Our Town

SEMINOLE COUNTY AT A GLANCE

LAND AREA: 298 SQUARE MILES
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 1,301
POPULATION: 391, 446
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 36%
2005 PROJECTED POPULATION: 401,800
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WOK: 27.0 MINUTES
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $49,326
FACTOID: HENRY SANFORD, THE FOUNDER OF SANFORD, WAS A MAN WELL AHEAD OF HIS TIME. ON HIS LAND, SANFORD DEVELOPED A CITRUS GROVE AND EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN CALLED BELAIR. ALSO, IN 1880 HE FORMED THE FLORIDA LAND COLONIZATION CO. IN LONDON TO ENCOURAGE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT IN SEMINOLE COUNTY.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS

Although Altamonte Springs was incorporated in 1920, its population totaled only 5,000 as recently as 1970. But that was before developers turned this erstwhile whistle stop into a thriving suburb.

Today, Altamonte Springs, population 42,300, is known primarily for the Altamonte Mall, built in 1974 as the area's first regional mall, and for the presence of virtually every chain eatery in the world.

Many of the city's subdivisions can be found along Palm Springs Drive, Maitland Avenue and Montgomery Road, not far from the mall. Some of the older developments are nestled around hidden lakes that seem far removed from the hustle and bustle.

Multifamily housing also is plentiful, with no fewer than 30 apartment developments located within the city limits, primarily along Semoran Boulevard, also known as S.R. 436. Apartment living, plus the convenience of shopping and entertainment venues, has made Altamonte Springs popular among young adults.

But because no city wants its identity tied entirely to a mall, local officials are focusing on a 25-acre project called Uptown Altamonte, which would shift the focus toward adjacent Crane's Roost Park and its 40-acre manmade lake.

Uptown Altamonte, a $250 million partnership between the city's Community Redevelopment Agency and Unicorp National Developments, will encompass 1.5 million square feet of retail space, offices and condominiums.

CASSELBERRY

Founded by World War I veteran Hibbard Casselberry, who in 1926 bought 3,000 acres to grow ferns, Casselberry emerged as a suburban residential community after World War II.

By the time it was incorporated, in 1965, Casselberry encompassed a number of family-oriented subdivisions and a budding business district near the intersection of S.R. 436 and U.S. 17-92.

In the decades that followed, the city continued to grow-the population today stands at more than 22,000-but it became almost indistinguishable from surrounding unincorporated areas.

Finally, however, this quintessential bedroom community is set to reclaim its distinctive identity.

Unicorp National Developments is set to buy 16 acres from the city on which it will develop a $42 million, mixed-use project with town homes, restaurants, offices and retail space. The city also plans a 30,000-square-foot community center for the site, which is near U.S. 17-92 and Lake Triplett Drive.

In addition, a park just north of City Hall is being revamped and expanded to include an amphitheater on Lake Concord. The new and improved facility will host the city's biannual jazz fest as well as a chili cook-off, art shows and other special events.

Casselberry's renaissance is also being bolstered by the redevelopment of the old Seminole Greyhound Park property off Seminola Boulevard. Legacy Park will contain single-family homes and town homes as well as commercial and retail space and a park. Centex Homes is the primary builder.

Casselberry has 15 parks, more than two dozen lakes and a municipal golf course within its city limits.

Adjacent to Casselberry is unincorporated Fern Park, which, as the name suggests, also traces its beginnings to the fern-growing industry. Like Casselberry, it developed into a bedroom community for Orlando starting in the 1950s.

The community, which has floundered somewhat in recent years, is in line for a boost thanks to improvements on U.S. 17-92, which will include wider sidewalks and decorative streetlights. And a long-abandoned Kmart plaza fronting the highway may soon be bought and redeveloped by home-improvement chain Lowe's.

LAKE MARY

Lake Mary is one of Central Florida's hottest growth areas, thanks in large part to the dogged persistence of Jeno Paulucci, a blustery self-made millionaire who made his first fortune selling frozen Chinese food and a second one selling frozen pizza.

