A letter from Laura Hakes Brown arrived at the Library at the beginning of April, 2005. She wrote that she had been looking at our Winter Park History Web site and enclosed an account of how the first Temple Orange tree came to be. It was written by her grandmother, Ethel G. Hakes and is titled The Romance of the Orange.
This account gave us a peek into a time when citrus was a very important part of Winter Park's economy. During those years a person could drive along Central Florida's roads and pass grove upon grove of citrus trees and smell the scent of orange blossoms in the Spring or the sweet, heavy smell of oranges being processed in the Winter. Sights and smells that are unfortunately becoming more and more rare as orange groves are being turned into developments all over Florida.
The photograph is from the Powers Family Collection and has been held in our archives for many years. Now, we also have the story to go along with it. Our thanks to Laura Hakes Brown for taking the time to send a copy of The Romance of the Orange to the archives.
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| A photograph of the parent Temple Orange tree circa 1900's. | The Romance of the Orange |
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| Louis Albert Hakes, resident of Winter Park and the developer of the Temple Orange. This photograph is a gift to our archives from his granddaughter, Laura Hakes Brown. |
Click on the thumbnail photograph to view larger image or to access the "The Romance of the Orange" .pdf file.