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Introduction | Attractions and Activities | Travel Basics

At the height of the Seminole Wars, the US Army built Fort Gatlin in central Florida to protect settlers from attacks. The small community that grew up around the fort was known as Jernigan, after the family who had established the first permanent settlement there. The town continued to grow and in the mid 1850s changed its name to Orlando.

Why Orlando? No one really knows, but the most common of the possible explanations involves a young soldier named Orlando Reeves. During nighttime guard duty, he spotted what appeared to be a log floating toward him on the lake. He recognized the disguise and raised the alarm to warn his fellow soldiers, thus allowing the troops to fight back the Indian attack. It is said they named the town for him in gratitude.

We may never know how Orlando really got its name, but we do know that the city has enjoyed several booms: the railroad boom fueled a population boom, followed by a real estate boom, and a citrus boom. Then the late 1950s brought the big boom: the Space Age. The Glenn Martin Company (now Martin Marietta Defense Systems) began missile production for the space coast area of Florida.

Then Walt Disney made Orlando a household name with the development of his Walt Disney World here in 1971. That was the start of yet another boom, and many may think that this would surely be the last. They would be wrong, as Orlando has quietly established itself as the Silicon Valley of Florida. Who knows? Orlando may never stop booming!