various bowling leagues: mixed, scratch, women’s and men’s. There was a snack bar and a billiard room and even a nursery so league players could take their children with them.

The bowling alley remains an entertainment staple in the city and now is called Winter Garden Bowl.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The gift shop at West Orange Memorial Hospital celebrated its first anniversary on Nov. 15, 1967. The medical center, funded by the creation of the West Orange Healthcare District Taxing Authority, once stood on the property bounded by Division and Dillard streets and Surprise Drive in Winter Garden. Today’s Health Central on West Colonial Drive is a descendant of the region’s original hospital.

Pictured are Mrs. Smythe, left, gift shop chair, and Mrs. Dorothy Wurst, auxiliary president.