West Orange County in history

OLD TIMES

75 years ago

A 16-ounce loaf of bread was priced at 8 cents.

From “Social Whirl”: The Welfare League dance held in the auditorium on Lake Apopka was one of the best held in Winter Garden in ages. Making up a congenial party that occupied a large Dutch table were Murfee and Bill Tilden, Bob and Theresa Barr, Madge and Phil Peters, Fran and Charlie Irrgang, Margaret and Bill Story and Kathryn and Harry Smith.

65 years ago

All girls and boys who have passed their 14th birthday but who will not have passed their 21st birthday by Jan. 1, 1955, are eligible to enter the first lap of the National Cherry Pie Baking contest sponsored locally by Florida Power.

The Garden Club of Winter Garden held its first business meeting of the year with Mrs. Fred Roper presiding.

45 years ago

Sleepy Harbor Condominiums, a $1.8 million total waterfront development on Lake Prima Vista in Ocoee, is now complete, and grand-opening sales have begun.

35 years ago

The First Baptist Church of Winter Garden has bought the old train depot property on Plant Street. Pastor DeSha said the church has not decided what use it will have for the building, but it had no plans at present to eliminate it.

From Editor’s Notebook: We were surprised to see the movie “Batchelor’s Paradise” is playing at the Star-Lite Drive-In theater in Winter Garden. We wonder: Has Dick made a movie of one of his fundraisers? Or maybe the person who placed the letters on the marquee is a Democrat and knew only one way to spell “Batchelor.”

THROWBACK THURSDAY

The Winter Garden Times

Oct. 4, 1973

Were you a Ms. Today woman? Did you buy these groovy mix ’n match coordinates in plaids, florals and stripes? Penny Saver, located in the Ocoee Shopping Center and the West Orange Shopping Center, in Winter Garden, had these fashions and more, and at bargain prices.

Penny Saver Stores advertised the latest trendy double-knit polyesters in the Oct. 4, 1973, issue of The Winter Garden Times.

FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION

By now, students at schools throughout West Orange County have applied themselves eagerly to their studies. Classes today are much larger than in 1958 when this photograph was taken at Winter Garden Elementary, a school that once stood on South Main Street. Helen Crooks was in charge of teaching only 13 first-graders in this class. Front row, l-r: Lester Arnold, Celia Ison, Tommy Burnette, Gary Spears, Lee McMillan and Sally Youngblood; back row, Kris Bekemeyer, Tommy Shuman, Susan Thompson, Suzanne Webb, Ann Duppenthaler, Kelly Vick and unidentified.