Do you know the history of your neighborhood? Neighborhoods in the City of Orlando possess many unique qualities that should be preserved in order to ensure that great deeds are not forgotten – knowing the history of neighborhoods helps us understand who we are as a city and contributes to molding Orlando’s future.
Why Document Your Neighborhood History?
Knowing your neighborhood’s history builds a sense of pride in the community, celebrates its roots and promotes the uniqueness of the neighborhood. It’s a great way to learn fun and interesting facts about how the neighborhood came in to existence.
- Did the neighborhood participate in any historical events that may have helped shape the City’s history?
- Did anyone famous live in the neighborhood?
Step 1: Does a Neighborhood History Already Exist?
The first thing you may want to find out is if one already exists. Check with your neighborhood organization, longtime neighbors, the City of Orlando Office of Communications & Neighborhood Relations, the Orange County Regional History Center or the Orlando Public Library to see if a history of your neighborhood exists. Ask as many residents as possible about the history of the neighborhood, especially long-time residents. You can also do a quick internet search. Many neighborhoods throughout the City may have already created a neighborhood history.
Step 2: Research Available Facts About the Neighborhood
If a neighborhood history has not already been written or isn’t readily available, your next steps are:
- Let your neighbors know that you and the neighborhood organization are writing a neighborhood history and are looking for interesting facts, history, pictures and other information that defines your neighborhood.
- Ask neighbors to host a coffee or dessert function and invite neighbors they know have lived in the neighborhood for a while. Ask neighbors, especially elderly neighbors about what makes the neighborhood special, what some of their fondest memories are of living there, etc. This is a great opportunity to gather some history and tidbits about your neighborhood.
- Consider recruiting neighbors or volunteers from the Orange County Regional History Center or local colleges to help with the research, writing and editing of the neighborhood history. These types of projects may quickly become overwhelming with all the information you have to go through to pull specific facts and information about your neighborhood. Having help will make the project easier and more enjoyable.
- Determine how far back you want or can go in recording your neighborhood history
Step 3: Determine the Overall Scope and Format the Neighborhood History Project
What types of information are you interested in collecting? Here is some of the basic information your neighborhood history should contain:
- Neighborhood name – how did the neighborhood get its name?
- Date the neighborhood was established
- Boundaries and location of the neighborhood
- Brief description of the neighborhood (brick roads, close to downtown)
- Number of homes
- Styles of architecture
- Population and demographics
- Places to see
- What makes your neighborhood special
- Historic homes, events
- Famous or notable residents
- Types of land use (residential, commercial, industrial)
- Parks, churches, schools and other notable destinations
- Annual events in the neighborhood
- Is there a neighborhood organization; if so, what is the name, website, etc.
- What other information and points of interest do you want to include?
Step 4: Set Up General Deadlines
Determine specific deadlines you want to meet in researching and writing your neighborhood history. This will help you stay on track, especially if you have other neighbors or volunteers helping with the research and writing.
Step 5: Funding
Based on your expectations and the type of expenses you think you may have, your association may want to consider applying for a Mayor’s Matching Grant. Contact the City of Orlando’s Office of Community Affairs about the Mayor’s Matching Grant by calling 407.246.2500 or visiting cityoforlando.net/grants.
Step 6: Start Compiling the Information
Once you decide what information you want to research, there are many resources available to you. As mentioned, residents are a wonderful resource, both long time residents and folks that grew up in the neighborhood that may have moved away. Some of the information that residents can provide include what significant changes the neighborhood has seen (redevelopment, socio-economic changes, etc.), what businesses and churches used to be located nearby, what the oldest homes are and any other early history that they can recall.
Step 7: Show Sources
As your neighborhood history is coming together, be sure to note the source for your information with footnotes or citations for sources of information. This will show your association and neighbors that the neighborhood history was actually based on established fact. It also allows neighbors to do their own research.
