Why go
The history gives Lake Eola and the city streets a different meaning from the resort districts. It also helps explain why “Orlando” on a park itinerary often refers to a much wider region than the city itself. The disputed name also makes the Lake Eola memorial worth reading with care.
The full story
The settlement was first known as Jernigan, after cattleman Aaron Jernigan. A U.S. Army outpost at Fort Gatlin stood south of today’s downtown during the Second Seminole War, and cattle ranching supported some early residents. The origin of the name Orlando remains disputed. A well-known story honors a soldier called Orlando Reeves, but later searches found no military record of him. Another account points to Orlando Savage Rees, a landowner whose name may have been misread on a trail marker. Treat either explanation as a story rather than a settled fact. Orlando later expanded with the wider growth of Central Florida. Walt Disney World opened southwest of downtown in 1971, adding a resort landscape quite separate from the older city. At Lake Eola, the contrast between the city’s civic center and its distant park districts is still a useful way to read the region.