The city today sits at the epicenter of Florida's High-Tech Corridor, which follows I-4 from Tampa through Seminole County and northeast to Daytona Beach and Melbourne. Along the route, government and industry have joined forces to attract leading-edge companies in such fields as telecommunications, medical technology and microelectronics.

In Lake Mary, population 14,000, dozens of such companies have set up shop in several sprawling business centers that have combined to create a Central Florida version of Silicon Valley.

But it all started as an isolated railroad station known as Bents, the surname of a local grove owner. In 1900, industry arrived in Bents when Planters Manufacturing Company built a factory to produce starches, dextrines, farina and tapioca.

The facility closed in 1910, however, and Bents-later renamed Lake Mary, for the wife of a local pastor-seemed destined to remain an out-of-the-way country town.

That was the case for another half-century, until the construction of I-4 and a successful campaign by community boosters to get a Lake Mary interchange tacked on to the project.

The resulting tracts of easily accessible land caught the eye of Paulucci, founder of Chun King. In the late 1970s he announced plans to build a luxurious residential development and business hub called Heathrow.

Few thought the audacious Paulucci would be successful, and the project floundered at first. But then the plainspoken old salesman quieted naysayers by persuading the American Automobile Association to relocate from suburban Washington, D.C., to his Heathrow Business Center.

The AAA coup, at that time Central Florida's most important corporate relocation in decades, jump-started Heathrow and opened the door for all the business and residential development that followed.

Of course, all those high-paid techies who now call Lake Mary home require upscale housing, which is easily found through an array of gated golf course communities loaded with swim and tennis clubs, private lakes and jogging trails through nature preserves.

Lake Mary officials are using a $100,000 federal grant to advance plans to redevelop the old downtown area to better reflect the city's prosperous image.

Yet another Lake Mary town center is under way at Colonial Town Park, a 175-acre mixed-use development at a new I-4 interchange. The development features shops, restaurants and apartments in a village setting.

LONGWOOD

Of all Seminole County's municipalities, Longwood, population 13,700, has the most history to preserve-and has done the best job of preserving it. But it's still a modern place, with a plethora of exclusive country club communities, office parks and shopping centers.

In 1873 a New Englander named Edward Henck homesteaded a tract of land that he named Longwood, after a Boston suburb he had helped plan.

Henck was also the town's first postmaster and its first mayor. And in what may have been his spare time, Henck co-founded the South Florida Railroad and built a line connecting Sanford and Orlando, which enabled Longwood to boom as a citrus- and lumber-shipping center as well as a winter resort destination.

But as crucial as Henck was to Longwood's development, it was a carpenter named Josiah Clouser, a Henck employee, whose legacy is most visible. Clouser, a Pennsylvanian, constructed most of the buildings still standing in Longwood's remarkable historic district. The district is a two-block area on Warren and Church avenues near the intersection of C.R. 427 and C.R. 434.

Popular annual events include the Longwood Arts and Crafts Festival, held the weekend before Thanksgiving, and the Founders Day Spring Arts and Crafts Festival, held in March.

On the outskirts of the city toward neighboring Apopka in Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County is Wekiva Springs State Park. And on General Hutchinson Avenue is Big Tree State Park, home of "The Senator," said to be the oldest and largest cypress tree in the state.

OVIEDO

While Oviedo might be one of Central Florida's oldest communities-it was first settled some 140 years ago-this Seminole County boomtown knows how to embrace newcomers.

Indeed, few Central Florida municipalities have witnessed the kind of growth Oviedo has seen in recent years. The town's population is closing in on 30,000-more than a tenfold increase since 1980.

Oviedo's growth was a long time coming. The area's first settlers, who put down stakes near Lake Jesup in the 1860s, called it Solary's Wharf. In 1883 postmaster Andrew Aulin dubbed it Oviedo, supposedly after seeing a Spanish town of the same name on a map.

Then, after the railroad arrived in 1886, the town became a major shipping point for both celery and citrus. Among the early settlers was Andrew Duda Sr., who made his fortune growing celery and founded A. Duda and Sons, today one of the world's largest growers of sod.

