[Indy-Guy]

Below is a link to a video that covers the history of The Villages.

Hope you enjoy it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04o...ist=LL&index=1

[Bay Kid]

Love history. Thank you.

[mraines]

Originally Posted by Indy-Guy

Below is a link to a video that covers the history of The Villages.

Hope you enjoy it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04o...ist=LL&index=1

I enjoyed the video but I always thought there was an existing mobile home park purchased by Schwartz.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by mraines

I enjoyed the video but I always thought there was an existing mobile home park purchased by Schwartz.

Nope. There was a small citrus grove, part of a cattle ranch, and a small horse farm in the couple of square miles on the east side of 441 stretching from Griffin Road up to where BJ's is currently, and back to Rt. 25.

[Bogie Shooter]

More history.
https://aberdeensg.com/wp-content/up...circa-1995.pdf

[JoMar]

Oh no!! You just burst the myth that Harold Schwartz built this place because he was just trying to be the nice guy to give seniors someplace to go! LOL

[margaretmattson]

Originally Posted by JoMar

Oh no!! You just burst the myth that Harold Schwartz built this place because he was just trying to be the nice guy to give seniors someplace to go! LOL

I was living in Florida while Spanish Springs was being built. The video does not have it exactly right. Close but no cigar.

[[email protected]]

I noticed he had several of his facts wrong but one thing I keep asking myself is why doesn’t anyone else do this? I looked at other retirement communities in several other states and none of them had golf cart paths, free golf, restaurants, or over 300 clubs, not to mention all of the beautiful landscaping as provided by TV. The plan of Harold Schwartz/Gary Morse ought to be taught in schools as one of the best “give customers what they want” examples out there!

[Bay Kid]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

I noticed he had several of his facts wrong but one thing I keep asking myself is why doesn’t anyone else do this? I looked at other retirement communities in several other states and none of them had golf cart paths, free golf, restaurants, or over 300 clubs, not to mention all of the beautiful landscaping as provided by TV. The plan of Harold Schwartz/Gary Morse ought to be taught in schools as one of the best “give customers what they want” examples out there!

No where in the world comes close to how special it is in The Villages.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

I noticed he had several of his facts wrong but one thing I keep asking myself is why doesn’t anyone else do this? I looked at other retirement communities in several other states and none of them had golf cart paths, free golf, restaurants, or over 300 clubs, not to mention all of the beautiful landscaping as provided by TV. The plan of Harold Schwartz/Gary Morse ought to be taught in schools as one of the best “give customers what they want” examples out there!

Agreed. "Da Family" did/is doing it right. Of course no place is perfect, and also of course there is the sour grapes crowd who will complain no matter how things really are, but I think that the continuing demand for homes in The Villages is proof. Statistics vary, but Wildwood/The Villages consistently ranks at or near the top in net home sales and overall growth per capita, not just in Florida but nationwide.

But impressive as that is (and one can always argue about statistics...As Mark Twain once observed, there are three kinds of untruths: "lies, damned lies, and statistics") I think that proof positive of the desirability of TV as a place to live out one's golden years lies in the fact that you have to enter a LOTTERY for purchasing new development. I've been here for six years now and counting, and the good of this place far, far outweighs the bad.

[Bitsee]

WOW !!!
Thank you so much for this post !

Very, Very informative ~

[manaboutown]

The Villages took root in the 1960s, far from Florida’s famous sandy beaches, in remote cow pastures and watermelon fields in rolling Lake County.

Like other land speculators of the time, Michigan businessman Harold Schwartz and a former partner doubled their money by selling home lots sight-unseen to northerners dazzled by the dream of a retirement paradise.

After the federal government banned mail-order land sales, the two slowly developed a trailer park they called Orange Blossom Gardens. By the late 1980s, the Gardens had more than 2,000 mobile homes.

From: Boomers shape the land | The Wider Image | Reuters

Also: The Villages History - The Complete Story of Florida's Iconic Retirement Community - The Villages, Florida - 55+ Active Adult Retirement Community Website

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

I noticed he had several of his facts wrong but one thing I keep asking myself is why doesn’t anyone else do this? I looked at other retirement communities in several other states and none of them had golf cart paths, free golf, restaurants, or over 300 clubs, not to mention all of the beautiful landscaping as provided by TV. The plan of Harold Schwartz/Gary Morse ought to be taught in schools as one of the best “give customers what they want” examples out there!

Would be curious what facts you believe are wrong?

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

I was living in Florida while Spanish Springs was being built. The video does not have it exactly right. Close but no cigar.

What would make it exactly right?

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Agreed. "Da Family" did/is doing it right. Of course no place is perfect, and also of course there is the sour grapes crowd who will complain no matter how things really are, but I think that the continuing demand for homes in The Villages is proof. Statistics vary, but Wildwood/The Villages consistently ranks at or near the top in net home sales and overall growth per capita, not just in Florida but nationwide.

But impressive as that is (and one can always argue about statistics...As Mark Twain once observed, there are three kinds of untruths: "lies, damned lies, and statistics") I think that proof positive of the desirability of TV as a place to live out one's golden years lies in the fact that you have to enter a LOTTERY for purchasing new development. I've been here for six years now and counting, and the good of this place far, far outweighs the bad.

Careful...lest you awaken the "hate on the developer" crowd!