A Brief History of Lake County

Lake County became a legal entity on July 27, 1887. It was carved out of portions of Orange and Sumter counties. The first County Commission meeting was held in Yalaha at Mendenhall's store and the board rented a two story house as a courthouse in Bloomfield on the south side of Lake Harris.

It was named Lake County because there were over 1400 lakes within its proposed boundaries. Tavares became the county seat after 3 elections that included political maneuvering and outright corruption.

As a part of his effort to have Tavares named as County Seat, Major St. Clair Abrams, who founded Tavares, borrowed $10,000 and built a courthouse, which later was known as the Pioneer Building. In 1922 the county floated a $250,000 Bond Issue and built a new courthouse which is now known as the Historic Courthouse.

The first Post Office was established in Okahumpka on January 2, 1845 when Florida was still a territory. Chetwynd, north of Fruitland Park, was the first Post Office after the county was formed but was discontinued in 1891 and taken over by Fruitland Park.

In 1890, the first census was formed and there were 8,034 people in the county. As of the 1990 census, there were approximately 140,000 people.

Agriculture was the main industry until the freezes of 1983, 1985, and 1989. The agribusiness figure reached $101 Million dollars.

Walt Disney's parents were married in a small town named Kismet, which no longer exists, on December 27, 1887. As a child, Walt used to spend vacations visiting his Aunt Jessie Perkins in Paisley.