Longtime locals point to 1964 as perhaps the most significant year in Oviedo's history. That's when a desolate 1,145-acre tract in rural northeast Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County, about seven miles east of the city, was selected as the site for Florida Technological University (now the University of Central Florida).

Initially, the carpetbagging Ph.D.s and the wary farmers made an unlikely combination. But they were united by their desire to maintain Oviedo's small-town ambiance and to cling to its agricultural heritage.

Indeed, the biggest worry among many longtime residents these days is that Oviedo's sleepy old downtown might go the way of the long-gone orange groves and celery fields. Oviedo Place, a.k.a. "the new downtown," is planned for what's now a tangerine grove just north of Mitchell Hammock Road.

Not that the old downtown is particularly quaint. For those just passing through who are forced to stop at the gnarly intersection of state roads 419, 426 and 434, there's not a lot to catch the eye: the Town House restaurant, a huge Baptist church and a two-block row of fading cinder-block buildings housing an assortment of mom-and-pop businesses.

Drivers must take care to avoid chickens, unofficial city mascots who wander aimlessly across the streets and watch passers by from the sidewalks and rights-of-way. The chickens are said to arrived-no one knows how-sometime in the 1970s, and have adopted the old downtown as their own.

Take the time to wander the side streets, however, and an altogether different picture of Oviedo emerges, one of gracious old homes, rolling grass lawns and moss-shrouded oak trees. Indeed, the Oviedo Historical Trail lists no fewer than 85 sites, including the home of pioneer postmaster George Browne, built in 1885, and the James Wilson House, built in 1938 on Lake Charm Circle.

Another big draw for relocators are the Oviedo area's public schools, all of which received A's when the state Department of Education handed out grades last summer.

SANFORD

Located on the shores of Lake Monroe, Sanford once rivaled Orlando as the region's largest city. A major distribution center for vegetables and citrus, it was known as "The Celery Capital of the World."

But agriculture is no longer king in Sanford, population 38,300. Today it's the Seminole County seat, making county government the leading employer.

And, after years of stagnation, Sanford is also a city on the rise, thanks to a burgeoning airport-one of the fastest-growing in the country-and a downtown redevelopment project.

Sanford's first permanent settlement was Camp Monroe, a fort on the south bank of Lake Monroe built in 1836 to protect settlers from Indians. A year later Capt. Charles Mellon was killed during an Indian attack, so the garrison was renamed in his honor.

The community that grew up around the fort became known as Mellonville, and in 1845 was named the county seat of what was then Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County. (Seminole County was carved out in 1913.)

Because Lake Monroe provided easy access to the St. Johns River for shipping to other Florida markets, citrus growing developed as a major industry.

In 1870, Gen. Henry S. Sanford, former minister to Belgium, purchased approximately 12,500 acres and laid out a town, which he named for himself, just west of Fort Mellon.

Ten years later, ground was broken for the South Florida Railroad connecting Mellonville, Lake Mary, Longwood and Altamonte Springs with Jacksonville, the state's most important port city. It seemed that big things were in store in 1883, when Mellonville was absorbed by Sanford.

However, late in the decade a fire destroyed numerous buildings, and residents were hit with a yellow-fever epidemic. Those disasters, on top of freezes that ravaged the citrus crops, caused Sanford's population to dip from 5,000 to 2,000. Vegetables, especially cold-resistant celery, later became the city's most important cash crop.

Seminole County's suburban growth in the 1960s and '70s mostly passed Sanford by, and the once-beautiful city became a bit shabby.

Today, however, Sanford is enjoying a resurgence that is in part tied to increased air travel at the Orlando-Sanford International Airport. The facility, located on Sanford's east side, has a two-story international terminal, a separate domestic terminal, a U.S. Customs Office and three paved runways. As the facility grows, it's expected to create some 21,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.

In fact, airport adjacency was the catalyst behind Cameron Heights, a 261-acre master-planned community that was granted preliminary approval by the county commission in February. The proposed project will contain around 1,000 homes as well as commercial development and an office park.

