A Proud Heritage: Documenting Winter Garden’s Historical African American CommunityHonoring the people and places of East Winter Garden.

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A Proud Heritage

Learn about our current exhibit

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Membership

Help Further Our Mission

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Heller Hall

Host your event at Winter Garden’s exclusive venue

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Gift Shop

Take home a slice of West Orange County

history

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Spring 2019

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Documenting Winter Garden’s Historical African American Community. See the next page for details.

Stay in touch to learn about all the happenings coming up at the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation. We would love for you to stop by any of our museums to say hello, do a little shopping in the gift shop, and take some photographs by our famous caboose.

Help sustain all our programs and exhibits by becoming a member of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation. While supporting local history, you help preserve our legacy for future generations. Please visit our website at WGHF.org for details or call the Foundation at 407-656-3244.

From Our Chair

Geegee Burmeister

Geegee Burmeister, President

Frank Chase, Vice President

Cara Hennen, Past President

Phil Cross, Executive Committee

Larry Cappleman, Executive Committee

Harold Bouler

Ward Britt

Kay Cappleman

Delmar Johnson

Irv Lipscomb

Keith Packey

Erin Rauch

Beth Wincey

Henry Wright

Mimi Wright

Cynthia Cardona Executive Director

Jim Crescitelli Editor

Alarie Design Associates, Inc.Design and Layout

This year, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation is celebrating 25 years of preserving West Orange County history. To mark this milestone, we planned exciting events, exhibits, and programs for the year ahead, beginning with our 12th Annual Golf Tournament on April 8 at the West Orange Country Club. Don’t forget to buy tickets at the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation for the Tournament’s Helicopter Golf Ball Drop. If your golf ball is the first to drop into the hole, you win $1000!

We are also working on our first Heritage Ball fundraiser, to be held in the fall. Set in the Roaring 20s, it’s going to be a fun and exciting event – and each year’s succeeding ball will be themed to the decades that follow!

We are honored once again to collaborate with the City of Winter Garden and Peter Schreyer of the Crealdé School of Art to produce A Proud Heritage:

Foundation Board

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EXHIBIT DATES

Winter Garden City Hall

300 West Plant Street

Through April 30, 2019

The Winter Garden Heritage Museum

1 North Main Street

May – June 2019

A Proud Heritage: Documenting Winter Garden’s Historical African American Community

This exhibit revisits Winter Garden’s African

American community twenty years after it

was documented in Small Town Orange

County: The Central Florida Communities of

South Apopka, Bithlo, East Winter Garden,

and Taft, a project of Orange County

Government and the Crealdé School of Art

in Winter Park, Florida.

12th Annual Golf TournamentOn April 8, 2019, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation will host its 12th Annual Golf Tournament at the West Orange Country Club. This tournament grows more successful every year, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors!

A special thank you to this year’s Steel Sponsors:

AdventHealth, The Bond Foundation, Fidelity Investments, J & J Building, Bonnie Johnson, Steven Stanford, Urban Flats, and Lynn Walker Wright, P.A.

For more information on sponsoring or playing in our tournament, go to www.wghf.org/12th-annual-golf-tournament

For this anniversary exhibit, the Winter

Garden Heritage Foundation engaged

documentary photographer Peter Schreyer,

who made the original photographs in 1996,

to create a series of additional images of

neighborhood landmarks and portraits of

individuals that have had a lasting impact on

community life.

Photographs and Archival Silver Prints by Peter Schreyer – 1996, 2019

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Dorothy Kannon: Winter Garden’s Artist Visionary Exhibit opening: June 13, 2019 Winter Garden Heritage Museum 1 North Main Street

Winter Garden artist Dorothy Kannon (1931-2008) graduated from Lakeview High School in 1949, and went on to study oils under Nunzio Vayana at the Ogunquit Center in Maine.

Beginning in 1950, Kannon studied watercolors under Hilton Leach at Sarasota's Amagansett Art School. Kannon graduated in 1955 from Florida State University and worked as an artist at Florida Technological University. Kannon also served as the assistant director at the Jacksonville Children's Museum.

The exhibit features original paintings, prints, and sketches donated to the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation by Kannon’s niece Christy Ammerman.

MembershipMembership provides the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation with the support we need to thrive. At the heart of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s two museums, exhibits, and educational programs are the people who sustain our commitment to preserving West Orange County’s history and creating unique cultural experiences.

Membership levels begin at $50. To learn more, visit our website at wghf.org/membership

UpcomingPraise! Religious Life in West Orange County May – June 2019 Winter Garden Public Library 805 East Plant Street

Faith communities representing a wide spectrum of religious traditions were established in West Orange County by the region’s settlers. Services held in private homes or even outdoors nourished pioneers challenged by life in their new land and provided a spiritual bond with the congregations they bid farewell to when they moved to the region.

Small wooden church buildings soon gave way to stately brick buildings erected in the center of towns and communities like Winter Garden, Oakland, Gotha, Ocoee, and Beulah.

