About Oviedo, FL

The settlement was named "Oviedo" by Andrew Aulin when the first post office was established to honor the state's Spanish heritage.

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. 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. Foster was also responsible for establishing the Lake Charm area as a resort to entice visitors from the North to vacation in the winter.

A citrus-grower named Butler Boston is also 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. 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, named by the Boston family for a close family member.

Andrew Duda Sr., a 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.

Oviedo made the transition from a rural hamlet, to a town, and then, in 1967, became a city through a special referendum. 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, its animals have remained a part of the city's character. Although hogs can no longer be seen walking free, chickens and roosters continue to roam the downtown area and have become an Oviedo attraction.

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