The beginning of a new road for the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation! 

From the West Orange Times, May 23, 2013:  

(Click on the graphic to read the news.)

Workers pause for a photo during cabbage harvest time in the Tilden field along the south shore of Lake Apopka. Two members of the Jones family are identified as Hugh Jones (8^th from left) and William Snow Jones (12^th from left). Lewis H. Foxworth is pictured at far right. The Jones family members are from the maternal side of local teacher, historian and artist Rod Reeves’ family. If you can identify any other people in this photo, please contact the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation.

This photograph dated November 11, 1918 pictures an Armistice Day parade marching along a dirt road in downtown Winter Garden in celebration of the end of World War I. The Home Guard is followed closely by a battalion of nurses, all proudly waving the 48-star flag as residents watch from the sidewalks. Parades through the center of town have always been cherished by the people of Winter Garden and they continue to this day at various times of year such as Christmas and Homecoming. This photograph is from the archives of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation.

Halloween 1958 was celebrated with a costume party at the home of Tom and Mozelle Cox. Pictured are George and Audrey Howard, whose attire evokes Hollywood stars Jane Russell and Gary Cooper. Tom Cox owned  Merchant Men’s Wear at the southeast corner of Boyd and Plant Streets, along with other haberdasheries. Mozelle Cox took care of the dressing of Winter Garden women at Mozelle’s Fashion Fair, established in 1950 at the Edgewater Hotel. The little girl in the framed picture is their daughter Lisa Cox Mausner, a former volunteer at the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation who supplied the photo.

In this late 1940s photo Ann Deariso on the left and her older sister Bea are playing on a swing set at the home of their grandparents, Bryant D. (1875-1951) and Lucille Bennett.  “Pop” Bennett devoted himself to education and spent much time as a member of the Orange County School Board. He also served as a member of the board of directors at the Winter Garden Citrus Growers Association. The house, on the north side Lake Bennett in Ocoee’s Minorville community, is no longer standing. Lake Bennett, formerly known as Lake Blanchard, honors the family name. Bryant and Lucille’s daughter Marjorie Bennett married Milton Deariso in 1937; their daughters Bea and Ann both graduated from Lakeview High School in 1962 and 1964 respectively. Bea now lives in Grand Rivers, Kentucky and Ann and her husband Wayne Wincey reside in Windermere.

Dressing for the seashore must have been a serious affair! Just look at the faces of these Oakland Presbyterian Church members on this Daytona Beach sojourn c.1910! Front row, seated, L to R: Thelma Petris Duggar, Alpha Michael Winter, Myra Sadler Bowen, Margaret Wilson Taylor, and Floy Sadler Maier.   Middle row, L to R: Mae Petris Hull, Catherine Sadler Ross, Gene Wilson, Edith Sadler Stanford, Gladys Gregory Hiatt, Parks Wilson, Frank Wilson, and Earl Gregory.   Back row, L to R: Calvin Sadler, Effie Wise Michael, Douglas Sadler, Catherine Wise, Charlie Gregory, Mrs. Wilson, Rev. S.L. Wilson, Mr. Gregory, Mrs. Gregory, and Fred Gregory.

Congratulations to the Oakland Presbyterian Church celebrating its 125^th anniversary! These beautiful stained glass windows once enhanced the church’s second sanctuary constructed in1919.  They now reside in the current church building on Oakland Avenue as a memorial to the community’s founding families. The window featuring the anchor is dedicated to Luther Fulller (1834-1929) and Emily Aurora (Willis) Tilden (1840-1925), whose 19th century family homes still stand on Tildenville School Road. The Tildens arrived in the area that now bears their name in 1878 and bought 561 acres on which they cultivated citrus and vegetable crops.  The second window honors “Judge” James Gamble Speer (1820-1893), the founder of Oakland and an original charter member of the church, as well as its first Elder. Speer owned most of the property in Oakland in the late 19^th century. He was instrumental in bringing the Orange Belt Railway into this area. Before moving to Oakland, Speer lived in the Orlando area and was instrumental in naming the city. Other windows from the 1919 sanctuary can be found in the Moon Cricket Café on Plant Street and in a few of Winter Garden’s private homes.

Thomas Raymond Sewell, pictured here at the wheel of the car with Mayor George Barley in a 1960s Winter Garden parade, died recently. Sewell served as Winter Garden’s City Manager from 1966 through 1974, then went on to work as administrator of Orange County and Executive Director of the Orange County Convention Civic Center during its construction. He is survived by Betty Meadows Sewell, his spouse of 61 years, three children and many grand children and great-grandchildren.

Sue and Casey Hurley contributed this photograph showing the construction of the dome atop the First Baptist Church in Winter Garden c.1922. Standing on the roof are, from left to right, Mrs. L.W. Tilden (Virginia May Wise Tilden), Mrs. A.W. Hurley (Clara Tidlen Hurley), and Mrs. Rosa Markwood. From their vantage point they could gaze down Plant Street and witness the fast-growing city springing up. The First Baptist congregation organized on August 26, 1888, and recently celebrated its 124^th anniversary. Land for the church was donated by Winter Garden visionary and entrepreneur J.L. Dillard. A previous church across the street and made of wood was constructed in 1896 and enlarged in 1909. By 1921 the congregation had grown large enough to require a new building, and the present magnificent edifice located at the corner of Dillard and Plant Streets hosted its first services on September 30, 1923.