GROWTH Introduction
After WWII, a confluence of conditions created dynamic population growth in Central Florida, which in turn caused a rapid increase in the number of Jewish families living here. Jews arrived from larger cities where they had already integrated into more diverse occupations and industries. They were accustomed to having kosher food, a Jewish newspaper, funeral home and other services and helped grow these essential businesses in Orlando.
When the Martin Company moved here in 1956 to manufacture missiles for Cape Canaveral, it brought to Central Florida more than 10,000 highly skilled and educated people. The completion of Interstate 4 in 1965 turned Orlando into a major destination for tourism and industry. Florida Technological University (now University of Central Florida) opened in 1968 and, in 2015–2016, it was the largest university in the country in terms of enrollment.
And then the magic began. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Orlando became the focal point for tourism. It expanded with new and varied industries and as a distribution and service hub. Jewish professionals, businessmen and women and service providers — young and old — have made the Jewish community diverse and vibrant. Just as the Greater Orlando metropolitan area has grown meteorically, so too has the Jewish community, from 4,000 Jews in 1971 to more than 30,000 today. They impact fields as wide-ranging as defense and technology, business and industry, real estate, mass media, law, medicine, hospitality, education, government and the arts.