The exhibit features images showing the lasting presence of these religious communities from their late 19th century beginnings.

Saturday Family Adventures at the Museum Winter Garden Heritage Foundation - Heller Hall 21 East Plant Street

We invite the whole family to join us for a series of new programs featuring live entertainment, hands-on activities, and snacks - all while learning about local history in a fun way!

June 15 – “Let’s Move with Jiggle Man”

September 21 – “Food, Fitness, and Fun Science with Healthy Herb”

11 am - 1 pm • $5.00 / family (Ages 2 and up)

To RSVP, email jzimmerman@wghf.org or call 407-656-3244

Volunteer!The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation welcomed over 100,000 visitors to our museums and programs in 2018 – a record! Our volunteers hosted people from every state and almost 90 countries – and we’re looking for extra help to greet guests, answer questions about the area’s attractions, and assist with our archive. Call 407-656-3244 and we’ll sign you up!

By the NumbersBy the Numbers for 2018 … representing all 50 states and 82 countries:

8446 History Research, Education, and Visitors’ Center guests

13445 Winter Garden Heritage Museum guests

11568 Central Florida Railroad Museum guests

1851 Students and Teachers on WGHF Field Trips

Save the Date!Friday, November 8, 2019 Winter Garden Pavilion 104 South Lakeview Avenue

A Roaring 20s-themed event marks the first in our series of fundraisers designed around the style of each decade of the 20th century.

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Celebrating 25 YearsThe 25th Anniversary of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation,

established in 1994, was marked by the West Orange County Chamber

of Commerce at the Foundation’s Heritage Museum. Thanks to all

the supporters who have helped us preserve the region’s history for a

quarter of a century!

Heller HallHistoric Downtown Winter Garden'sExclusive Event Venue

Prepare to be swept away by the beauty and charm of Heller Hall, your home for memorable wedding ceremonies and extraordinary events. Recently featured in Orange Blossom Bride magazine, this hidden gem is nestled in the heart of historic Winter Garden and features a serene setting ideal for your special occasions.

This gorgeous space can hold up to 70 people for a seated dinner or a buffet-style meal.

When planning your event, choose Heller Hall to host your celebration. Call (407) 656-3244 or email Julie Zimmerman at jzimmerman@wghf.org to schedule an appointment. Don't miss out on the opportunity to rent this casually elegant and intimate venue!

Photos: Jamie Reinhart Photography

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Archive Spotlignt

New AcquisitionTo mark the centennial of America’s entry into the Great

War, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation created an

exhibit in 2017 entitled World War I in West Orange County.

Century-old images told the stories of many of the young

men from the area who served overseas.

The American Legion Post on West Plant Street in Winter

Garden is named for veteran 1st Lt. Hugh T. Gregory (1890-

1920), who served in France during the war. Neither the

Legion nor the Foundation has ever seen a photograph of

Gregory – until now.

Gregory remained in France after the war ended in 1919

but died there the following year. He is interred at the

Oakland Cemetery.

Thanks to the family of Cliff Hiatt and Jean Mc Kinnon

Hiatt, who shared a photograph of Cliff Hiatt’s grand-uncle

Hugh T. Gregory in his World War I uniform.

History Through the Gift ShopAfter enjoying our museums, be sure to take home a memory

from our gift shop, now featuring children's railroad-themed

items for every young railfan.

Our newly-expanded kids section features children's toys from

Melissa & Doug, including wooden puzzles, arts & crafts projects,

plush toys, books, and many other educational toys.

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The Winter GardenHeritage FoundationPreserving our heritage and architecture while creating new cultural experiences

Since 1994, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation has played a major role in preserving and revitalizing Winter Garden’s Downtown Historic District. Its efforts have succeeded in fostering an understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and environmental transformations that have transformed the area. When the historic Edgewater Hotel was threatened with demolition, the Foundation was formed and quickly established itself as the moving force that prevented the building’s destruction.

The Central Florida Railroad MuseumThe Central Florida Railroad Museum at 101 South Boyd Street has completed its expansion and renovation. Housed in the former Tavares & Gulf Railroad depot constructed in 1913, visitors from around the world – more than 11,000 in 2018 – enjoy the new meeting space, a library, and new exhibits.

Interested in becoming a member? Contact Vice President Phil Piet at info@cfrhs.org.

Central Florida Railway Historical Society members Rick

Sumner and Phil Cross place a brake wheel control in a new

Railroad Museum exhibit.

Before being donated to the Railroad Museum by Peter

Maxwell, this Gruen Clock kept time in the waiting room of

Orlando’s Atlantic Coast Line Station for over half a century.

This effort led to further restoration of the Historic District, including the reopening of the Garden Theatre in 2008.

Today, the Foundation continues to further its mission through the operation of three locations in the heart of Winter Garden: the Heritage Museum; the History Research, Education, and Visitors’ Center; and the Central Florida Railroad Museum, which showcases the influence that the railroads had on Florida’s development.

Visit wghf.org to plan your visit, support our efforts, learn about our programs and exhibits, and explore the area’s rich history.