Orlando History

Orlando, located in central Florida, is best known as the home of Disney World. Like much of the rest of Florida, Orlando is a popular tourist destination, except people come more for the theme parks than the beaches. Its famed theme parks include Sea World, Universal Studios and of course Disney World. With one of the nation's largest conference centers and numerous golf courses, Orlando is a popular host for business conferences and golf retreats.

Historically, Orlando was grounds for the Seminole Wars between the Americans and the Native American tribe Seminole. In 1838, the US army built Fort Gatlin outside the city to protect against attacks from Indians.

The fort that was built around the settlement was called For Gatlin, and the community that formed around that fort was called Jernigan, taken after the Jernigan family who built the first post office in the area, thereby establishing the first permanent inhabitants. At first, the settlers raised cattle as their primary living, but it wasn't until the Seminole Wars came to an end that business and livelihood began to really pick.

In 1875, Orlando finally became incorporated, with a residency of 85 people. Orlando began to branch out of cattle raising to include cottons and citrus fruits. When the Cubans demand for beef increased, so did cattle ranching all across Florida, including Orlando. Demand for cotton followed soon after and Orlando also thrived as it became a city of cotton plantations. Most of the cotton workers eventually moved south, and the remaining plantations were destroyed by a hurricane which hit in 1871.

With Florida's warm weather, citrus crops like oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit thrived and Orlando saw tremendous profit from them as well. Finally, when Walt Disney chose Orlando as his theme park's next location outside California, Orlando became a prime tourist attraction, enjoying prosperity and fame.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

learn more about the Orlando History

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated