This week in West Orange County history: Jan. 11, 2024

These are the people and events who made headlines in West Orange County's past.


  • West Orange Times & Observer
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OLD TIMES

80 years ago

A big dance with orchestra and refreshments in the lakefront recreation hall in Winter Garden welcomed the 231st Signal Light Battalion.

More than 25 attended the eighth annual banquet of the Winter Garden Welfare League held at Martino’s Restaurant in Orlando.

Mrs. L.J. Brock entertained the Winter Garden school faculty at dinner. Present were Miss Lillian Tate, Mrs. Geiger, Miss Ruby Harris, Miss Edna Warren, Miss Ann Tomyn, Mrs. Sturkie, Mrs. Eby, Miss Margaret Holbrook and Mrs. Ed Robertson.


70 years ago

Several boys in Cub Scout Pack 46, with cubmaster Jake Voss presiding, received merit badges: Rice Pounds, Jody Hall, Rick Donahey, Jay Sherman, John Girvin, Phil Cross, Bill Thompson, John Hovsepian, Jud Kuneman and Chuck Holland.

The Winter Garden City C omission voted to make Main Street one way from Story Road to Plant Street, allowing traffic travel north only.

One hundred twenty three boys from all sections of the United States and Canada were here for the opening day of the Washington Senators Baseball School.


50 years ago

John Terrell of Winter Garden, president of the Florida Jaycees, met with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office at the White House. The occasion was a four-day Governmental Affairs seminar attended by all Jaycee state and national officers.

Ocoee pioneer Nora Pounds Salsbury died at the age of 82. She was a member of Ocoee Christian Church, the Eastern Star Chapter of VFW Post 4305 Auxiliary and the Hugh T. Gregory American Legion Auxiliary for Post 63; and a charter member of the Ocoee Woman’s Club. She was a former assistant postmistress in Ocoee and lived her life in the house her parents homesteaded in 1887.

The West Orange Branch YMCA offered the following informal education classes: guitar, baton twirling, karate, dancing, women’s Slimnastics, women’s self defense, men’s three-man basketball league, junior high girls basketball, tennis, senior life-saving, and swim lessons for all ages.

The Woman’s Club of Ocoee celebrated its 50th anniversary with a luncheon. The club, organized in 1924, was, at the time, the third oldest Federated Woman’s Club.ki


30 years ago

Eleven volunteers teamed up to make a Friendship Quilt that was raffled off as a benefit for Hospice of Central Florida.


20 years ago

The Central Florida Railroad Museum saw an uptick in visitors to its old downtown Winter Garden depot after the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation took over operation of the museum.


THROWBACK THURSDAY

JAN. 10, 1974

Whether you were looking for hairspray or hair tonic, Kodak film or film prints, pantyhose or a garden hose, Eckerd Drugs in the Tri-Center Shopping Center in Winter Garden had it all. The store advertised its new-year savings in The Winter Garden Times.

Where else could you find these prices? For the kitchen, you could get a 42-cup percolator (in aluminum or avocado) for $9.99, an electric juicer for $8.99 and a can opener (in gold or avocado) for $10.99. Toiletries were priced at 86 cents for Brut 33 anti-perspirant, 99 cents for Scope mouthwash and $2.99 for 100 vitamins.

One could purchase an early American milk stool for $1.44, grapefruit spoons for 68 cents apiece, Polaroid color film for $3.19 and Vitalis hair tonic for $1.09 (limit one).


FROM THE WINTER GARDEN HERITAGE FOUNDATION ARCHIVES

Composed almost a century ago, the Jones family poses on the porch of their house located at Plant Street and Henry Avenue, the latter an unpaved byway that led to Smith Street. The house stood in the vicinity of the new mixed-use building where Matthew’s Steakhouse is located.

Some family members have been tentatively identified: Back row, far right: Lois Jones. Front row, L to R: Odell Jones, Waymon Lee Jones, Adolphus James Harrison Jones, Earl (or Jack) Jones, Lizzie Mae Jones (later wed to Dock Reeves, and the parents of artist-historian Rod Reeves), Melissa Frances McLane Jones and Arlie Jane Jones (Mrs. Lewis H. Foxworth).

 

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