what county is ocoee, fl in?
Once a sleepy city founded after the Civil War by confederate soldiers and their families, Ocoee has grown into the third-largest city in Orange County. The settlement began when Dr. J. D. Starke led a group of slaves into the area in the mid-1850s. Many of the men, including Starke, were stricken with malaria and hoped by moving they could escape further outbreaks. They established a camp along the northern shores of a lake with open pine woods and found that the clear, clean water did indeed bring them better health.