Step 8: Add Photographs
Using photographs makes your project more relevant and interesting. Gathering the pictures many not be so easy. Having the originals, if possible, makes the best scanned or reprint quality. It is best to scan and store your photos on DVDs. Store the original photos in acid-free sleeves, tucked away securely in a notebook or file.
Step 9: Reviewing and Editing Your Draft
Be sure to take time to let your association leadership, neighbors involved in providing information and others directly involved in creating your neighborhood’s written history to review the draft for grammar, style and accuracy. If there is more than one person doing the writing, make sure someone reviews the whole document for tone and consistency so your document flows. Consider using a conversational tone which may make it more fun to read.
Step 10: Neighborhood History is Written, Now What?
Once your neighborhood history is written, what do you do with it?
- Celebrate. Unveil your history document at an association meeting or function.
- Thank everyone involved in producing the document.
Save your history on discs and give to:
- Your neighborhood organization; provide a copy to the association secretary to include in official records of the association, and to your association webmaster for posting on the organization’s website. If your association doesn’t have a website, we recommend that all board members keep a copy in their board notebooks. Consider including it in a Welcome Packet for new members and neighbors.
- The Orange County Regional History Center
- The City of Orlando’s Office of Communications and Neighborhood Relations
- Work with the association to determine how to keep your neighborhood history updated. When should the document be reviewed and updated? Who should be responsible for updating the history? What information and facts should be added each year? By updating your neighborhood history at least annually, you are ensuring the legacy of your neighborhood for generations.
Writing your neighborhood history a very rewarding project, giving you opportunities to met neighbors, make new friends and develop a deeper appreciation of the area you’re from or where you’ve chosen to live.
City of Orlando
Historic Preservation Office, 407.246.3350
The Historic Preservation Office may know if a neighborhood has changed names over the years and where additional information might be located. The Historic Preservation Office may also have some historical information on your neighborhood if it is located in a local historic district or a national register district.
Planning Division, Community Planning Studio, 407.246.2269
The Community Planning Studio staff may have history and background on your neighborhood.
Orange County Regional History Center
Joseph L. Brechner Research Center
65 East Central Boulevard, 407.246.8541
Reach out to the History Center for help. They have a ton of resources outlining Orlando’s history. The center has books, newspaper clippings and photographs, biographical materials on prominent Orlando residents, old city directories, maps, phone books, building permits and Horizon 2000 audio recordings of Orlando citizens talking about neighborhoods.
Orange County Library System
Genealogy Department
The library has books, city directories and phone books. They also have an online database of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper from 1985 to the present, which can be used to look for articles (some historical) on neighborhoods, individuals and other related subjects. You can search from home if you have a library card and pin number with the Orange County Library System. Make sure to check with the city’s genealogical societies/church archives and publications to see what they may have.
Florida Historical Society
myfloridahistory.org
Orange County Public School System
407.317.3200
A great start to learn about the history about schools in your neighborhood. The best way to get historical information from the school system is to email your request to its records department at records@ocps.net. You may also want to visit the schools in your neighborhood to find out about the school history and its connections in the neighborhood.
Wells' Built Museum of African American History and Culture
511 West South Street, 407.245.7535
Opened in 2009, this museum houses memorabilia of Orlando’s African American community and contains displays on the Civil Rights movement in Orlando, along with some African art on loan from local collections.
University of Central Florida's Library
Florida History Resources
Central Florida Memory Project
Central Florida Memory is a cooperative project that began in 2002 by three institutions: the University of Central Florida Library, the Orange County Regional History Center and the Orange County Library System. The long-term intent of the project is to provide an online platform and focal point for gathering, preserving and disseminating the documents, artifacts and stories of the history of Central Florida. Their interest is in much more than just providing access to or heightening awareness of this history. This project provides educational resources and tools to enhance the delivery of instruction of history at all levels, especially fourth grade students and teachers learning Florida history.
Florida Memory Project
The Florida Memory Project website presents a selection of digitized historical records that illustrate significant moments in Florida history from select collections housed in the State Library and Archives of Florida.