The most widely accepted version holds that a local resident named James Speer proposed the name Orlando at a meeting in 1857, after the protagonist in Shakespeare's play As You Like It, his favorite work. Speer himself wrote that "Orlando was a veritable Forest of Arden, the locale of As You Like It." The folklore of a soldier named Orlando Reeves killed by Seminoles in 1835 also contributed to the name's adoption, though a review of military records in the 1970s and 1980s found no evidence that Orlando Reeves ever existed.
When did Walt Disney World open in Orlando?
Walt Disney World opened in October 1971, about 21 miles southwest of Orlando in Bay Lake. Walt Disney announced his plans to build the resort in 1965, choosing Orlando's inland location partly to reduce hurricane exposure compared to coastal Florida cities like Miami and Tampa.
What happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016?
On the 12th of June 2016, a gunman opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding 60 others. The gunman, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, was shot and killed by a police SWAT team. The City of Orlando purchased the Pulse property in October 2023 for $2 million and is advancing plans for a permanent memorial with an expected completion date of late 2027.
What is Orlando's population and how large is its metro area?
Orlando had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida and its most populous inland city. The Orlando metropolitan area had an estimated 2.67 million residents as of 2020, ranking it the third-largest metro area in Florida and the 22nd-largest in the United States.
Which music acts and bands are from Orlando, Florida?
The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town all formed in Orlando before their mainstream commercial breakthroughs in the 1990s. Alternative rock groups Matchbox Twenty, Seven Mary Three, and Alter Bridge also hail from Orlando, as do metal bands Death and Trivium. The 2019 single "223's" by YNW Melly and 9lokkNine was the first US Billboard Hot 100 entry by an Orlando-based hip hop act.
What was Orlando, Florida before it became a tourist destination?
Before tourism, Orlando was a frontier cattle settlement and then the hub of Florida's citrus industry during what locals called the Golden Era from 1875 to 1895. The Great Freeze of 1894-95 ended that era by destroying independent citrus groves. World War II brought military infrastructure to the area, and the former McCoy Air Force Base runways became Orlando International Airport after the base closed in 1976.