Since 1990, Apopka has more than doubled its area by annexing some 11,000 acres, much of it previously rural land. This land grab has often out the city at odds with Orange County, especially when it comes to protecting and preserving the fragile Wekiva River basin. In fact, the city has purchased another 48 acres to expand its downtown, although a developer has not yet been selected.

Apopka was settled in the 1840s and named after the Timucuan Indian word meaning “big potato” or “potato eating place.” Ironically, the farms that still surround the city grow just about everything but potatoes.

Noted as “The Indoor Foliage Capital of the World,” Apopka’s foliage industry is a multimillion-dollar business. Consequently, downtown boasts a stainless steel sculpture of a Boston fern instead of the expected war hero or early pioneer. Cut flowers, blooming plants, roses and bulbs are also grown in abundance.

But agriculture is rapidly vanishing as dozens of muck farms, created when Lake Apopka was diked during World War II, are purchased and shut down in an effort to restore the polluted body of water to a pristine state.

And Apopka is going high-tech, installing a citywide wireless Internet system. The $2.5 million project is expected to be completed within a year.