First Orlando history

The total population was 85 inhabitants, 22 of whom were qualified voters; William Jackson Brack was elected as the first mayor. It was later incorporated as a city in 1885.

By 1886 Orlando’s streets were lined with schools, hotels, churches, and buildings and tourists started to spend their summers there.

The organization began in 1913 as the “Orlando Board of Trade,” and today, it is known as Orlando, Inc.

Orange County pioneer Kena Fries wrote of change in Orlando from the city’s first beginnings in her 1938 publication, Orlando in the Long, Long Ago . . . and Now.

Prosperity returned in 1940 with preparations for United States involvement in World War II. Orlando Army Air Base replaced the Orlando Municipal Airport, manufacturing plants opened to produce war materiel, and soldiers arrived in the city for training.

Many new jobs had been created by 1944.

Orlando’s most dramatic change came with the announcement in 1955 that the Glenn L. Martin Company planned to move its production and all its engineers to Orlando from Baltimore, Md.

The forerunner of the Lockheed Marietta Company started its operations in 1956 and became the biggest employer in Central Florida.

By 1961, the company, then known as the Martin Marietta Corporation, was Florida’s single largest employer, with about 10,500 people working in 23 buildings south of Orlando.

Florida Technological University currently known as the University of Central Florida was established in 1968 and in the same year the Orlando Naval Training Center was established.

Walt Disney World opened in October 1971.

Henry G. Baker preached his first sermon as Pastor-Elect, and on April 11, 1976, was officially installed as pastor while still a student at Union Christian Bible Institute.

The construction of other attractions followed, and the city acquired a National Basketball Association franchise (the Orlando Magic) in 1987.

On February 3, 1991, the church licensed Sister Betty A. Montgomery as the first female minister in the history of the church.

More theme parks followed Disney World, and in the year 2000 alone, Central Florida entertained nearly 43 million tourists.

In March 2001 the church was renamed Greater First Baptist Orlando.

On the 3rd Sunday in August 2002, the current $1.5 million edifice was dedicated.

In 2013, the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce celebrated 100 years of building community and driving change in the region.

Disney’s Golden Oak, Shaq’s estate dominate list of 10 most expensive Orlando estates that sold in 2021