[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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[Stu from NYC]

Very interesting please tell us more

[Nucky]

I'd be in Arizona which is not my first choice. I love it here. Even with the lumps and bumps it really is nice. We are fortunate. Thankfully the entire family is into keeping the operation growing. I don't begrudge them anything they work hard to give us what is available here. Can you imagine the sleepless nights they have had in the past when big decisions were coming up or big checks needed to be signed? Thank God for Mr. Schwartz. Some of the original people who are still here that knew him said he was a peach.

[davem4616]

Thank you, your post brought to mind my favorite poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Schwartz had both courage and a vision....if he hadn't I certainly would not have chosen central Florida as my retirement location

I'd be living on a lake somewhere in the northeast, heading out early in the mornings in a small boat to catch some trout or salmon

[EdFNJ]

There are many other retirement communities. T.V. is/was certainly "special" but if it wasn't "invented" I'm sure there would have been another place just as good and before you jump on the "just as good" comment I say that because if T.V. never existed we'd have never known what we missed and had nothing to compare it to!

[graciegirl]

I would have stayed in Ohio, the heart of it all. We had been to Florida many, many, times to visit, almost yearly to see the mouse when our kids were little and our grandkids too. Husband had business dealings frequently in Florida. We had vacationed and stayed on all the famous beaches and driven through a lot of residential areas and I never wanted to LIVE here until a friend bought a place here and raved about it like a maniac. We were planning to visit some school friends in Fort Meyers and our friends INSISTED we stop by and see their new home in The Villages.

We stayed overnight and I had long quenching drags of the Kool-aid.

Both of us couldn't get it out of our minds and here we are second house here in fourteen years.

We STILL just love it and thank all of the Morse family for their wise decisions and amazing ideas.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

We'd probably be with spouse's sister in South Carolina. That was our other option when we had to sell our home in Connecticut. It was also a consideration prior to that, when she told us she'd bought property on a creekside and was thinking of building a family compound.

[Marvic 1]

We would all have more money in our pockets....

[champion6]

We wouldn't have "THAT SONG" running through our heads ...
The Villages, Florida's Friendliest Home Town, The Villages.

[JoMar]

We have friends in various areas of Florida so most likely would have ended up where they are. I know I would not have stayed in PA but maybe a snowbird? I really hate cold and snow Something would have been here, some Developer would have built, maybe several, but the consistency wouldn't exist. The fact that the Morses have also developed great relationships with the commissioners of all three counties has helped keep the consistency across three politically diverse governments. I don't see any development anywhere that has the same consistency for the size of the communities.

[2newyorkers]

I never would of learned how to twirl a baton, continue Girl Scouts, and meet so many wonderful friends.

[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by 2newyorkers

I never would of learned how to twirl a baton, continue Girl Scouts, and meet so many wonderful friends.

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yep, and I would never have learned new swearwords, and used them freely & often, on golf courses.
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[baustgen]

Dead frim shoveling snow.j

[JGVillages]

This website would be: talkofwildwood.com

[Toymeister]

I'd be in Alabama, 49th lowest property taxes, retirement and SS not taxable. You could have four seasons or ocean front property depending how north you were. Home the the countries second largest industrial park, NASA, Toyota, Huyndai and Mercedes-Benz manufacturing. A thriving, very consecutive, state.