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| Phil Eschbach Click photo to see a larger image. |
The Phil Eschbach Collection is twenty notebooks of negatives featuring his work as a photographer for Central Florida Magazine from 1975 to 1989. His collection includes many scenes from Winter Park during that time period.
Phil Eschbach, born in Gainesville, is a sixth generation Floridian and has lived in Winter Park for more than 20 years. He operates a computer design and photography studio, Eschbach Photography, in Winter Park and has worked in advertising and photography.
Exhibits featuring his photography have appeared throughout Central Florida, including city halls, the National Bank of Commerce, and local libraries. In January 2000, his exhibit "Two Thousand Years of Architecture", was displayed in the Community Room of the Winter Park Public Library. In March 2001, with Chip Weston, he designed the 42nd Annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival poster. The poster is a nostalgic mixed media and electronic image of a photograph that Phil took of the Colony Theater titled "Park Avenue's Last Picture Show".
In 1986, Senator Paula Hawkins was up for re-election. At the time, the Reagan administration had prepared a budget proposal that contained $50 billion in program cuts - including Social Security - in order to ease the national deficit. Hawkins' television campaigns centered around her opposition to any cuts in Social Security. In response to this, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole wanted to work out a compromise budget package with Hawkins and two other senators up for re-election: if they voted to support an earlier version of the budget, Dole would allow these senators some amendments to it. Unfortunately, Hawkins was defeated in 1986 by Democrat Bob Graham. Also in this photo is Earl M. "Duke" Crittenden. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
Hamilton Holt, President of Rollins College 1925-1949, started the collection of rocks from the residences or resting places of famous people. Holt himself gathered the first 200 stones; the walk was dedicated October 18, 1929, with the first 20 stones present. The millstone at the head of the walk features a quotation from Shakespeare's "As You Like It": "Sermons in stones and good in everything." During his presidency, Holt wrote a pamphlet about the walk, explaining that only two of the nearly 600 persons represented became famous "as a result of material achievement and success": Rockefeller and Carnegie; "Every other man and woman had to achieve supremely in the realm of the mind or the spirit." The Rollins Walk of Fame predates the Hollywood Walk of Fame by 27 years. Today there are more than 800 stones, including one honoring Hamilton Holt, dedicated in 1979. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
This picture of the corner of Park Avenue and Morse Boulevard in 1984 shows the Watkins Paint and Wallpaper Store which opened in 1955.
Columbia Jewelers and Park Avenue Eyewear now occupy this space. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
This is a picture of Rudi's Auto Repair taken in 1983. The Mercedes Benz sales and service business owned and operated by Rudi Vuckovic was on the corner of Fairbanks and Park avenues until Rollins College purchased the site in 1995. This corner will soon be part of an elaborate gateway into Rollins College.
Rudi's,now known as Rudi's M. B. Inc. Mercedes & BMW, is still in business at Fairbanks and Orange Avenue in Winter Park. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
The Caroling Company strolled through the park dressed in 19th century attire singing old fashioned Christmas carols during the 7th annual Christmas in the Park in 1985. This tradition began in 1979 and is sponsored by the Morse Gallery of Art. Christmas in the Park still goes on today and attracts crowds of thousands who come to see the priceless collection of Tiffany windows that adorn the park for the evening. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
Theatre On Park,founded in 1976, was located on the corner of Park and Canton avenues where the Morse Gallery of Art now stands. After 61 productions, Theatre On Park closed its doors on June 17, 1984.
This photo, taken in December 1981, was a special showing of "Grease" given to benefit the Human Crisis Council. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
The sinkhole that opened near the intersection of Comstock and Denning in May 1981 was the largest sinkhole yet in Florida. It swallowed a quarter-million cubic yards, including a house, five Porsches, and half an Olympic-size swimming pool, and disrupted telephone and power services. It quickly became an attraction for both tourists and scientists. Charles Osgood of CBS Radio even responded with a poem: "In Winter Park, Florida, outside Orlando, a troublesome thing can be found; an impressively spacious, expanding, ferocious, remarkable hole in the ground." Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
At some point in the mid-eighties, the Gerald R. Ford Foundation sponsored a star-studded, three-day symposium entitled, "Humor and the Presidency." It was made into a 90-minute HBO special, and a book with the same title, penned by Gerald Ford himself and published in 1987. Filled with cartoons and anecdotes, the book also contains Ford's personal thoughts on the place of humor in the White House. Ford visited the Park Plaza Gardens that same year, presumably to autograph copies of the book. Click on thumbnail to view larger image.
Copyright Notice:
The copyright interests for material included in the Winter Park Public Library Archives Collection may not be transferred to the Library and therefore remain with the current copyright holders. For more information, please see our Copyright Information Page.
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