Other businesses on the former Dunn Citrus site include Staples office supply and a second Chili's restaurant. Most notable are the new Lowes and Home Depot DIY stores to the north of the city on US 441 in the location of the previous Dunn Citrus grove (the stretch of 441 which runs through the city is named after Fred N. Mayors Apopka MayorĪpopka is a fast-growing city and is expanding in all directions. Kilsheimer was sworn in on April 22, 2014. On April 8, 2014, Apopka City Commissioner Joe Kilsheimer won an election to succeed John H. This bridge was built by Orange County, FL and the City of Apopka, FL over State Road 441 connecting two sections of the Rails-to-Trails system forming the West Orange Trail for bicyclists and pedestrians. National Register of Historic Places through the Apopka Historical Society housed in the Museum of the Apopkans. Historic buildingsįive buildings in Apopka have been placed on the U.S. They continued to manage the city's utility needs until the 1940s, when they sold off its ice plants to the Atlantic Company, its electric service to Florida Power Corporation, and its water services to Florida Utilities. This independent utility company was one of many that were gobbled up by the Florida Public Service Corporation in the 1920s. Starbird was appointed its manager, but it was not until voters approved a $9,000 bond in 1914 that he was able to contract with International Harvester Corporation to construct a power plant, so electricity was not available in the city until February 10, 1915. In 1905, the Apopka City Council authorized incorporation of the Apopka Water, Light, and Ice Company. In 1882 the one square mile surrounding "The Lodge" was officially incorporated under the name "Apopka". The settlers in the vicinity of "The Lodge" were largely isolated during the Civil War, but the area rebounded once peace was re-established, and a population boom followed the construction of railroad lines through the region. This is the 1859 historic building, The Lodge, that became the central point of the 1 mile square formation of the City of Apopka. In 1859 the lodge erected a permanent meeting place at what is now the intersection of Main Street (U.S. Their population was large enough by 1857 to support the establishment of a Masonic lodge. The early American settlers built a major trading center on the foundations of the earlier Indian settlement. Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, forcing surviving natives at Ahapopka to abandon their village and seek refuge deeper in the wilderness of the Florida peninsula. By the 1830s, this settlement numbered about 200, and was the birthplace of the chief Coacoochee (known in English as " Wild Cat").Īt the conclusion of the Second Seminole War, the U.S. Aha, meaning "Potato," and papka, meaning "eating place". The Acuera were succeeded by refugees from Alabama and Georgia, who formed the new Seminole Indian tribe. They had disappeared by 1730, probably decimated by diseases brought to Florida by Spanish colonists. The earliest known inhabitants of the Apopka area were the Acuera people, members of the Timucua confederation.