Rallies and recipes
It's been a century today since the whistles at the plant for Orlando's Water and Light Company — the precursor of OUC — woke the small city of about 5,000 before dawn.
Across a wide ocean in a forest in France, at 11 a.m. — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — the Allied Powers signed the Armistice with Germany, marking the end of World War I.
The conflict had pitted the Allies (initially, the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire) against the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary. In Central Florida, the war may have seemed distant when it began in 1914, years before the United States officially joined the Allies on April 6, 1917.
And a hundred years later, it may be difficult to appreciate the impact of this Great War on the world, including Central Florida. In Eve Bacon's history of Orlando, however, published in the 1970s, World War I was seen as an event of such importance that the author included a list of all those from Orange County who served — 14 pages of names.
When the United States joined the Allies, Orlando's stores and offices closed early on April 25, 1917, for a tremendous parade. Students from Rollins College joined in, as did several hundred school children. That same evening, Orlandoans packed the Lucerne Theatre for a rally organized by the city's women's clubs. The program featured a patriotic address by the Rev. Mary Safford — a Unitarian minister, distinguished orator, and woman suffrage leader.
Soon, Orlando men began heading to war, some as volunteers and some answering the draft. Dr. Hal Beardall left for medical service in July; the city's homegrown aviator Carl Kuhl signed on to train flyers in Illinois. On June 5, 1917, the first day of registration, Leon B. Fort of the San Juan Garage and C.M. McKenney, manager of the Chero-Cola Company, were first in line.
Inspired by the new U.S. Food Administration and its national campaign to conserve food for the war effort, a “Liberty Kitchen” opened in Orlando at 10 W. Pine St., as a venue for cooking classes. Funeral director Carey Hand donated chairs. The idea was to teach people how to substitute alternate ingredients for foods that were needed to feed troops. The Finley Paint Co. donated a huge banner proclaiming that “Food will win the war.”
On the day it was all over, Nov.11, 1918, stores again closed and schoolchildren were given a holiday. People poured into the streets, “laughing, crying, waving flags, singing, dancing — anything to show their joy the war had come to an end,” Bacon wrote.
The conflict had been called “the war to end all wars.” The British writer H.G. Wells apparently originated that phrase in a 1914 essay. Perhaps in reply, in 1924 the philosopher George Santayana noted that “only the dead have seen the end of war.”
That quote has been attributed to Plato, repeated by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and used in the movie “Black Hawk Down.” We might debate who first said it but, sadly, the thought it expresses seems difficult to deny.
Railroad Museum expands
Central Floridians are invited to visit one of our area's “hidden-gem” museums on Wednesday, Nov. 14, when the Central Florida Railroad Museum celebrates its expansion with an open house from 5 to 8 p.m.
Housed in a 1913 depot at 101 S. Boyd St. in Winter Garden, the museum is operated by the City of Winter Garden, the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and the Central Florida Railway Historical Society, and boasts an impressive collection of national scope about railroad history.
At the open house, a ribbon-cutting will open the museum's renovated exhibit space, and members of the Central Florida Railway Historical Society will lead tours of both new and existing exhibits and answer questions. For details, contact Julie Zimmerman at 407-656-3244 or jzimmerman@wghf.org. The museum is also open daily from 1 to 5 p.m. To learn more, visit cfrhs.org.