Homes for Sale in Windermere FL

If you are considering relocating to the Windermere area of central Florida we hope you will find the following information helpful

With an exciting blend of tourism, commerce and residential housing and its close proximity to the Orlando attractions, Windermere has been a popular choice for permanent residents for many years. To learn more about Windermere and the surrounding Four Corners area follow the links below

The History behind Windermere

It was 1857 when Becky Roper Stafford’s great-great-grandfather first glimpsed Lake Apopka. W. C. Roper was riding through the backwoods of west Orange County on horseback, seeking a place to build a home for his family waiting back in Merriwether County, Ga.

Roper bought 600 acres along the shore, between present-day Windermere and Oakland, and returned a year later with his wife and 10 children. The ambitious settler operated a sawmill, gristmill, sugar mill and cotton gin. Later he built a tannery for making shoes, and served as Orange County’s superintendent of schools from 1873 to 1877.

Fast-forward to the 1920s, when Roper’s son Frank planted the area’s first orange trees, marking the humble beginnings of an industry that would sustain and define Windermere, which had been incorporated in 1903, for the next six decades.

It was a busy time for Windermere’s three-story Edgewater Hotel, now a bed-and-breakfast, which opened in 1927 with a telegraph office, electric heating and fire sprinkler system. As the only hotel in the western portion of the county for nearly 30 years, the Edgewater emerged as a primary community gathering spot, a place where special events were held and business deals were sealed.

Windermere remained an idyllic small town throughout World War II and into the 1950s and 1960s. Far removed from Orlando, which was about to be reshaped by the advent of Disney World, the city remained self-sufficient and unpretentious. “I grew up with the scent of orange blossoms,” says Stafford, whose father Bert was also a prominent local citrus grower. She remembers when Davis’ Pharmacy was the place to meet friends for a vanilla Coke and when the Starlite Drive-In attracted weekend crowds of teens and families alike.

“Windermere was the quintessential vibrant small town,” says Stafford. “We had the distinction of being the only town with two train depots because it was such a busy shipping community with fresh fruit going all over the world.”

Demographics

We are compiling the latest demographic information for the Windermere and Four Corners areas, meanwhile you will find the following links very helpful.

Useful Links

For other useful information on Windermere and the surrounding area we think you will find the following sites useful.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Garden%2C_Florida
• http://www.city-data.com/city/Winter-Garden-Florida.html
• http://www.census.gov/