The Apopka Museum

10/21/2026

❓WHERE WERE YOU? 🫵

Where were you when the Champney House was moved from Downtown Apopka? Its prior resting place is where the Walgreens is currently located. Originally built in Clarcona, it was owned by W.T. Champney in the 1880s and 1890s. 📜

As time passed, the property was purchased, and the house was originally up for demolition. However, that idea was scrapped for another one: whoever paid the cost to move the house would get it for free! The offer was accepted by a family, and they paid a total of $70,000. In October 1993, the house was officially moved to Ustler Rd, where it currently resides today. 🏘

09/30/2026

🎆 Help Us Make History! 🎆

The Apopka Museum is giving our community one final opportunity to leave their mark on history!🖊

As part of America’s 250th Anniversary Celebration, we have created a special commemorative piece for members of our community to sign. Next week, it will be placed in our archives. It will be preserved as a record of the people who helped celebrate this important milestone.🎉

Come to the Apopka Museum and add your name! 📜

Whether you’ve lived in Apopka your entire life or recently made our community your home, your signature can become part of this piece of history. 🤗

Stop by the Museum before next week and leave your mark for future generations to discover.

🎇250 Years of America. One Community. One Moment in History. 🎇

📍 Apopka Museum

09/19/2026

🎙️Tater Talk episode #14 is here! Orange Lodge No. 36 🍊⛺️

Patrick Tessier, former master and current member of the lodge, shares the history of the organization and its foundational role in the settlement of Apopka 🐂👨‍🌾

Tune in to learn more such as how the lodge narrowly escaped demolition in 1952 🏚️ or the critical role that the light of a full moon played to the lodge and early settlers 🌕

"We are not a secretive society, but a society with secrets" 🤫

⬆️Link in bio for full video and audio on Youtube & Spotify

Special thank you to .36 for making this possible

09/18/2026

❓❓ DID YOU KNOW? ❓❓

🌲 In just five years, Amos D. Starbird went from arriving in Florida to owning his own sawmill! 🤯

Amos D. Starbird came to Orlando from Freeman, Maine, in 1885. Just one year later, he entered the sawmilling business with a rented mill in Apopka. By 1887, Starbird had become a major partner in Copeland, Starbird and Company, eventually owning the mill outright. That same year, he invested $450—roughly $16,000 in today’s money—in new equipment to improve production. 💰

By 1890, Amos Starbird was the sole owner of a sawmill located near the junction of the Florida Midland Railroad and the T.O. & A. Railroad (Tavares, Orlando & Atlantic). His business continued to grow and, in 1903, became the Consumers Lumber and Veneer Company. His three youngest children—Austin C., Adelbert M., and Percival L.—eventually joined him in the family business. Percival would later purchase and operate his own mill in Bradford County.🪵

Although Amos D. Starbird passed away in 1910, the business he built continued on and was eventually acquired by the Land family in 1920. 🤝

🌲 From Maine to Apopka, from a rented mill to a thriving lumber business—Amos D. Starbird was part of the story of Florida’s early timber industry.

📜 History is all around us! Come and see our as the Apopka Museum.



Pictures in order:
1📸) Starbird Lumber at Forest City: Amos Starbird - Far right-hand side, with what is believed to be two of his sons, though not confirmed.
2📸) Locomotive of Consumer's Lumber + Veneer CO.
3📸) Consumer Lumber "Picnic" Train in 1908

09/02/2026

🎉Happy Birthday Apopka!!!🎉

Thank you to the City of Apopka Government for hosting the Apopka Historical Society for our special presentation on the city's rich history. We are so proud and appreciative of all individuals who showed up. 🙌

We also want to thank all the dignitaries, honored guests, and members of the public for attending. 🙏

We look forward to another 100 years and more!!! 🎇

09/01/2026

Happy 144th Birthday Apopka!

History Fact: On September 2, 1882, electors voted to incorporate the Town of Apopka City, which was recorded with the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Orange County, on September 9th of that same year.

09/01/2026

08/26/2026

🎉Come celebrate Apopka’s 144th birthday!🎉

🙌Join us on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, from 12 to 1 PM at Apopka City Hall Chambers for a special presentation presented by the Apopka Historical Society. 📚

🎆Celebrate 144 years of Apopka and learn more about the history and stories that have shaped our community. 🎆

We hope to see you there! City of Apopka Government

08/14/2026

The summer of 1999 gave rise to one of the most unique episodes in Apopka history, the “War on Mice”🐁

🚜Just months after the Lake Apopka North Shore Muck Farms were closed and flooded a sudden surge of mouse complaints occurred in the Zellwood, Plymouth, Apopka area in July, 1999 and peaking in October

💭Many theorized that the tens of thousands of mice seemed to be moving out from the former muck farms and saw the change in the environment as the cause

💵Orange County and the State government along with local water and health departments spent over $1 million to combat the outbreak which invaded subdivisions such as Zellwood Station, Valencia Estates, and Country Landing. Around 5,000 homes during the time called the hotline which was set up to deal with the situation and report mice sightings

🧪Many mouse traps, and poison were used to combat the issue as well as later mowing of vacant land which seemed to improve the situation by November 1999, when the epidemic ended almost as suddenly as it had began⏳

1📸) Tim Brown of Benchmark Foliage scooping up dead mice, Orlando Sentinel Oct 8, 1999
2📸) Map of affected area, Orlando Sentinel Oct 6, 1999

08/12/2026

🌳💧Kelly Park is named for the physician, naturalist, and humanitarian Dr. Howard Kelly, who while visiting Florida in 1910 remarked,

“I Thought it in every way the most beautiful and interesting of all the springs I have seen, not only in Florida, but in any other state”

👨‍⚕️Dr. Kelly was born in 1858 in Philadelphia, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1882. He was one of four founders of the John Hopkins School of Medicine🏥 in Baltimore

Dr. Kelly bought 200 acres around Rock Springs in 1921, the site of a pre-civil war cotton plantation owned by William Delk, to protect the site from potential mining⛏️

During May 1927, after years of trying to get a park set up with the state of Florida which did not yet have a state park system, he donated the land to Orange County to become a public park as a “Perpetual Paradise for the People” 🌴

Thanks to his efforts and commitment to the significance of this location we all can enjoy Rock Springs and its natural beauty today🛶

1📸) Photo of Dr. Kelly at Rock Springs May 5, 1927
2📸) Painting of Kelly by John Martello, 1999
3📸) Photo of sign at Rock Springs with information on the spring