History of Orlando

[MaXxlife]

Where did you find that?

[bulldogger]

Looking up Orange from Church Street... circa 1884.

sorry for the quality. There are some places that show me snapping the picture in a reflection.

[bulldogger]

Here's another old photo.

Corner of Livingston and Orange Avenue circa 1888

[slapdash09]

Here's another old photo.

Corner of Livingston and Orange Avenue circa 1888

[mrh3]

Here's another old photo.

Corner of Livingston and Orange Avenue circa 1888

[neon9]

Amazing that Orlando once had a rail based mass transit system and now it's like pulling teeth to get one back up and running.

[bulldogger]

Here's another old one. It's from Winter Park, though.

The Henkel Building - Park Avenue and New England - circa 1905

sorry about the reflections

[Boomer136]

That is exactly what I was going to say. I had to look twice at what the horse was pulling.

I knew there was an explosion of streetcars built back in the late 1800's and early 1900's (74k streetcars in the US by 1920) but didn't know we had one so early.

[prahaboheme]

Looking up Orange from Church Street... circa 1884.

sorry for the quality. There are some places that show me snapping the picture in a reflection.

[bulldogger]

It amazes me how incredibly Western Orlando looks in these pictures. Quite charming, actually.

[bulldogger]

OK. Here's my last one.

This is a view of Lake Eola from Court and Central Streets circa late 1880's

Again, sorry about the quality.

[orlandonative]

OK. Here's my last one.

This is a view of Lake Eola from Court and Central Streets circa late 1880's

Again, sorry about the quality.

[bulldogger]

Taken from the 4th floor of The Solaire's parking garage.

[JRS1]

With my Go Go Gadget Time Warp Camera

[That Crazy Guy]

Taken from the 4th floor of The Solaire's parking garage.

[eq74]

Orlando 1978

This is one of my favorite pictures of downtown. I've had it since I took it off the 1978 phone book. It has been fun to refer back to this picture through out the years as the building booms of early 80's, late 80's, late 90's/early 2000's occured.

Say what you will about the quality of our skyline, but we have come a long way!

[eq74]

Remember...today is not the only time we had multiple cranes in the skyline...

That's the (then) Atlantic Bank Building, Century Bank Building, and Barnett Plaza rising in 1981.

[JFW657]

I had just moved over here from the coast a few months prior to that picture.

[MaXxlife]

History of the Church Street Station Area

Sentinel Blog

[JRS1]

wow! incredible photos, guys. in that last one, that's the former First Union, Century Plaza, and Regions Banks, right?

the "Atlantic Bank" is designed like the former Atlantic Bank in Daytona on Seabreeze. probably the same architects.

I remember watching WFTV around that time and they would show the ariel chopper views of DT. That's when I discovered the Atlantic Bank and Signature Plaza bldgs. for the first time... I was like... wow. Now look at DT.

If CNA was built taller when it was built, maybe the height expectations would have been greater, ala that Park Tower in Tampa.

[EngineerNole]

If anyone is interested, here is a link to check out historical Sanborn maps in Orlando. These are old fire insurance maps showing a basic "blue print" of the city. Check it out!

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/digital/collectio...ando_Index.html

[EngineerNole]

Court House and Lake Eola from Hotel San Juan, Orlando, Fla (1904)

[eq74]

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s217/eq74/SAVE0010.jpg

This is my favorite building proposal that was never built. At Orange and Magnolia a 10 story Pyramid (proposed around 1977). That is the Chamber of Commerce to the right of it. I think it would have made a great gateway to the people going West on I4. The buildings there now would only have enhanced it. It wasn't build because the payers, Budget Rent-A-Car, didn't think they could rent out the unused space. Oh well, nice to dream...

[itsgr82b]

I found this one at an estate sale. It's looking south from the north end of downtown Orlando. I'm not really sure when it was taken, but it's clearly before the East-West Expressway was built, which means it was before I was born. Anyway, Go Gators in the game tomorrow!

[JFW657]

I found this one at an estate sale. It's looking south from the north end of downtown Orlando. I'm not really sure when it was taken, but it's clearly before the East-West Expressway was built, which means it was before I was born. Anyway, Go Gators in the game tomorrow!