In the 1870s, articles in national magazines began luring large numbers of Americans to central Florida with promises of fertile land and a warm climate. In Orlando, public roads, schools, and churches sprang up to serve the newcomers, many of whom replanted defunct cotton fields with citrus groves. Orlando was incorporated under state law in 1875, and boundaries and a city government were established.

New settlers poured in from all over the country, businesses flourished, and by the end of the year the town had its first newspaper, the Orange County Reporter. The first locomotive of the South Florida Railroad chugged into town in 1880, sparking a building and land boom -- the first of many. Orlando got sidewalks and its first bank in 1883, the same year the town voted itself "dry" in hopes of averting the fist fights and brawls that ensued when cowboys crowded into local saloons every Saturday night for some rowdy R&R. For many years, the city continued to vote itself alternately wet and dry, but it made little difference. Legal or not, liquor was always readily available.

A Fountain of Fruit -- Legend has it that Florida's citrus industry has its roots in seeds spit onto the ground by Ponce de León and his followers as they traversed the state searching for the fountain of youth. The seeds supposedly germinated in the rich Florida soil.