Winter Park

History

The Winter Park area's first human residents were migrant Muscogee people who had earlier intermingled with the Choctaw and other indigenous people. In a process of ethnogenesis, the Native Americans formed a new culture which they called "Seminole", a derivative of the Mvskoke' (a Creek language) word simano-li, an adaptation of the Spanish cimarrón which means "wild" (in their case, "wild men"), or "runaway" [men].

The immediate area of the city was first inhabited by people of European descent in 1858, when David Mizell Jr. bought an 8-acre (32,000 m2) homestead between Lakes Virginia, Mizell, and Berry. A settlement, called "Lake View" by the inhabitants, grew up around Mizell's plot. It got a post office and a new name—"Osceola"—in 1870.

The area did not develop rapidly until 1880, when a South Florida Railroad track connecting Orlando and Sanford was laid a few miles west of Osceola. Shortly afterwards, Loring Chase came to Orange County from Chicago to recuperate from a lung disease. In his travels, he discovered the pretty group of lakes just east of the railbed. He enlisted the help of a wealthy New Englander, Oliver E. Chapman, and they assembled a very large tract of land for $13,000 on July 4, 1881. They planned the town of Winter Park on this land tract. Over the next four years they layer out the town plot, opened streets, built a town hall and a store, planted orange trees, and produced a development plan, which required all buildings to meet stylistic and architectural standards. Winter Park was a planned city, something that is still evident in its streets’ grid-like organization. The town was then promoted heavily, especially to “snow birds” in the North looking for a warm place, in which to winter. During this initial development period, the Winter Park Post Office opened, and the railroad constructed a depot, which connected to Osceola by a dirt road.

In 1885, a group of businessmen started the Winter Park Company and incorporated it with the Florida Legislature; Chase and Chapman sold the town to the new company. In a land bubble characteristic of Florida history, land prices soared from less than $2 per acre to over $200, with at least one sale recorded at $300 per acre. This land bubble concept would never go away, with towns and counties directly surrounding the area with exponentially cheaper land prices.

In 1885, the Congregational Assembly of Florida started Rollins College, the state's first four-year college. Rollins College today remains one of the hallmarks of Winter Park, an integral part of Winter Park's history and culture. It is the second most expensive college in the state, as of the 2023-2024 academic year the tuition at Rollins is $58,300 per year. Rollins is a relatively good liberal arts school, with a smaller student population, counted as roughly just over 2,000 students. The school also features an MBA program, at the Crummer Graduate School of Business.

Presidential visits

The first president to visit was Chester A. Arthur, who reported that Winter Park was "the prettiest place I have seen in Florida",. President Grover Cleveland visited the area and was given a huge reception at the Seminole Hotel on February 23, 1888. He enjoyed the Bounding Horse Cart ride and stated that it was the most pleasant diversion of his Florida trip. The New York Times reported on his visit that "The Philadelphian and Bostonian founders had done a good job with the town."

The following four years both hotel and the town became a fashionable winter resort for northern visitors. The next president to visit the area was Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1936. He was conferred an honorary degree in literature at Rollins College.

President Barack Obama visited Rollins College on August 2, 2012, to give a speech that was part of his re-election campaign. An interesting note on recent Presidential elections is that Orange County, the county Winter Park is in, was one of the bluest counties in Florida. Although Winter Park is a large mix of both conservative and liberal constituents. However, this mix is evident in US Congressional District 7's last two representatives. Former Republican Congressman John Mica lost reelection in 2016 to newcomer and Democrat Stephanie Murphy. Both have had a lot of support from both sides of the aisle and Murphy is credited with being one of the most centrist representatives in Congress today.

Winter Park Public Library

The Winter Park Public Library was historically located at 460 E. New England Avenue in the heart of Winter Park. Its origins date back to 1885, when nine women organized to create a lending library for their small community, which was still in its infancy at the time. The Winter Park Public Library underwent major changes and moved to a new site. It opened in late 2021 on a new world-class campus designed by world-renowned architect Sir David Adjaye.

Peacocks

In 1904, Charles Hosmer Morse became the biggest landowner in Winter Park. His patronage continued in the 1920s, when he purchased a 200-acre parcel between lakes Virginia, Berry, and Mizell. In 1945, Morse's granddaughter Jeannette and her husband Hugh McKean moved to the land, and soon after they added peacocks. Now, the land is a nature preserve that houses an orange grove and over 30 peacocks. Winter Park locals consider the peacock to be a pet to the entire community. The peacock is on the official Winter Park seal, is featured in a number of official city documents, and is protected by the community. Peacocks often roam around in neighborhoods, especially throughout the community of Windsong, where residents are often seen taking care of them.

