Editing Oviedo, Florida (section)

==History==
Up through the early 19th century, the area encompassing Oviedo was sparsely populated save for a few [[Seminole]]s and [[Freedman#United States|African-American freemen]] who associated with the Seminole tribe, known as [[Black Seminoles]], in what was then [[Spanish Florida]]. The Seminole tribe had larger clusters of population in other areas of Central Florida, such as nearby [[Lake Jesup]].<ref name=EarlyDays>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Early Days of Seminole County |location=Oviedo |publisher=Museum of Seminole County History}}</ref>

The population remained sparse until after the [[American Civil War]], when people devastated by war started moving South to begin a new life. One mile southeast of Lake Jesup, a small group of settlers established the "Lake Jesup Settlement", in 1875. Letters from that era showcased a difficult life for the [[Florida Cracker]] settlers: cooking outdoors with wood stoves, sleeping under mosquito nets, and burning rags to keep the insects away. Wildlife was plentiful, however. Initially, this settlement had around 40 families, but quickly evolved into a thriving trading post.

In the late 1870s, individuals living a few miles south of Lake Jesup needed an easily accessible [[post office]] in the Florida back country. Andrew Aulin, an early settler and shop-owner, decided to file paperwork for a post office, and in his first site location report, needed a name that was different from any other post office in Florida.<ref name="AdicksNeely1992">{{cite book|last1=Adicks|first1=Richard|last2=Neely|first2=Donna|title=Oviedo: Biography of a Town|year=1992|publisher=Richard Adicks and Donna Neely|location=Oviedo, Florida|edition=2nd}}</ref> Aulin liked having a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] name, "to honor the Spanish heritage of the state," and decided to name his post office location "Oviedo" after the city of [[Oviedo]] in northern [[Spain]] (the capital city of the Principality of [[Asturias]]) and the [[University of Oviedo]].<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 /> Some say he visited the university, while others say he just liked the sound of it, but most agree that he likely pronounced the name {{respell|oh|vee|AY|doh}} rather than the [[Anglicisation (linguistics)|anglicized]] {{respell|oh|VEE|doh}}.{{citation_needed|date=August 2017}} A recent campaign advocates for honoring Aulin's original concept for the town's moniker by using the Spanish pronunciation {{respell|oh|vee|AY|doh}}).

Several people played a prominent role in establishing Oviedo's history. George Powell was an early settler who ran a large tract of land, referred to as the "Powell Settlement", which today encompasses most of the northern part of the city—including the downtown area. One of Powell's sons, [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]] (alias Lewis Payne), became infamous for being [[John Wilkes Booth]]'s primary accomplice in the plot to assassinate President [[Abraham Lincoln]].<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 />

George Powell's friend, Henry Foster, was instrumental in transforming Oviedo's citrus and celery industry from obscurity to prominence by giving Oviedo reliable transportation to deliver its goods. He paid for a railway link to Oviedo and founded the Lake Jesup Steamboat Company. Agriculture was Oviedo's primary industry all the way through the 1940s. In the 1860s, Foster also was responsible for establishing the nearby Lake Charm area as a resort to entice visitors from the North to vacation in the winter; it lasted as a resort only until the 1890s, but several winter homes built during that era still stand today. Foster encouraged settlers to begin attending regular church services on a site within the "Powell Settlement" that would become the [[First Methodist Church of Oviedo]].<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 />

A citrus grower named Butler Boston also is credited for helping establish Oviedo's citrus economy by successfully grafting tangerine [[budwood]] to grow tangerines, as well as budding the succulent [[temple orange]] from Jamaica to several Oviedo fields. Butler Boston was the son of a doctor, Alexander Atkinson, who had fathered Butler, along with several others with freed black women on his family's plantation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canterburyretreat.org/atkinson-boston-family-files/ |title=Atkinson – Boston Family Files |website=www.canterburyretreat.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102023534/http://canterburyretreat.org/atkinson-boston-family-files/ |archive-date=2015-11-02}}</ref> Atkinson moved to Oviedo in 1871, with the 12-year-old Butler, both to set up a medical practice and buy a farm. Atkinson gave the land to his son after a freeze when he moved back to [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Boston was so successful that he was hired to bud other Oviedo fields. He became a spokesman for the large black community in the area, and was especially devoted to improving their educational opportunities, and served as a local school trustee. He was also an accomplished [[bricklayer]] and oversaw the planning and construction of a new building for the Antioch Baptist Church. His legacy is noted today throughout Oviedo, in sites such as Boston Street, Boston Alley, Boston Cemetery, Boston Hill and Butler Boston Court. His home site is where Canterbury Retreat and Conference Center is located. Its centerpiece is [[Lake Gem (Florida)|Lake Gem]], named by the Boston family for a close family member.<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://canterburyretreat.org/about/canterburys-history/|title = Canterbury's History}}</ref>

Andrew Duda Sr., a [[Slovaks|Slovak]] immigrant, established a farm in nearby Slavia in the early 20th century.  He left after failing to produce successful crops, but saved up money and returned in 1926 to try again. The second time, he was extraordinarily successful and his farm survived even through the [[Great Depression]]. In fact, in 1939, he was able to build [[St. Luke's Lutheran Church]], which has since expanded into a large [[Lutheran]] community. The Duda family started a sod division in the 1970s, that has since flourished and continues today. The west entrance of Oviedo cuts straight through the sod farm.<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 />

Oviedo experienced a major growth spurt during the boom years of the 1920s, and new buildings and banks were built on the main street of downtown, named "Broadway". Some of these buildings still remain, along with the complex of buildings surrounding the Nelson and Co. packing house, which was the center of Oviedo's agricultural industry for decades. This agricultural complex eventually shut down for good during the 1980s, after a series of winter freezes. At that time, commercial development had already replaced agriculture as Oviedo's main industry.<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 />

Oviedo made the transition from a rural settlement, to officially incorporating into a town in 1925, and then, officially becoming a city in 1967, through a special referendum.<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 /><ref name=town2city>{{Cite web|title=ORDINANCE NO. 1715 (page 1)|url=https://mcclibraryfunctions.azurewebsites.us/api/ordinanceDownload/14268/1138691/pdf?|website=mcclibraryfunctions.azurewebsites.us}}</ref><ref name=OviInc>{{Cite web|title=MUNICIPAL DIRECTORY|url=https://www.floridaleagueofcities.com/research-resources/municipal-directory|website=floridaleagueofcities.com}}</ref> Five miles south of Oviedo, in 1963, residents learned about the impending building of a "space university" in the ''Orlando Morning Sentinel''. Many faculty and staff members of Florida Technological University (now the [[University of Central Florida]]) moved into Oviedo, and new businesses and industry soon followed. The adjacent [[Central Florida Research Park]], originally established in 1978, has since become the largest research park in Florida. This has resulted in an exploding population with many new developments in recent years. As the city has grown, neither feral hogs nor chickens can be seen wandering among the traffic and buildings in the town any more, leading to the destruction of the small town that originally made Oviedo so charming.<ref name=AdicksNeely1992 />