City of Sanford Timeline
1837
Fort Mellon established
1875
City of Mellonville incorporated
1877
City of Sanford is incorporated on September 29.
1880
Former President U.S. Grant attends the groundbreaking ceremony for the South Florida Railroad in Sanford.
1883
The city of Mellonville is annexed into Sanford.
1887
The east side of Sanford burns to the ground during "The Big Fire."
1891
The African American city of Goldsboro is incorporated.
1894-95
"The Great Freeze" wipes out the citrus industry in Sanford and farmers begin to grow celery.
1908
The Sanford Herald newspaper is established.
1911
Goldsboro is annexed into Sanford.
1913
Seminole County is created on April 25th with Sanford as the county seat.
1928
Mayor Forrest Lake arrested for embezzlement. City faces financial ruin.
1932
Zora Neale Hurston writes her first novel Jonah's Gourd Vine in Georgetown.
1935
Seminole Boulevard is completed.
1947
The New York Giants move baseball farm team operations to Sanford.
1960
Hurricane Donna hits Sanford.
1968
Sanford Naval Air Station closes.
1969
I-4 opens at Sanford.
1970
Sanford becomes southern terminus of the Auto Train.
1976
Sanford's downtown commercial district is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1989
Sanford's downtown residential district is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1995
Sanford's airport (former Naval Air Station) becomes Orlando-Sanford International Airport. Seminole Towne Center shopping mall opens.
1998
Tornado hits Sanford, kills 12.
2002
Sanford celebrates 125 years.
2004
$3.5 Million RiverWalk opens.
2005
Downtown Streetscape Completion