County officials are planning a number of road improvements around the airport that would open up even more land for development. An extension of Lake Mary Boulevard to S.R. 415, expected to be complete next year, would complete a loop around the airport and spark a building boom in an area that now contains woods, pastures and scattered homes.

In historic downtown Sanford, work is complete on the $11 million Sanford Riverwalk, which includes sidewalks and bike trails along Lake Monroe between Mellonville and French avenues.

Also downtown, a 24-story, 564-unit condominium development overlooking Lake Monroe is planned. The project, dubbed River's Edge, would be by far the city's largest multifamily residential complex.

One of the most important downtown attractions is the Helen Stairs Theater, a renovated movie house that hosts theatrical productions and live concerts.

And work has recently finished on a streetscape project to enhance First Street, downtown's main drag, between Oak and Sanford avenues. Under the $2.2 million project, the original brick beneath the asphalt was restored, sidewalks were being widened and parking spaces changed from angled to parallel.

Relocators to Sanford can choose from an array of new subdivisions on the city's outskirts, or they can latch on to a Victorian fixer-upper in the rapidly gentrifying city center.

WINTER SPRINGS

Until the mid-1950s, Winter Springs was nothing more than several square miles of scrub pine and palmettos. That's when developers Raymond Moss and William Edgemon bought the land, subdivided it and introduced the Village of North Orlando.

At the start of the 1970s, a time of rampant growth throughout Central Florida, the area was still called North Orlando and contained one small grocery store and roughly 300 homes straddling S.R. 434.

Tuscawilla, eastern Seminole County's first upscale golf course community, changed all that. Also, a new city charter was adopted in 1972, changing the city's name to Winter Springs.

Today, the city's growth rivals that of adjacent Oviedo. In the past two decades, population has increased 800 percent, to more than 31,600. And more growth is on the way, through both residential and commercial development.

Officials are now eyeing more of the so-called Black Hammock, a marshy wilderness north of the city, where scattered homes are set on three- to five-acre lots. Over the years, the city has annexed several Black Hammock parcels and re-zoned them to allow new subdivisions, much to the chagrin of many Black Hammock residents.

In any case, Winter Springs is moving ahead on other fronts. For example, a South Carolina-based developer has built a 240-acre Town Center at the corner of S.R. 434 and Tuskawilla Road.

Osceola County at a glance

LAND AREA: 1,385 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 148
POPULATION: 219,544
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 104%
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 28.1 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $38,214
FACTOID: Hispanics represent the fastest-growing segment of the county's population. Yet their influence on the county dates back long before the first Hispanics moved into the area. Explorers were the first to bring cattle to the region-and until tourism's emergence, cattle was the county's No. 1 industry.

KISSIMMEE

"Big-time attractions, small-town hospitality." Although much has changed during the past several decades, that onetime slogan for Kissimmee still largely rings true.

This is a friendly, down-to-earth community still best known for its biannual Silver Spurs rodeo and its genuine cowboy panache. It just happens to exist alongside Walt Disney World, the world's No. 1 tourist attraction.

Kissimmee, formerly called Allendale, had its beginnings as a tiny trading post on the northern bank of Lake Tohopekaliga. The community was incorporated in 1887 and renamed Kissimmee. It later became the Osceola County seat and, by the 1930s, cattle rivaled citrus as its main industry.

Looking to diversify in the 1950s, Kissimmee launched a major campaign to attract relocating retirees. But when Disney opened in 1971, people of all ages came in droves.

The population multiplied while the employment base shifted from agriculture and cattle ranching to tourism-related service industries. Today, more than 100 hotels and motels are located on or near Irlo Bronson Highway, along with countless restaurants and strip shopping centers.

But housing is going to power the Osceola County economy in the foreseeable future. With developable land becoming scarce in Orange and Seminole counties, about 40 percent of the region's residential growth for the next 25 years is expected to take place in and around Kissimmee, according to a study by the Urban Land Institute.

Over the next 15 years, about 35,000 homes are expected to be built in five mega-developments already approved east of Lake Tohopekaliga: Westlake Cove, Mariner's Cove, Edgewayer, Bella Terra and Green Island.

