Introduction

When William Burnette Burch arrived in Winter Garden as a boy in 1909, he recalled:

"Upon getting off the train I had my first sight of Winter Garden. Plant Street was a bed of sand filled with wagon wheel ruts; facing it and the railroad, as today, were the stores’ wooden frames with front porches. The front porches acted as sidewalks as the porches of the different stores joined or were connected. They also had benches where the men could sit and whittle."

Soon after his arrival, the fledgling town experienced two dramatic fires: the first in 1909 and a second blaze in 1912. The Sanford Herald, in its March 15, 1912 edition, reported:

"Winter Garden suffered another destructive fire Tuesday night with a property loss of about twenty thousand dollars, the hotel and four store-houses being in ashes, while the surrounding brick buildings are now considerably scorched, being saved by heroic efforts of the fire department. The packing house of W. L. Story, the Orange Hotel, Dodd’s store, Strozier’s store and several smaller buildings were burned. The bank building was slightly damaged as was the stores of Dillard and Boyd and the Apopka Supply Co. The loss will total $20,000 with partial insurance."

Many struggling towns might have disappeared after such a series of disasters, but that did not happen in Winter Garden, mainly due to the efforts of city fathers James Lafayette Dillard and Arthur Bullard Newton. With an “up from the ashes” determination that was to become a blueprint for the coming decades, the two men forged ahead.

This exhibit narrates the story of the city’s early days and two of the men who were instrumental in its resurrection after the flames. The Winter Garden that IS today owes much of its success to these men. The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation is fortunate to have in its possession many photos of Downtown Winter Garden as it appeared just before and after the fires. Most, if not all, came to us through the descendants of Dillard and Newton.