HISTORY: West Orange County of yesteryear for week of July 10, 2025

FROM THE ARCHIVES
Fifty years ago today, Tanner Hall Auditorium at Winter Garden’s lakefront park (later re-named Newton Park) was dedicated. The events facility was named for Elwood Mitchell “Doc” Tanner. He served as the city’s clerk and coordinator beginning in November 1930 and was named city manager in 1963, serving two years before retiring. Tanner also sold turkeys every Thanksgiving at his Avalon farm. He died June 25, 1975.

Tanner Hall was constructed in 1938 with funds from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration program, which provided employment and a sense of municipal maturity to the little city of Winter Garden. It was refurbished in 1975 and remodeled in 1999. 

Older residents who attended Lakeview High School recall basketball games were played in the facility at some point in the 1950s. Can any readers verify? Call (407) 656-3244.

THE WAYS WE WERE
100 years ago
Mr. and Mrs. A.L. Joiner and Dorothy, Lena and George Reaves of Beulah motored to Taft Sunday, going by Conway.

90 years ago
The local store of the Bumby Hardware Company was discontinued, as announced by H.E. Bumby, manager. The stock was moved to the main store on Church Street in Orlando. The Winter Garden store opened in 1917, the Bumby Company buying the hardware business of M.Y. McMillan.

80 years ago
A health committee was formed in Oakland to organize the community for the upcoming mass X-ray survey. The committee was made up of Mayor Dewey Vick, Mrs. John Hancock, the Rev. T.G. Tate, Mrs. R.T. Sith and F.W. Ross.

75 years ago
Prospects seemed brighter for Lake Apopka since the terrific damage inflicted to the lake’s fish over the weekend, killing probably two million fish, or half a million pounds. The entirety of West Orange County was greatly upset since first hearing of this damage, created by heavy winds that caused the fish to die from being strangled with muck in their gills due to the low water level in the lake.

55 years ago
Patricia Owens became Winter Garden’s first policewoman. Chief Royce Nelson gave Owens her oath of office, and she immediately assumed her new duties in the downtown area.

50 year ago
Harald Eichhold, of Wolfsburg, Germany, a teacher of history, geography and the German language, spent a month with Ruth and Ernie Hawk, of Winter Garden.

45 years ago
More than 1,000 people participated in the two-day activities of Wingard Land Company’s first Big Bass Tournament. Top honors were captured by West Orange native Jimmy Breadwell.

New Dillard Street Elementary School PTA officers were Jan Bradford, president; Linda Griffith, first vice president; Principal Jake Voss, second vice president; Pat Wright, treasurer; Cindy North, corresponding secretary; and Robbie Reaves, Ways and Means chairman.

30 years ago
A certificate of occupancy, truckloads of merchandise and a lot of work stocking the shelves was all that was needed to prepare the new Ocoee Winn-Dixie for its grand opening. The Marketplace store opened at the corner of Clarke and Silver Star roads in Ocoee.

The Woman’s Club of Ocoee installed its officers for the new year: Millie Cobb, president; Ruth Grafton, first vice president; Marilyn Ruhle, second vice president; Betty Ervine, recording secretary; Mary Lynn Jocoy, corresponding secretary; Elizabeth Maguire, treasurer; and Cathleen Mark, Ruth Minor and Winnifred Griffin, members of the executive board.

THROWBACK THURSDAY
JULY 14, 1983
If you drove a two-door 1983 Thunderbird, Ranger pick-up truck or Escort, you probably paid less than $200 per month for a brand-new vehicle. Golden Triangle Ford AMC Jeep, near Eustis, which touted itself as the dealership with the “biggest buys” in Central Florida advertised in The Times the latest models of cars and trucks.

The Times ran ads for dealerships in West Orange County and across Central Florida, enticing residents with the best auto deals around. Among them were Norman Brothers Datsun and West Orange Auto Sales, in Winter Garden; Sonny King’s Orange Buick in Orlando; Bob Wade Ford in Clermont; and Kissimmee Toyota.