The Hispanic relocation market is particularly vibrant in Osceola County. Two large communities, in particular, have been magnets: Buenaventura Lakes and Poinciana, both of which are marketed heavily in Latin America and in Northeastern cities with large Hispanic populations.

To make certain that at least some of Kissimmee's heritage is preserved, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency has actively sought to improve the historic downtown district through such projects as a cowboy-themed arched gateway at Main Street and U.S. 192 and several major streetscape efforts.

In addition, the Italianate Osceola County Courthouse, built in 1890, was renovated when a new government complex was built in 2000 and still houses county offices. Kissimmee is also a sporting paradise, with numerous boat ramps on the shores of Lake Toho, which is known for excellent bass fishing.

Southport Park offers covered pavilions, grills and campgrounds, while picnic areas abound at Partin Triangle Park and Whaley's Landing. Hunters can enjoy the wide-open Osceola Plain, home to turkey, white-tailed deer and fox squirrels.

ST. CLOUD

St. Cloud has been called "A Soldier's Colony," "The Friendly Soldier City," "The Wonder City" and "The City of Schools."

It's also been known as an inexpensive place for tourists to stay while visiting Walt Disney World, although city officials are now actively downplaying the once-ballyhooed tourism connection and promoting the charms of St. Cloud as a great place to live.

The military references hearken back to 1909, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization for Union soldiers who had served in the Civil War, bought 35,000 acres for development as a community for veterans.

Property in "The New Town of St. Cloud" was offered by lottery, and more than 1,200 old soldiers snatched up lots at $50 each. Within a year, more than 2,000 people had relocated. Following the stock market crash in 1929, city boosters actually gave away lots to attract more new residents, including veterans of all wars.

In the 1970s, St. Cloud teamed with much-larger Kissimmee to market itself internationally as an affordable alternative for vacationers wishing to explore the theme parks without paying resort hotel prices for accommodations.

Although the affiliation still exists, the city has recently begun an effort to reposition itself. A logo redesign has dropped Disney's ubiquitous Cinderella castle and replaced it with a sailboat and the words "Soldier City" and "Celebrating Small Town Life."

Indeed, St. Cloud already boasts one of Central Florida's most charming downtown districts, replete with antique shops occupying vintage storefronts. Several excellent restaurants, a historical museum and Veteran's Memorial Park are located downtown.

Lake County at a glance

LAND AREA: 953 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 221
POPULATION: 260,788
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 71%
2005 PROJECTED POPULATION: 237,500
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 27.6 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $36,903
FACTOID: Lake County, named for its 1,400-plus lakes, had Florida's largest peach orchard in the 1920s and was the nation's second-largest citrus producing county until the 1960s.

LAKE COUNTY

The Citrus Tower, built in 1956, once drew awestruck tourists to its observation deck for panoramic views of Lake County's sprawling citrus groves. For as far as the eye could see, there were dark, leafy rows over which a seemingly infinite number of oranges were sprinkled. When the season was right and the wind was gently blowing, the fragrance of orange blossoms could be even more intoxicating than the view.

The tower-now considered a kitschy relic of a bygone era-is still there, but the landscape has changed. Now you'll see thousands of new homes on the rolling hills that have always distinguished burgeoning Lake County from its topographically challenged neighbors.

Which isn't to say that sprawl has destroyed Lake County's charm-at least not yet. There are still groves, woods, barns and more than 1,400 lakes scattered across 221 square miles. The county's unpretentious municipalities still boast quaint business districts with mom-and-pop shops.

But like other previously rural areas in Central Florida, Lake County is struggling to accommodate growth without compromising its country credentials. That's a particular challenge in south Lake County, which has increasingly become an attractive suburban alternative for people who work in more populous Orange and Seminole counties.

The city of Clermont, with a population that recently topped 20,000, is ground zero for the county's housing boom. The stage was set with construction of the turnpike system's Western Beltway, which made a once-daunting Orlando commute quite manageable.

