From Service to Celebration

By Cheyenne Stastyshyn from the Spring 2026 Edition of Reflections Magazine A veteran, community builder, and keeper of history, Dorothy Turner Johnson exemplified a life shaped by service and sustained by purpose. The year 2026 marks the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. As we

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A Salute to Col. Joe Kittinger

We at the History Center were saddened by the death, on December 9, 2022, of an Orlando hometown superhero and world aviation icon, Col. Joe Kittinger. He was 94. In 2006, he was the second recipient of the John Young History Maker Award, following the first award to John Young

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Orlando Changes

The change Disney created in Orlando surely qualifies as the most dramatic and complete, with the most far-reaching consequences, but it was definitely not the first. Historian Tana Porter lists other significant events that shaped the City Beautiful.

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