Orlando, Florida and also Their Rich Story

Orlando, Florida has become synonymous with vacations, theme parks and fun (see Best Theme Parks in Orlando). It has an always-increasing meeting trade, since people may take a trip to this area and discover a temperate climate year-round. But besides its good climate and never ending things to undertake, the whole area has a nice feel to it, with its gently rolling land as well as lakes in large quantity. It isn’t any wonder it has become a spot for folks all over the United States as well as the world to make Orlando their permanent retirement home.

No one is able to know with certainty where the name “Orlando” came from. Perhaps the best explanation is one from a transplanted South Carolinian named Orlando Savage Rees, who operated a large estate around the area and passed away in 1835. Then the small town was named Jernigan, after a area military commander. However after he had a fall from grace they determined to change the name to Orlando, evidently after the property-owner. But nobody would seem to know with certainty.

The Reconstruction Era subsequent to the Civil War brought about a population explosion, and it was made legally as a city in 1885. Starting at 1875 to 1895 Orlando became the heart of Florida’s citrus trade, and everything thrived until the great freeze of 1894-95 ruined the business of scores of independent citrus growers, and were replaced by citrus barons who transplanted their operations south.

The Florida land boom in the 1920s was the next business boom, that swiftly ended in Orlando and all over Florida in the Great Depression during the 1930s. With World War II Orlando Army Air Base was home to a large number of military people, and when the US Air Force was established in 1947 it was an air base, in 1958 taking on the name of McCoy Air Force Base, ultimately closing for ever in 1975.

Thus in 1960 Orlando was a armed forces town incorporating some business like Lockheed Martin and a rather small, with the total metropolitan area at well less than five hundred thousand. That is much less than a quarter of its 2010 metro population, and the single gentleman it could be said was the catalyst for a major part of that development. That person of course was Walt Disney, who in 1965 introduced plans to build Walt Disney World. You can read more about that in Disney World Facts, but it was the beginning of one of the regions of greatest development with that notice.

Today it is certainly tourism but much more, as Metro Orlando has 71 skyscrapers and would be considered today a major industrial and hi-tech center. With Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios along with some other entertainment businesses and schools, it has become a player in the movie and tv industries, and starting July 1, 2011 filmmakers are going to now be eligible for tax credits that can be transferred for films shot within Florida. That will be a extremely big deal within their business. Healthcare is also taking up a bigger presence within the area, as now additional retirees are now residing within the area.

These are all very good explanation why the Orlando area in Central Florida will be the place to be in the upcoming years. Add in the fact that there is now no state income tax for Florida residents, and it is not just a great area to vacation but also to live. The region may have its work cut out for it keeping up with the essential infrastructure with the ever-rising numbers of inhabitants.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 4:25 pm and is filed under Travel and Leisure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.