Episode 43 focuses on the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, the relationship between the City of Winter Garden and the Foundation, and how the Foundation has changed over time.]]>
RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> QuickTime.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>

Episode 19 focuses on the home of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. In this podcast, director of the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation, Margaret Symonette, discusses the history of the historic home. Bethune was an African-American teacher and civil rights leader best known for establishing the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School in October 1904. In 1923, the school merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville and then became affiliated with the Methodist Church the following year. The school served as a co-educational high school until 1931, when it became a junior college. In 1941, the school was accredited as a four-year college and was renamed Bethune-Cookman College.]]>
]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> QuickTime.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>

Episode 18 explores the demographic changes of Winter Garden, Florida, during the 20th century. Originally a small agricultural hub, Winter Garden grew into a bustling suburbia in a short period of time. This episode focuses on Winter Garden's period of boom, bust and rebirth. Present-day Winter Garden was originally inhabited by Native Americans thousands of years before European colonization. Early European settlers began arriving in the area around Lake Apopka around 1845 with the encouragement of the Armed Occupation Act for settlement in the new State of Florida. The community began to grow rapidly when the Orange Belt Railway arrived in 1886 and citrus became the area's cash crop. A train depot was constructed in 1893 and the town was named Winter Garden. The area also became a popular tourist in the 1920s, nicknamed the "large-mouth bass capital." Winter Garden continued to thrive on citrus, proclaiming itself the largest citrus shipping point in the world during the 1940s. The citrus industry continued to boom throughout World War II, but quality dropped as Lake Apopka became polluted.]]>
RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries, Orlando, Florida.]]> RICHES Podcast Documentaries Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida]]>

The building was renovated in the early 2000s and was modified for office and retail use, with the post office retaining 13,200 square feet. Plans included an adjacent parking garage on the north side, though that that aspect never came to fruition. St. James Roman Catholic Cathedral, located across Court Street from the post office, purchased the parts of the building not utilized by the post office and use it for Chancery office space.]]>
RICHES of Central Florida]]> Thomas Cook Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.]]>

The building was renovated in the early 2000s and was modified for office and retail use, with the post office retaining 13,200 square feet. Plans included an adjacent parking garage on the north side, though that that aspect never came to fruition. St. James Roman Catholic Cathedral, located across Court Street from the post office, purchased the parts of the building not utilized by the post office and use it for Chancery office space.]]>
RICHES of Central Florida]]> Thomas Cook Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.]]>

The building was renovated in the early 2000s and was modified for office and retail use, with the post office retaining 13,200 square feet. Plans included an adjacent parking garage on the north side, though that that aspect never came to fruition. St. James Roman Catholic Cathedral, located across Court Street from the post office, purchased the parts of the building not utilized by the post office and use it for Chancery office space.]]>
RICHES of Central Florida]]> Thomas Cook Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida.]]> RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.]]>