About the Historical Society of Central Florida
The Historical Society of Central Florida began life in 1971 as the Orange County Historical Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organized to raise money for a permanent museum building. The collection it needed to house was already three decades old: residents had been donating historical objects to the organization since 1942. The Society opened its Historical Museum in Orlando's Loch Haven Park in 1976, and in 2000 moved the museum downtown into the restored 1927 Orange County Courthouse at Central Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue. With the move it took its present name and entered an operating agreement with the Orange County Regional History Center and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, an arrangement that continues today.
The courthouse itself is a landmark. Designed by Murry S. King, Orlando's first registered architect, it was begun in May 1926, dedicated on October 12, 1927, and cost close to a million dollars; its five stories originally included a jail on the top floor. The History Center that opened there in September 2000 is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is a Smithsonian Affiliate. Four floors of exhibitions trace 12,000 years of Central Florida's past, with traveling shows alongside three floors of permanent galleries. Education programs include History on the Go for public schools, Home School Days and summer camps, and the Society presents its own program series and events for History Center annual pass holders and guests.
Collections and Research Services
The Society's special collections are held at the Joseph L. Brechner Research Center on the fifth floor of the History Center. The center was established with a gift from Marion Brody Brechner in honor of her husband, a journalist and the founder of Orlando's WFTV Channel 9, and it is free to the public by appointment. Alongside the archival holdings and artifact collection, the research library contains more than 6,500 published volumes on local history, including a complete run of The Corner Cupboard, hundreds of maps covering Orange County's development, an extensive set of school yearbooks, and a growing oral history archive recorded with the people who lived the region's story. A photograph collection can be searched online, and staff field questions about historic properties, local schools and organizations. If you are working on a house in Orlando or its older suburbs, our guides to finding out when your house was built and tracking down old neighborhood photographs explain what to request when you book a research appointment.
Planning Your Visit
The History Center is at 65 E. Central Boulevard in downtown Orlando, reachable at (407) 836-8500. Museum hours, admission and the schedule of traveling exhibitions are published on the History Center's own site, thehistorycenter.org, so check there before you go; the Brechner Research Center requires an appointment and is closed to walk-ins. Society membership, programs and research information are at cflhistory.org.
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