History Center staff are preparing a major exhibition that will open just weeks before the 2020 national election and will look back a century to Election Day 1920 in Orange County – telling the story of the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history, along with its aftermath.

College Park, the Orlando neighborhood that was originally home to citrus and pineapple growers, also has a history of water-themed attractions including Orlando’s very first water park, a mystifying sinkhole, and a spouting well. Discover Russell’s Pavilion, the Mystery Sink, and the Fairview Geyser.

After noticing that the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church had fallen into disrepair, I began the process of forming a foundation to restore the church and to house a museum there that would tell the story of the colored schools in the Oviedo area.

In March, the History Center shared callouts for donations from the community for anything related to the coronavirus in Central Florida, including emails from closed businesses, photos, oral histories, and news articles. Due to lockdown and necessary social-distancing measures, we turned our focus to digital materials.

Historian Tana Porter wrote this story about Orlando’s Division Street for the Winter 2016 issue of Reflections from Central Florida, the magazine of the Historical Society of Central Florida. Division Street, now known as Division Avenue, has become a symbol of our city's segregation period.