City Cab Company Taxi Service and the American Fire and Casualty Company
Alternative Title
City Cab Co. & American Fire & Casualty Co.
Subject
Orlando (Fla.)
Taxis (Vehicles)
Tires--United States
Insurance--Florida
Description
This photograph shows three businesses located on South Orange Avenue in Downtown Orlando, Florida, sometime between 1941 and 1946: City Cab Company Taxi Service, Kelly's Tires, and the American Fire and Casualty Company. City Cab Co. was founded by Napoleon B. Broward as early as 1941. Broward left the company in 1943 and was replaced by the company's secretary treasurer, Paul Mears. Later renamed Mears Transportation, it became one of the largest taxicab companies in Orlando and still operates today. The Exchange Building, pictured in the distance, was home to American Fire, an Ohio-based insurance corporation that had offices in the top two floors of the building for 18 years. In 1946, the insurance company bought the building and renamed it the American Building. These lots, as well as the rest of the block, were later replaced by the CNA Tower and Barnett Plaza.