Port Orange
Port Orange is where opportunity and beauty blend together. With vibrant business community, strong public schools, unique neighborhoods and a welcoming city hall, you can see why Port Orange is one of the fastest growing communities in Volusia County.
Port Orange’s history is rich and unique, starting with its original residents, the Timucuan and Seminole Native American Tribes. The beginnings of the city of Port Orange started with a land grant of 1,000 acres to Patrick Dean in 1804 by the Spanish Crown. Dean’s Dunlawton Plantation focused on the production of cotton and sugar. The Dunlawton Sugar Mill is now on the National Register of Historic Places and was the site of a small skirmish during the 1836 Second Seminole War.
The Second era of growth for Port Orange occurred after the US Civil War when Dr. John Milton Hawks, and abolitionist and United States Army Surgeon, formed the Florida Land & Lumber Company along the Halifax River in 1866. The Settlement and the company consisted of 500 freed slaves and their families came to the area with some 1,600 black colonists.
Because of its location and welcoming atmosphere, Port Orange experienced major growth in the late 20th Century. In 1970 the US Census recorded 3,781 residents. Today, the city is happy to report nearly 60,000 people calling Port Orange home.
