THEN: Joseph Bumby, Sr. and his family came to Orlando from England in 1873. Looking west across the railroad tracks, photographer Stanley Morrow took this image of Orlando’s Church Street around 1886, showing the building that would house the Bumby family’s hardware business for generations. It was completed in 1886. The South Florida Railroad Station above preceded the much larger, brick Victorian station that still stands on Church Street and was the centerpiece of the Church Street Station entertainment complex. The Bumby Building is still there, too. Both are among downtown’s oldest buildings.
NOW: Looking west on Church Street in downtown Orlando toward the rebuilt train station. SunRail now runs past the train station; behind it lies the Church Street entertainment district.
THEN: In the mid-1880s at the southwest corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street, photographer Stanley Morrow captured what would become early Orlando’s most iconic image. The fellow with the reptile is most often identified as Bunk Baxter, although Yates family members have said he’s their ancestor John Burl “Bud” Yates II. The critter’s pointy snout suggests it may be a crocodile rather than an alligator.
Born in 1843 in Wisconsin, Morrow learned his way around a camera from the famous Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. In 1882, he moved to the fledgling city of Orlando because of his wife’s health, and the South Florida Railroad hired him to photograph scenes to use in promoting the area to tourists and businesses. The Morrows moved on to Atlanta around 1888 and then to Texas, where Stanley Morrow died in 1921…