OCOEE The Center of Good Living B
efore it became a city in May 1925, Ocoee originally started as a small agricultural settlement supported by bustling local citrus and vegetable industries. The township of 820 residents first was settled adjacent to Starke Lake — southeast of Lake Apopka — in the mid-1800s. Ocoee was the name of a subdivision platted by Dr. H.K. Clarke, Charles J. Chunn and R.B.F. Roper, who created the Town of Ocoee subdivision in 1886; it was named after a river in Tennessee. The word “Ocoee” means “apricot vine” in the Cherokee language, and it’s why the city utilizes the passion flower in its logo.
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It was also during that time the first school was established in the city. In 1880, a three-sided hut was located on Floral Street — which would later be replaced twice — and Mrs. E D. Perkins was its first teacher. As tracks were laid and completed for the Florida Midland Railroad in the 1880s, the town boomed with rapid growth as settlers moved in to take advantage of the available farmland, and the area bustled as more lucrative citrus groves replaced other crops to become the money crop. Along with the growth came success of a strong and vibrant black community, which came to prosper in the area. Unfortunate-
ly, that growth — along with the passing of the Reconstruction Amendments — was met with animosity, and on Election Day 1920, white mobs murdered an unknown number of black residents — including July Perry — and burn the community to the ground. After 1926, there was no recorded black person residing in Ocoee until at least the mid- to late-1970s. Since those tragic days, a lot has changed in Ocoee, as it has acknowledged its dark past and continually seeks to make the city a better place for everyone. The city commission — and the city government in general — now includes more diversity than ever, and growth can be seen everywhere; including in the new City Hall currently under construction. — TROY HERRING
LOCAL MOTION 2021
