OAKLAND Natural Wonder T
he town of Oakland once boasted an opera house and thriving businesses in its bustling downtown area. At one time, the town was the social and industrial hub of West Orange County — with railroad tracks that carried goods to and from other areas. The town — which housed several Indian trading posts and villages around the 1850s — was officially established in 1887, when a meeting was called to incorporate the town with a list of 31 qualified voters. James Gamble Speer is credited for being the first real settler. He bought bought a large piece of land between two lakes — Apopka and Johns — in 1857. Speer Park, at the northwest corner of Tubb Street, and Briley Avenue is named for this pioneer. Peter A. Demens was the first mayor. Back in Speer’s time, Oakland was considered a loosely designated area between the
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two lakes and two or three miles east and west. Today, Oakland has close to 4,000 residents living, playing, working and going to school within its 2.4 square miles. Oakland’s popularity increased when the railroad system was extended through the area in the late 1880s. But a devastating fire about a decade later wiped out the business district, and an 1895 freeze destroyed all of the citrus groves. The railroad left because of a decline in business, and the town’s economy took a major downturn. After the town settled back into a rural lifestyle following the freeze and fire, residents — many of them descendants of the first settlers — once again enjoyed the quiet atmosphere and small-town neighborliness that was its humble beginnings. The town limits stretched from Killarney to Tildenville from 1926 to 1959, when Oakland officials voted to de-annex more than
800 acres, because it couldn’t afford to serve the area. The town seemed to stay at a relative standstill for decades, until Oakland’s mayor, commissioners, manager and town staff began working on a steady, viable growth plan. Oakland started the process of bringing sewer to the town in 2013, which will allow for restaurants, hotels and other development along West Colonial Drive. In 2019, construction began on lift stations, sewer lines and other aspects of the massive project with the assistance of grant monies and state funds totaling more than $1.7 million. The town is now in its 19th year as a Tree City USA. It has a new Healthy West Orange Arts and Heritage Center and is working on its Speer Park Master Plan. A roundabout is coming to the west end of Oakland Avenue to ease traffic congestion in the booming area.
LOCAL MOTION 2022
