Port Orange/South Daytona Chamber of Commerce
Port Orange is a city in Volusia County, Florida. The city’s estimated population was 57,203 in 2013. The city is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area; the metropolitan area’s population in 2010 was 590,289. Port Orange is a principal city in the Fun Coast region of the state of Florida. Port Orange has an area of 28.69 mi².
Port Orange is host to many annual festivals including the Port Orange Family Days, and lots of farmers and flea markets. Firework celebrations are regularly held at the Port Orange City Center, for the 4th of July, and New Years, etc
Port Orange was one of the first schools ever built in this area, the Port Orange Elementary School (it is today a 5 star school. And, is one of only two in the area that accommodate both gifted and special needs students.) In 1879 the first school building was located on Halifax Drive where the Port Orange Civic Center is now located. In 1889 it was moved to the corner of Dunlawton Avenue and Orange Avenue, and was only a one room building. In 1925 a new brick building was built on the same site at 402 Dunlawton Ave, and the original one room building moved back. many additions have been built since then, but the original 1889 building still stands. Making this school a historic landmark for Port Orange.
Annually the city holds a holiday parade down Dunlawton Ave, the school is the perfect front row view of the parade, and students and family are given free snacks and refreshments while they enjoy it. Port Orange Elementary is a 5 star school. And, is one of only two in the area that accommodate both gifted and special needs students.
The Timucuan and Seminole Indians, along with Dr. Andrew Turnbull’s New Smyrna Colony in 1768 created the start of Port Oranges rich history. Florida had something called a plantation period, and during this era explorers from everywhere came to try and tame our wild environment. One such attempt to calm this area into a true financial resource of producing land came from a gentleman named Patrick Dean who was granted 995 acres in 1804 from the Spanish Crown. Later it was coined the Dunlawton Plantation.
The Dunlawton Sugar Mill on Old Sugar Mill Road which is still here today was destroyed twice by Seminole Indians during the Second Seminole Indian War in1836.
The second major era for Port Orange occurred after the Civil War. When a Dr. John Milton Hawks, abolitionist and United States Army Surgeon, along with some other Union Army officers formed what was known as the Florida Land and Lumber Company they brought 500 freed slaves to public lands along the Halifax River, in the year 1866 Dr. Hawks transferred the settlement he was recognized with naming Orange Port in February 1867 from the Mosquito Inlet (Ponce Inlet) to where the community lies today. In spring of 1867, not only did the settlement’s name change to Port Orange because another town in the United States used it already, but the good luck of the settlement had changed too. By 1869 there were only 9 families left and the prayers of those freed slaves for a new life seem to go unheard because of the bad planning and lack of productive harvests. What is left today from the settlement’s African-American roots is only 1 small community church named Mount Moriah Baptist Church on Orange Ave .
Today our locals plan much better for their ” crops” so to speak and our local economy is thriving. New businesses come to our city to enjoy the beautiful weather the low crime rate the family orientated city and the community spirit that Port Orange is best known for.
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