Orlando, Florida - United States of America

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Oct 16, 2003

City official name :Orlando
Founded date :
Location :Florida State
Elavation :? ft (? m)
Area :Approximately ? square miles (? km²).
Facts :The city of Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 185,951 (metropolitan area 1,644,561). A 2005 U.S. Census Estimates population count gave the city population was 213,233 (metropolitan area over 1.8 million). It is the sixth-largest city in Florida, and its largest inland city. It is also at the head of the Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Orlando-Kissimmee MSA is Florida's third-largest metropolitan area, behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Additionally, Orlando is home to the second largest university in Florida, the University of Central Florida.

The city is best known for the many tourist attractions in the area, particularly the nearby Walt Disney World Resort, which is in the Reedy Creek Improvement District . Other area attractions include SeaWorld and Universal Orlando Resort. Despite being far from the main tourist attractions, downtown Orlando has recently seen much redevelopment, with many more projects currently under construction or planned. Orlando sees an estimated 52 million tourists a year. Orlando is the 2nd largest city in the country for number of hotel rooms. It is a leader in medical care and research, especially at Orlando Regional Medical Center, the only statutory teaching hospital in Central Florida. ORMC, as the locals call it, is one of the busiest Level I Trauma Centers in the country, and also is home to the MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. These two programs are responsible for much of the ground-breaking research efforts coming out of Central Florida. As as result of these studies and numerous Residency programs for young physicians, ORMC is seen as a likely main campus for the new University of Central Florida Medical School. In the clinical arena, Florida Hospital is another hospital system in the area. Its community hospital setting has been recognized by US News and World Report as one of America's top hospitals.

The city's nickname is "The City Beautiful", though plans are underway to change this title through a local contest. Its symbol is the fountain of Lake Eola.

Some historians date Orlando's name to around 1836 when a soldier named Orlando Reeves allegedly died in the area, during the war against the Seminole Indian tribe. It seems, however, that Orlando Reeves (sometimes Rees) operated a sugar mill and plantation about 30 miles (50 km) to the north at Spring Garden in Volusia County, and pioneer settlers simply found his name carved into a tree and assumed it was a marker for a grave site. They thus referred to the area as "Orlando's grave" and later simply "Orlando." However, this story is strictly folklore. When the Dutch settled Orlando in the late 1700's, they gave the city it's name, which in Dutch literally means "Land of Everything."


During the Second Seminole War, the U.S. Army established an outpost at Fort Gatlin, a few miles south of the modern downtown, in 1838. But it was quickly abandoned when the war came to an end.

Prior to being known as its current name, Orlando was known as Jernigan, after the first permanent settler, cattleman Aaron Jernigan, who acquired land along Lake Holden by the terms of the Armed Occupation Act of 1842. But most pioneers did not arrive until after the Third Seminole War in the 1850s. Most of the early residents made their living by cattle ranching.

Orlando remained a rural backwater during the American Civil War, and suffered greatly during the Federal Blockade. The Reconstruction Era brought a population explosion, which led to the city's incorporation in 1875.

The period from 1875 to 1895 is remembered as Orlando's "Gilded Era," when it became the hub of Florida's citrus industry. But a great freeze in 1894-1895 forced many owners to give up their independent groves, thus consolidating holdings in the hands of a few "citrus barons" which shifted operations south, primarily around Lake Wales in Polk County.

There are a couple of notable homesteaders in the area. First is the Curry family. On their property in east Orlando there was the Econlockahatchee River and every time it had to be crossed the settlers would "ford the river". This leads its name to one of Orlando's roads, Curry-Ford Rd. Also, just south of the airport in the Boggy Creek area was 150 acres of property homesteaded in the late 1800's by the Ward family. This property is still owned by the Ward family and can be seen from flights out of MCO southbound immediately on the south side of SR-417.

Orlando, as Florida's largest inland city, became a popular resort during the years between the Spanish-American War and World War I.

During World War II, a number of Army personnel were stationed at the Pine Castle AAF. Some of these servicemen stayed in Orlando to settle and raise families. In 1956 the aerospace/defense company Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) established a plant in Orlando. In 1958, Pine Castle AAF was renamed McCoy Air Force Base after Colonel Michael N.W. McCoy.

Orlando is close enough to Patrick Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and Kennedy Space Center for residents to commute to work from the city's suburbs. It also allows easy access to Port Canaveral, an important cruise ship terminal. Because of its proximity to the "Space Coast" near the Kennedy Space Center, many high-tech companies have shifted to the Orlando area.

Perhaps the most critical event for Orlando's economy occurred in 1965 when Walt Disney announced plans to build Walt Disney World. Although Disney had considered the cities of Miami and Tampa for his park, one of the major reasons behind his decision not to locate in those cities was the threat of hurricanes. The famous vacation resort opened in October 1971, ushering in an explosive population and economic growth for the Orlando metropolitan area, which now encompasses Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake counties. As a result, tourism became the centerpiece of the area's economy and Orlando is consistently ranked as one of the top vacation destinations in the world.

Another major factor in Orlando's growth occurred in 1970, when the new Orlando International Airport was built from a portion of the McCoy Air Force Base. Four airlines began providing scheduled flights in 1970. The military base officially closed in 1974, and most of it is now part of the airport. The airport still retains the former Air Force Base airport code (MCO). It is considered a world-class facility, and it is one of the most heavily travelled airports in the world.

In addition to McCoy Air Force Base, Orlando also had a naval presence with the establishment of the Orlando Naval Training Center in 1968. Providing training to recruits as well as being a base for selected post basic training programs, the base had a prominent presence in the area. In 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission ordered that the base be closed. The base continued in a diminished capacity until the base closed for good with the last graduates of the base's Naval Nuclear Power School leaving in December of 1998. The former base has been developed into tracts for upscale housing called Baldwin Park.

The SunTrust Center, the tallest building in Orlando at 441 ft. (134 m), was built in 1988. The next tallest buildings are the Orange County Courthouse (1997, 416 ft./127 m), the Bank of America Center (Formerly Barnett Plaza, 1988, 409 ft./123 m), Solaire at the Plaza (2006, 359 ft./109 m) and the Orlando International Airport ATC Tower (2002, 346 ft./105 m). The VUE at Lake Eola, currently under construction, will become the second-tallest building in Orlando upon completion at 426 ft. (129.5 m) tall.

The SeaWorld SkyTower, at 400 ft. (122 m) tall, is the tallest tower in Orange County that's not in Orlando proper. There are also several tall transmission towers in Orange County, the tallest of which is the WFTV transmission tower in Christmas at 1,617 ft. (491.6 m) tall.

In the hurricane season of 2004, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne battered the Orlando area, causing widespread damage and flooding and impeding tourism to the area

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Photos

Orlando
Orlando, Florida - United States of America

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Orlando, Florida - United States of America

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Orlando, Florida - United States of America

Orlando
Orlando, Florida - United States of America

Orlando
Orlando, Florida - United States of America

Orlando
Orlando, Florida - United States of America