Thornton Park
Historic lakeside district of brick streets and restored bungalows near a downtown lake.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Thornton Park in Orlando opens on November 15, 1965, when Walt Disney stood up in a hotel ballroom on the shore of Lake Eola and announced what he called Project X, his only public appearance in the city. It traces the twist that follows: this same neighborhood, laid out by developer James Thornton around 1915 on land bought decades earlier for pennies an acre, was about to be reshaped by the boom Disney's announcement set off, as Orlando's growth pulled west toward the new parks. By the 1980s, residents had a nickname for the lake beside you: Lake Eerie-ola, for the crime that crept into its empty houses and dark porches.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Audubon Park Garden District
Revitalized post-war suburb turned walkable dining and shopping strip, threaded with community gardens and a market inside a former church.
Lake Eola Park
Man-made sinkhole lake ringed by a scenic park, home to swan boats and a resident swan flock.
Historic Church Street Station
Restored eighteen-eighties brick railroad depot turned legendary jazz-era entertainment complex in a historic downtown district.
Shops on Park
Oak-shaded avenue of independent boutiques, cafes and galleries born from a nineteenth-century pioneer general store.
Magic Kingdom Park
Iconic theme park of fairy-tale castle, classic rides and parades built on land bought up in secret.
Epcot
Permanent world's fair park built around a giant geodesic sphere, born of an unbuilt future city.