Biohazard Cleanup Near Park Central Orlando, FL

Orlando is the county seat of Orange County and was incorporated in 1875, growing out of a settlement near Fort Gatlin, a U.S. Army post built in 1838 during the Second Seminole War.

The settlement was first called Jernigan, after early settler Aaron Jernigan, and local legend says the name Orlando honors Orlando Reeves, a soldier said to have been killed by Seminoles in 1835 and buried where the city rose.

Orlando had a population of 307,573 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous city in Central Florida and one of the fastest-growing large cities in the state.

Orlando has about 131,179 households, and only about 39.5 percent of its homes are owner-occupied, reflecting the city's large renter and young-professional population.

Orlando's official nickname is 'The City Beautiful,' a name it has promoted since the early 1900s with tree-lined streets and lake-filled neighborhoods.

Orlando began as a citrus-shipping town, but the Great Freeze of 1894-95 destroyed groves across Central Florida and pushed the region to diversify long before tourism took over.

Downtown Orlando wraps around Lake Eola Park, whose fountain and resident mute swans are the city's best-known symbol; a swan appears on Orlando's flag and seal.

The University of Central Florida, founded in 1963 to support the space program at nearby Cape Canaveral, has grown into one of the largest universities in the United States by enrollment, with its main campus in northeast Orlando.

Universal Orlando Resort sits inside Orlando's city limits, and Walt Disney World Resort lies just southwest of the city, anchoring a metro area that is regularly ranked the most visited vacation destination in the United States.

Orlando's airport code, MCO, is a leftover of its earlier life as McCoy Air Force Base, which closed in 1975 and became Orlando International Airport.