Clermont is truly at the crossroads of Florida, located at the intersection of S.R. 50, which runs east and west, and U.S. 27, which runs north and south. Bordered by Lake Minnehaha on the south and Lake Minneola on the north, Clermont is on a chain of 16 lakes connected by the Palatlakaha River in the Ocklawaha Basin of tributaries of the St. Johns River.

"The Gem of the Hills," as Clermont is sometimes called, is also popular among triathlon enthusiasts. South Lake Hospital's 15-acre, all-in-one campus is home to the USA Triathlon National Training Center, which is designed to meet the needs of all ages and fitness levels.

Wine enthusiasts may also be familiar with Clermont through the Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards, one of only three wineries in Florida. Located on 35 acres and surrounded by land abundant with grapevines, the winery offers free tours, tastings and retail sales. At capacity, it produces more than 1,250 cases of wine per day.

Although most of its growth has come in the past decade, south Lake County's heritage goes back thousands of years, when Timucuan Indians called the area home. Reminders of their presence can be found at more than 1,000 archaeological sites scattered throughout the county.

Settlers of European descent started moving into Clermont immediately following the Civil War. But there was little activity until 1884, when a landowner named T.J. Hooks sold 100 acres to New Jersey investors, who in turn formed the Clermont Improvement Company and began selling lots to other Northerners. Lake County, carved from Orange and Sumter counties, was chartered in 1887.

In east Lake County, Mount Dora (population 10,658) is the center of attention and the focus of development.

The aptly named "New England of the South" was founded in 1874, when homesteaders first discovered the gently sloping lakeside hills that rise to 184 feet-hardly a mountain, but a formidable height by Central Florida standards. The city hugs the shores of 3,600-acre Lake Dora, named for Dora Ann Drawdy, who homesteaded two miles south with her husband in 1846.

In 1884 the Lakeside Inn, still in operation today, was opened for business. The inn was a catalyst for growth, attracting tourists from all over the United States, including such luminaries as President Calvin Coolidge and inventor Thomas Edison.

Today, downtown Mount Dora contains dozens of historic buildings housing antique shops, art galleries, boutiques and restaurants. Tree-shaded Donnelly Park occupies a full block in the center of town, inviting picnickers and tennis players to enjoy its lush surroundings. Within walking distance is Palm Island Park, adjacent to Gilbert Park, which boasts one of the most beautiful nature trails in the state.

Downtown also hosts an annual art festival as well as numerous antique and craft fairs, specialty auto shows and historic home tours. The city has a respected community theater, an art center and a historical museum.

Other nearby communities such as Leesburg, Howey in the Hills and Montverde have personalities all their own and are attracting new residents by offering a balance of seclusion and convenience.

In fact, Montverde, a once-isolated community that grew up around a century-old boarding school, is home to one of the hottest luxury developments in the region. Last April more than 1,300 wealthy buyers from across the United States and Europe arrived to vie for 403 remaining home sites at Bella Collina, developed by Ginn Clubs & Resorts.

Polk County at a glance

LAND AREA: 1,874 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 258.2
POPULATION (2004): 524,389
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 29%
2005 PROJECTED POPULATION: 541,840
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 25.4 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $36,036
FACTOID: Polk County sits atop a huge supply of phosphate rock called the "Bone Valley Deposit." About 200,000 acres, roughly 15 percent of the county, have been mined for the rock which, after processing, is one of the three main ingredients in fertilizer. Polk, along with neighboring Hillsborough, Hardee and Manatee counties, provides about 75 percent of the nation's and 25 percent of the world's phosphate supply.

POLK COUNTY

Sandwiched between Orlando and Tampa Bay, Polk County is a bit like an overlooked middle child, sometimes overshadowed by flashier younger and older siblings.

But shine a spotlight on the county that sits in the geographical center of Florida and you'll realize that, despite its low profile, Polk County is a special place indeed. It has picturesque small towns and giant master-planned communities; historic tourist attractions and a college designed by a legendary architect; a strong arts community and a diversified economy.

