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Orlando History

Orlando history dates back to 1838 and the height of the Seminole Wars. The U.S. Army built Fort Gatlin south of the present day Orlando City limits to protect settlers from attacks by Indians.

By 1840, a small community had grown up around the Fort. It was known as Jernigan, named after the Jernigan family, who had established the first permanent settlement in the area.

Six years later with the settlement expanding northward, the community officially changed its name to Orlando. The Town of Orlando was incorporated in 1875 with 85 inhabitants, 22 of whom were qualified voters.

While different versions of the origin of the name are told, the official account is credited to Orlando Reeves, a U.S. soldier who was killed in 1835 by an Indian's arrow while on sentinel duty at what is now Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando.

The city boomed several times; a railroad boom (which fueled a population boom), a real estate boom and a citrus boom (it was known as the 'city built on the peel of an orange'). The late 1950s brought a boom that was to last: the beginnings of the Space Age. The Glenn Martin Company (now Martin Marietta Defense Systems) began missile production, and the creation of Cape Canaveral and later Cape Kennedy Space Centers on Florida's east coast brought infusions of cash and jobs to the area.

With the establishment of Walt Disney World in 1971, the area became worldwide theme park central.

Orlando is the fifth-ranking US destination of overseas travelers - after San Francisco, Miami , Los Angeles and New York City - and it claims the second highest number of hotel rooms in the US, lagging just behind Las Vegas in the bedroom stakes.

The city has also established itself as part of Florida's high-tech corridor, boasting not only the space technology industries focused on the Florida Space Coast (also keen on 'booms'), but a healthy dose of bits and bytes makers as well.