The Winter Park Sinkhole

In 1972, Henry Swanson, an agricultural agent and "resident layman expert on Central Florida water," wrote a letter to the editor warning Orange County mayors of the sinkhole danger that could be posed by overdevelopment and excessive groundwater use. Swanson predicted that the west Winter Park area would be especially at risk. In May 1981, during a period of record-low water levels in Florida's limestone aquifer, a massive sinkhole opened near the corner of Denning Drive and Fairbanks Avenue.

The sinkhole first appeared on the evening of May 8, 1981, near the house of Winter Park resident Mae Rose Williams. Within a few hours, a 40-year-old sycamore tree near her house had fallen into the sinkhole. The next morning, the hole expanded to nearly 40 feet (12 m) wide. In a story in the Orlando Sentinel, she said that as the sun rose, she heard a noise "like giant beavers chewing" as the hole began to devour more of her land. The hole was collapsing rapidly. By noon, as she realized that her home was slipping into the expanding hole, she and the family evacuated and removed their belongings. That afternoon her house fell into the sinkhole, and within a few hours the house was irrevocably on its way into the sinkhole's center, headed to unknown depths.

The hole eventually widened to 320 feet (98 m) and to a depth of 90 feet (27 m). The following fell into the sinkhole: five Porsches at a repair shop, a pickup truck with camper top, the Winter Park municipal pool, and large portions of Denning Drive. By May 9, nearly 250,000 cubic yards (190,000 m3) of earth had fallen into the sinkhole. Damage was estimated at $2 million to $4 million. On May 9, 1981, the sinkhole grew to a record size, gulping down 250,000 cubic yards of soil and taking with it the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool, chunks of two streets and Williams' three-bedroom home and yard. Florida engineers have described the event as "the largest sinkhole event witnessed by man as a result of natural geological reasons or conditions." They based their statements on his study of 2,000 sinkholes over more than 40 years. That opinion was echoed by Ardaman & Associates, a local engineering consulting firm.

The sinkhole drew national attention and became a popular tourist attraction during the summer of 1981. A carnival-like atmosphere arose around the area, with vendors selling food, balloons, and T-shirts to visitors. The city of Winter Park sold sinkhole photographs for promotional and educational purposes. On July 9, 1981, Winter Park began selling sinkhole photographs to educate the community about sinkholes and to promote tourism. The sinkhole began to fill with water that summer, but on July 19, the water level suddenly dropped by a reported 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m).

The Langford Resort Hotel

The Langford Hotel served as a gateway to "Old Florida" attractions in Central Florida and a community social hub for decades.

Famous guests included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Larry King, Hugh Hefner, John Denver, Langford winter resident Lady Bird Johnson, and President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan, who celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary there. Reagan gave a campaign speech at Rollins College and stayed at the Langford in 1976.

The Langford was celebrated in a party in late 1999, closed, and was demolished. A portion of the former Langford property (as of mid-2009) has been developed into luxury mid-rise condominiums. The remaining parcel was redeveloped and in 2014, a boutique hotel named the Alfond Inn, owned and operated by Rollins College opened at the site of the original Langford Hotel. The Alfond Inn was built with a $12.5 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation. Net operating income from the Inn is directed to The Alfond Scholars program fund, the College's premier scholarship fund.

The Temple Grove

An orange grove, known as the Temple Grove, stood on the south side of Palmer Avenue just east of Temple Drive. The temple orange was grown on the old Wyeth grove on Palmer Avenue (later Temple Grove) owned at the time by Louis A. Hakes, whose son was the first to notify Temple of the different quality of the new orange. The orange was introduced and cataloged by Buckeye Nursery in 1917, the year W. C. Temple died. Myron E. Gillett and his son D. Collins Gillett later went on to plant the largest orange grove in the world in the 1920s (5,000 acres (2,000 ha)) in Temple Terrace, Florida.

