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Originally Posted by DeanFL
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Looking thru the Sun paper this morning, and the photos of continuing expansion of the Industrial Park, 'What If'?
Sometimes I ponder things in my mind (no comments please). Along with 'does the Universe end', I have thoughts 'What if Harold Schwartz did not start The Villages'
Like 'Back to the Future', WHAT IF? The impact he had is nothing but tremendous. What if? We all probably would not be enjoying our lives here. The employment that resulted and continues. The growth of the surrounding towns and areas. And on and on...
Founding of The Villages
In the early 1970s, Schwartz turned his focus from mail-order land sales to land development. Schwartz, along with business partner Al Tarrson, founded Orange Blossom Gardens, a mobile home park in Central Florida located off of US Highway 27-441. Using land leftover from his mail-order land sales business, Schwartz began selling homes to retirees. Initially, sales were slow, with only about 400 homes being built in the original development.[2]
In 1983, Schwartz, unsatisfied with the progress, bought out Tarrson's interest in the business and brought in his son, advertising executive, H. Gary Morse as a business partner. Together, Schwartz and Morse increased sales at Orange Blossom Gardens exponentially and created interest in the growing community.[3]
In 1992, the name of the development was changed from Orange Blossom Gardens to The Villages.
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Perhaps we should have a celebratory day each year "Founder's Day".
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Anyone who wonders what The Villages COULD have become or MIGHT have been if it were like a great many attempted real estate developments all over Florida should read the wonderful novels of Carl Hiassen. They are satirical, funny, and sometimes wild, but they always reveal Florida as it is.
I used to teach a class in college I called “Comic Crime Capers.” It was entirely novels by Floridians and set in Florida about idiotic or nefarious criminals of many sorts trying to take advantage of people like you and me. No state can match Florida in this sort of novel and author. Perhaps I should start a book club to read these books.
I think The Villages is remarkable in avoiding the corruption, hucksterism, and broken promises that have been so much a part of those who prey on the Florida Dream and take advantage of those who want peace, pleasure, and prosperity for a decade or two before they shuffle off.