The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation (WGHF) is an organization dedicated to preserving history for the communities of West

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Overview

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, located at 21 East Plant Street in Winter Garden, Florida's Downtown Historic District, operates two museums in

Winter Garden, Florida Winter Garden is a city west of Downtown Orlando in the western part of Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 46,051 as of 2019. History ...

: the Winter Garden Heritage Museum and the Central Florida Railroad Museum. The History Research, Education, and Visitors' Center is the headquarters for the foundation and contains its administrative offices. It also features a gift shop. Activities of the WGHF include the identification, documentation, evaluation, and protection of West Orange County's cultural and physical history and character. Public education in the form of a fully accredited school visitation program, historic walking tours, heritage events, workshops, displays, written resource materials, and Facebook Live presentations.

Winter Garden Heritage Museum

The Winter Garden Heritage Museum is located in the 1923 Atlantic Coast Line

train depot A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

in downtown

Winter Garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

. The museum focuses on the history and culture of the area, with exhibits including local

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

labels, artifacts left behind by the region's indigenous people, railroad memorabilia, and historic photographs. New exhibits are presented three times each year.

Central Florida Railroad Museum

The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation also maintains a close working relationship with this museum, located nearby at 101 South Boyd Street in the 1913 Tavares & Gulf Railroad depot. It is a world-class museum that exhibits photographs and artifacts that cover Central Florida's storied railroading history. Maps, brochures, diagrams, and an extensive collection of railroad china and crystal draw visitors from all over the world.

Garden Theatre

In 2008, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation completed the restoration of the

Garden Theatre The Garden Theatre was a major theatre on Madison Avenue and 27th Street in New York City, New York. The theatre opened on September 27, 1890, and closed in 1925. Part of the second Madison Square Garden complex, the theatre presented Broadway ...

, located at 160 West Plant Street in historic downtown

. Originally operated as a

movie theatre A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

, it opened in 1935. The interior was complete with a Spanish tile courtyard, "Romeo and Juliet" balconies, and lanterns in the windows over the proscenium arch with palm trees decorating either side of it. The ceiling of the theatre was dark blue, resplendent with stars. Several renovations changed the face of the theatre until it closed in 1963, as movie attendance declined in the new age of television. The foundation acquired the building on January 1, 2004, through an operating agreement with the City of Winter Garden. The foundation's goal and vision was two-fold. The first goal was to restore this historic building to its original architectural integrity, in keeping with the character and revitalization of historic downtown Winter Garden, making the building an authentic period piece. The second was to become the heartbeat of the city as a performing arts center, movie theatre, and multi-purpose venue. These goals were accomplished and the theater became a 501c(3) non-profit that operates independently of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation.

External links

Winter Garden Heritage Foundation
- official site {{Authority control Museums in Orange County, Florida Historical society museums in Florida Winter Garden, Florida