Winter Park, FL (WPK)

150 West Morse Blvd.
Winter Park, FL 32789

Station Ownership

Facility:
City of Winter Park

Parking:
City of Winter Park

Platform(s):
Florida Department of Transportation

Track(s):
CSX

Amtrak Contact

Todd Stennis

Routes Served:

• Silver Meteor
• Silver Star

History

This former Atlantic Coast Line station stands near the intersection of Morse Boulevard and Park Avenue, fronting on the city’s historic Central Park and the shopping and dining district. The concrete and brick structure was built in the 1950s. This station is projected to be a stop on the proposed Central Florida Commuter Rail System, in addition to Amtrak service.

The area that became Winter Park was uninhabited by Europeans until 1858, when David Mizell, Jr. built the first eight-acre homestead between Lakes Virginia, Mizell, and Berry (called Osceola). The area, of pine forests dotted with many small clear lakes, did not develop much until 1880, when a South Florida Railroad track was laid a few miles west of Osceola. Loren Chase saw the opportunity in the land thereabouts and with a wealthy New Englander, Oliver Chapman, assembled a large tract of land upon which they planned the town of Winter Park. They plotted the town, planted orange trees, and required all buildings to meet stylistic standards, and promoted it heavily as a healthful investment. In 1885, Chapman and Chase sold the town to the newly-formed Winter Park Company, during which time there was a land boom characteristic of Florida, with real estate prices peaking at $300 an acre.

In 1885, New England Congregationalists founded Rollins College in Winter Park. It is the oldest college in Florida and a liberal arts college of excellent reputation. The next year, 1886, the Seminole Hotel opened as a grand resort amidst much fanfare, and in 1887, the town incorporated, including the Osceola settlement. Work had also begun on the Orlando and Winter Park Railroad, often called the Dinky Line, which operated until the 1960s, when the last of its tracks were removed.

The Temple orange, a hybrid of sweet orange and tangerine, was discovered in the 1890s and Winter Park became one of the places it was grown. It was named in honor of W.C. Temple, former manager of the Florida Citrus Exchange, who initially spread word of the new fruit. By the 1950s, lemons became very important in Winter Park, where they grew Villa Franca lemons.

In May of 1981, several blocks west of the station, during a period of record low-water levels in Florida’s limestone aquifer, a massive sinkhole opened near the corner of Denning Drive and Fairbanks Avenue. In a single day, the hole widened to 320 feet and a depth of 90 feet, destroying a car dealership, an entire two-story house, and a public pool. Today it has been managed by city engineers and is now called Lake Rose.

Amtrak provides both ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

Winter Park is served by four daily trains.

ADA Compliance

Federal law requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2010. The following is a list of items typically required for transportation and public facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please check the regulations for guidance or contact us for more information.