The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival

The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is one of the nation's oldest, largest juried outdoor art festivals, rated among the top shows by Sunshine Artist and American Style magazines. In 2012, about 1,200 artists from around the world applied for entry, and an independent panel of judges selected 225 national and international artists to attend the show. The National Endowment for the Arts, the White House, Congress, and many others have lauded the Festival for promoting art and art education in Central Florida. An all-volunteer board of directors runs the annual festival.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.2 square miles (26.3 km2), of which 8.7 square miles (22.5 km2) is land and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2) (14.62%) is water. It is nestled among the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, a series of lakes interconnected by a series of navigable canals, which were originally created for flood control and to run logs to a sawmill on present-day Lake Virginia. The lakes are popular for boating, watersports, fishing and swimming, and boat tours are available.

The city is traversed by the old East Florida and Atlantic Railroad ("Dinky Line") railroad bed, which until the 1960s had a stop at Lake Virginia/Rollins College at the city park now known as Dinky Dock. Much of this right of way has been converted to a rail-trail pedestrian/biking path in the form of the Cady Way Trail, which leads from Cady Way Park toward the Baldwin Park neighborhood and downtown Orlando, and in the opposite direction to Oviedo and beyond (via the Florida Trail), due to a new pedestrian bridge spanning Semoran Boulevard (SR 436) in Orange County.

SunRail operates a rail line through Winter Park on the former Atlantic Coast Line, with an Amtrak and SunRail commuter rail station in downtown's historic Central Park.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, the City of Winter Park has a humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa).

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Winter Park had a population of 29,795. The median age was 44.5 years. 17.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 89.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 85.7 males age 18 and over.

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 12,729 households in Winter Park, of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.7% were married-couple households, 18.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 14,073 housing units, of which 9.6% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.5%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 27,852 people, 11,995 households, and 6,419 families residing in the city.

Economy

Personal income

As of 2020, the median income for a household in the city was $80,500, and the median income for a family was $130,120. Males had a median income of $83,738 versus $58,277 for females. The per capita income for the city was $65,481. About 7.0% of families and 9.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

Tourism

Scenic Olde Winter Park area is punctuated by small, winding brick streets, and a canopy of old southern live oak and camphor trees, draped with Spanish moss. There are hundreds of thousands of visitors to annual festivals including the Bach Festival, the nationally ranked Sidewalk Art Festival, and the Winter Park Concours d'Elegance. Winter Park is often seen as a popular tourist destination for those visiting Orlando that want an escape from the typical tourist scene of the Orlando theme parks. There is a quaint, local feel to the town even though there are a lot of tourists, especially during the winter months and holidays.

Within the city is the Mead Botanical Garden which is a 47.6 acres (19.3 ha) park that encompasses several ecosystems. It has an amphitheater, butterfly garden, discovery barn and a recreation center. Many structures are more than 100 years old.

Industry

Bonnier Corporation is based in Winter Park. D100 Radio was founded here and is still present in Winter Park.

According to the City's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Arts and culture

Sites of interest include:

Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens

All Saints Episcopal Church

Annie Russell Theatre

Casa Feliz Historic House Museum

Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

Comstock-Harris House

D100 Studio One (closed to the public)

Downtown Winter Park Historic District

Edward Hill Brewer House

Hannibal Square

Hannibal Square Heritage Center

Knowles Memorial Chapel

Kraft Azalea Park

Lake Baldwin Park

Mead Botanical Garden

Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church

Palm Cemetery

Rollins Museum of Art

St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church

Winter Park Historical Museum

Winter Park Playhouse, founded in 2002.

Winter Park Public Library

Education

Winter Park is served by Orange County Public Schools.

Elementary schools

Aloma Elementary School

Brookshire Elementary School

Lakemont Elementary School

Middle school

Glenridge Middle School

High schools

Lake Howell High School

Winter Park High School

Private schools

Chesterton Academy of Orlando

St. Margaret Mary Catholic School (K-8)

The Geneva School (K-12)

The Parke House Academy

Trinity Preparatory School

Higher learning

Crealde School of Art

Fortis College, Winter Park Campus

Full Sail University

Rollins College

Valencia College, Winter Park Campus

Winter Park Tech

Transportation

Public transit

Lynx

Winter Park station (SunRail/Amtrak)

Major roads

I-4 (Interstate 4)

US 17 / US 92 (Orlando Avenue)

SR 423 (Lee Road)

SR 426 (Fairbanks Avenue / Aloma Avenue)

SR 527 (Orange Avenue)