Disaster struck in when a three-day freeze destroyed nearly all the citrus trees in Orange County. Packing plants closed, banks closed, people lost their jobs, and it was 15 years before Orlando fully recovered. Between and the population of Orlando doubled, and the city was transformed from a rural citrus growing area to a major city.
During the s a great building boom aided in Orlando's continuing prosperity, evidenced by the opening of the Orlando Public Library in and the Municipal Auditorium now Bob Carr Auditorium in During the Great Depression of the s, the federal government's Works Progress Administration programs aided in the upgrading of the Municipal Airport, the building of a new football stadium at Tinker Field, and park development, and by many new jobs had been created.
Another building boom followed World War II, and new suburbs, new roadways, and new shopping centers were built. In the forerunner of the Lockheed Marietta company began operations, becoming the largest employer in Central Florida. Gradually many more companies and workers followed. That same year marked the beginning of the Orlando Naval Training Center. The development of Walt Disney World in spurred a construction boom that included apartment buildings, hotels and motels, banks, commercial shopping areas, and tourist-related businesses.
Tourism increased, thanks to tourist sites such as Epcot Center built in , and the Disney-MGM Studios theme park, which opened in To the dismay of many local people, what had once been a sleepy backwater town was rapidly becoming a world class tourist mecca. The town of Orlando was recognized as one of the world's most popular vacation sites. Orlando is currently known as The City Beautiful. The first person to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon was Orlando resident Joe Kittinger in Thursday, 11 November, Orlando is home to more than lakes.
Lake Eola is actually a giant sinkhole. Its deepest point is 80 feet. The first highway in Central Florida was Colonial Drive, which was originally paved brick.
The tallest building in Orlando is the SunTrust Center at feet. The Orlando area had more than 59 million visitors in There have been three City Hall buildings. Dubsdread Golf Course is the oldest public course in the area. Orlando City Hall has two free art galleries that are open to the public. Orlando International Airport serves an estimated 35 million passengers per year.
The road Semoran was named by putting the words Seminole and Orange together. Many Florida towns, including Orlando, were built around forts constructed in the s during the Seminole Indian Wars. Orlando grew around the site of Fort Gatlin.
For many years it was popularly accepted that the city of Orlando was named after a soldier named Orlando Reeves, who was allegedly killed by Seminole Indians in It was believed that Reeves gave his life protecting other soldiers against an attack as they camped outside Fort Gatlin. While generally agreeing with this account of how Orlando was named, a newspaper story from identifies the name of the soldier who gave his life for his comrades as Orlando Jennings.
Interestingly, neither an Orlando Reeves nor an Orlando Jennings are on the War Department roster listing the names of the 1, soldiers killed during the Seminole Indian Wars. Adding to the confusion is the fact that a wealthy plantation owner named Orlando J. The census indicates that Rees no longer operated his huge cattle ranch and farm in Central Florida.
Does the fact that Rees had trouble with the Seminoles indicate that he may have been killed by them? Did Rees simply move away prior to the census, or was his plantation abandoned following his death? Historians are still trying to answer these questions. He was supposedly buried at the spot where he died. The accuracy of this story has been doubted as well, which brings us back to playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
A judge from South Carolina named J. Speer, moved to Florida in , and helped to organize Orange County. In , he was responsible for having the county seat moved from Enterprise to Orlando.
This theory about how Orlando got its name is based on circumstantial evidence, but another fact adds to its plausibility. The main street heading north through the heart of the city of Orlando is also named Rosalind.
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