Product Description

By the late nineteenth century, the city of Orlando was a vibrant cultural center of the South. Through changing fortunes, Orlando has continued to grow and prosper by overcoming adversity and maintaining the strong, independent culture of its citizens.
Historic Photos of Orlando captures this journey through still photography selected from the finest archives. From Jernigan to the great freeze, the land boom to the construction of Walt Disney World, Historic Photos of Orlando follows life, government, education, and events throughout the city's history.
This volume captures unique and rare scenes through the lens of hundreds of historic photographs. Published in striking black and white, these images communicate historic events and everyday life of two centuries of people building a unique and prosperous city.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #428995 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Review
The City Beautiful never looked more beautiful than it does in this astonishing collection of 200 black and white photographs. --Orlando Magazine

These sparkling captions offer interesting tidbits beyond the photos' content...it's fun facts that make this educational book one that's also engaging. --Orlando Sentinel

This book is a must for anyone who likes photo history books. Great insight on the development of an American icon city. --MickeyNews.com

About the Author
Joy Wallace Dickinson is also the author of Orlando: City of Dreams (Arcadia Publishing, 2003) and Remembering Orlando: Tales from Elvis to Disney (The History Press, 2006).

Ms. Dickinson grew up in Orlando, Florida in the 1950s. As a child, she spent many Saturdays visiting the Albertson Public Library and the book department of Ivey's department store, where she spent her allowance buying Nancy Drew mysteries. After school days in Orlando at Howard Junior High and William R. Boone, Ms. Dickinson graduated from the Florida State University in Tallahassee with a degree in English and History and edited books about history at the Institute of Early American History and Culture in Williamsburg, Va., and Stanford University Press.

In the Twenty-First Century, she has written hundreds of "Florida Flashback" features about Central Florida history for the Orlando Sentinel, one of Florida's leading newspapers.

Customer Reviews

Fun for anybody who has done more than just tourism in Orlando
As the author states in the preface, few of the folks that have visited Orlando for tourism have actually seen the city (most people stay only in the theme parks area, which is a good drive away from the City Beautiful's downtown area). Therefore, a photographic document that shows images from the city dating back to the 1850s when it first appeared on the map may come in as a pleasant surprise for many.

Like the other "Historic Photos of" books, the book is broken down by time periods that have a particular theme. Starting with a span between 1868 and 1908 that shows street shots that resemble Deadwood and crocodile-domesticating "Crackers" (the closest thing to an Orlandoan cowboy there ever was), the book extends all the way up to the Theme Park days in the seventies, even showing shots of Walt Disney himself within months of his death, before he was able to see his Walt Disney World dream come true.

Though those that have come to O-Town as tourists may get a kick out of the book, I feel it will be more worth the time of locals or those (like us) who have chosen to make it our home.