Description
Did you know…
William Holley was the first man to plant an orange grove in Orange City, west of what would become Carpenter Avenue.
The Dickinson family had Albertus Cottage moved from the Library area to the corner of South Holly and Rose Avenues.
Immediately after the Big Freeze in 1894-1895, Orange City laid dormant under the shade of it’s old oaks for many years. It became more or less self-centered and cut off from theworld. Isolation became chronic. Orange City slept.
Orange City water was bottled and shipped by truck and tank cars on the railroad not only throughout Florida, but all over the United States and even in Europe. One of it’s famous users was John D. Rockefeller, Sr. who had a winter home in Ormond and had Orange City water sent to him whenever he traveled, even using it for bathing.
On August 26, 1882, Orange City, named for the thousands of acres of orange groves planted in and around the city, was incorporated as a city. Twelve years later, the Big Freeze wiped out the orange groves that the town was named for.
You can read about this and many other Orange City facts in new edition Our Story of Orange City.