Larger than Rhode Island and as big as Delaware, with a population of more than a half-million, one of Polk County's key selling points is the very thing that sometimes causes it to be overlooked: its location between two metropolises that are steadily growing toward one other.

But Polk boasts its own rich history and distinctive identity. Tourism was thriving in Polk years before Walt Disney started buying land in Central Florida, and continues to boost the local economy.

Venerable Cypress Gardens, one of Florida's first major tourist draws, has been renovated and enlarged beyond its traditional water-ski shows and hoop-skirted southern belles to include an amusement park with heart-stopping rides. And historic Bok Tower Gardens, with its 60-bell carillon tower, remains the perfect place for a pastoral stroll through lush parklands.

Polk County has its share of bustling mid-sized cities including its two largest, Lakeland, population nearly 90,000, which is on Money magazine's "Best Places to Live in America" list, and Winter Haven, home to almost 28,000. Bartow, population about 16,000 is the county's seat.

A thriving arts scene is also evident, with a string of museums, art centers and theaters. And architecture buffs can see the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright's work in one location on the campus of Florida Southern College.

Fans of the Boys of Summer can watch the Detroit Tigers tune up during spring training in Lakeland, or the Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven.

But it looks like housing may be Polk's next big industry, particularly in the Four Corners area where Polk, Lake, Orange and Osceola meet. Huge new communities, such as ABD Development's Providence, with plans for 4,800 homes, are quickly coming out of the ground.

In addition, at the 365-acre former site of Boardwalk and Baseball at U.S. 27 and I-4, Victor Posner Enterprises is set to build a pedestrian-friendly "Garden City," with brand-name retailers, boutiques, restaurants, offices, a hotel and homes.

Volusia County at a glance

LAND AREA: 1,103 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 401.9
POPULATION (2004): 478,670
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 29%
2005 PROJECTED POPULATION: 493,144
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 25.4 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $35,219
FACOID: Stetson University, the state's first private university, was founded in 1883 by New York philanthropist Henry A. DeLand, who named it DeLand Academy. Just two years later it was renamed Stetson University after John B. Stetson, the famous hat manufacturer, who gave generously to the institution.

VOLUSIA COUNTY

Geographically, Volusia County sits 50 miles northeast of Orlando, between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. But these days, in a region where the growth is pushing outward in all four directions, geography doesn't mean as much as it once did.

Indeed, as metro Orlando spreads north and east along I-4 through Seminole County, Western Volusia is directly in growth's path.

Today the area, once identified almost exclusively with Daytona Beach, is emerging as a suburb of Orlando. With nearly 70,000 residents, Deltona has long since surpassed Daytona Beach as the largest municipality in Volusia County. It has seen a 343-percent growth rate since 1980 and adds roughly 1,100 new homes each year.

Much of the activity is spurred by commercial development along the so-called High-Tech Corridor, which runs the length of I-4 between Tampa and Daytona Beach. Projections call for the stretch of interstate between Lake Mary and Sanford, just east of the Volusia-Seminole border, eventually to contain more than 13 million square feet of office space.

With the recent widening of the I-4-St. Johns River Bridge, one of the region's most annoying traffic bottlenecks was alleviated, making western Volusia an easy, 30-minute commute to downtown Orlando.

Lured by that surprising proximity, as well as by the region's abundance of lakes, springs and the nearby beach, families began flocking to the new home communities near I-4, including the St. Joe Company's Victoria Park, on the outskirts of DeLand.

Buyers have also discovered the impressive stock of historic residences west of downtown Deland, which is clearly one of the coolest small towns in Florida.

The quaint downtown district, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places, is thick with eateries and antique shops. And stately Stetson University, which has been located here for more than a century, adds an air of permanence.

Those interested in more natural settings, plus an unusual lunch, may head north on U.S. 17 to DeLeon Springs State Park, where you can cook your own pancakes at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill then paddle a canoe through the wilderness.

In the winter, manatees seeking warmer water can be seen lolling around at Blue Springs State Park. In the summer, humans, seeking relief from the heat, plunge into the same bubbling blue oasis.