Callahan Neighborhood Association

milestones

One of the many initiatives, the CNA is most proud of was organizing a Youth Committee to create and improve programs for students enrolled in the Callahan Neighborhood Center’s after school programs.

Our goals:
1. Provide academic support
2. Improve social skills
3. Build confidence
4. Encourage physical activities
5. Create a safe and structured environment.

WE ARE CALLAHAN…

callahan neighborhood association

over the years

2000s

2001 Callahan Listening Project, Tom Fischer

2001 Walt Disney World Community Service - Special Judges Award

2002 Walt Disney World Service Award

2003 Orange County Public Schools Partners in Education

2008 City of Orlando Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant: Community Garden

2010 Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Black History Celebration Award

2020 City of Orlando Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant: Genealogy Project

2021 Social Media Platforms: Website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Circa 1999. All hands-on deck at the Callahan Community Garden for planting, tilling, and gardening.

90s

1993 City of Orlando: Dedication of the Georgia Neil Woodley Learning Laboratory

1994 Orlando Magic Youth Foundation Award

1995 City of Orlando: Citizen for Neighborhood Watch of the Year

1995 City of Orlando: Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant

1996 City of Orlando: Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant

1997 Walt Disney World Social Community Service Award

1997 City of Orlando: Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant

1998 Walt Disney World Community Service Award

1998 Neighborhood of the Year, Second Place Social Revitalization Single Neighborhood

1999 City of Orlando Mayor’s Neighborhood Matching Grant: Book Club and Library

1999 Walt Disney World Social Community Service Award

Circa 1998. The Callahan community was awarded with 2nd Place in the National Neighborhood of the Year. The community was judged and awarded based on livability, safety, and civic enrichment. The recognition of this honor exemplified the hard work and dedication of the Callahan residents and leaders.

80s

1987 Walt Disney World Community Service Award

1989 Walt Disney World Community Service Award

1989 Dedication of the Mary Alice Drew Auditorium

2003 Orange County Public Schools Partners in Education

70s

1978 Callahan Neighborhood Association is incorporated

Circa 1989. The Callahan Neighborhood Association keeping memories alive. A bronze plaque unveiled at the J. B. Callahan Auditorium in honor of Mrs. Alice Mary Drew for her years of service to the Callahan community.

callahan neighborhood association is founded

1978

Napoleon “Nap” Ford

CITY OF ORLANDO COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 5; 18 YEARS OF SERVICE

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Circa 1996. The first Orlando Habitat House built in Callahan. “The house was built in partnership with God’s people in need.” — First Orlando Habitat House

Circa 1996. The Jones High School Band and Color Guard Unit performed at the presentation of the first Orlando Habitat House in Callahan. — Presenting Orlando Habitat House

Circa 1997. Callahan residents beaming with pride and joy at the recognition program sponsored in partnership with the 1997 Mayor’s Matching Neighborhood Grant initiative. — Recognition Program

Circa 1999. All hands-on deck as we beautify Our Beloved J.B. Callahan Center. Teamwork at it’s best. — Beautifying J.B. Callahan Center

Circa 2009. Parramore’s Community Garden generates pride and food. The residents showing off the broad leafy vegetables grown in the garden. — Parramore Community Garden

Circa 1996. The Callahan community came out in numbers with COMMUNITY PRIDE to the presentation of the first Orlando Habitat House built in the Callahan community. — Community Pride

the callahan listening project

September 9, 2000 to March 9, 2001, the Callahan Neighborhood Association and the Rural Southern Voice for Peace embarked on a Listening Project. For six-month of training, interviews were conducted with the residents of Callahan (young and old). The listening project was successful in collecting feedback and responses on how to improve, preserve and advance the causes of Callahan.

Shannea Akins, Audio Narrator
2000 - 2001

view text transcript

callahan in parramore zoning

1900 - present

During the 1900’s, Orlando’s economy centered around agriculture and livestock. Florida’s year-round warm weather to grow citrus and vegetables coupled with raising, slaughtering, and selling livestock formed the road map to prosperity. These commodities required a strong labor force. This rapid economic growth and opportunities pushed the transformation toward Orlando’s urbanization. Settlements (housing) were created to meet the housing demand for labor.

African-Americans made up the majority of the labor force. Land was donated by white business and landowners for their African-American domestic and commercial workers. Since segregation was in effect, settlements were created west of the central business district. This entanglement of commercial, industrial, and residential entities shaped a zoning approach that regulated Orlando’s expansion. Parramore became the hub of African-American social, educational, cultural, and religious activities. Parramore became a vibrant and safe mixed-use community where people can live, work, play and learn.

Learn More

01.

Since its beginning around the 1920’s, the Callahan train network on Robinson street, served many commercial and industrial entities. The local Royal Cola distribution center and L.A. Johnson fuel used the rail line to move cola and oil products throughout the region.

02.

In 1957, Interstate 4 separated the downtown business district (east and west), thus segregating the black and white communities.

03.

In 1973, originally named the Holland East-West Expressway now 408 Tollway Way resulted in the displacement of the black homeowners in the Holden area of Parramore. Through eminent domain homeowners were forced to sale.

04.

Aerial view of Central Florida Fairgrounds

Circa 1910. Aerial shot of the Central Florida Fair Ground originally located in Callahan in the Parramore, Livingston corridor. The complex provided entertainment to Central Florida families with live music, food, rides, events, and carnival games for over a century.

05.

Circa 1960. The Skyline ride and Ferris wheel on main street was some of the many enjoyable experiences at the fair. The livestock exhibits provided several educational programs and events. Who can forget the sword-man, the midget girl or the half man- half woman human?

06.

Orlando Arena, later call TD Waterhouse Centre, opened in 1989 in the Callahan area of Parramore in the former Central Florida Fair grounds. The building was part of the Orlando Centroplex, a sport and entertainment complex for the Orlando Magic (NBA), Orlando Titans (NLL) Orlando Solar Bears and Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League.

nostalgic landmarks

past and present

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Circa 1950. Former Royal Crown Cola Distribution Center at Robinson and Terry Streets. — Royal Crown Cola Distribution Center

Morgan Appliances in Parramore has been in business since 1948. Family owned and operated. — Morgan Appliances

WFTV-Channel 9, Orlando’s ABC affiliate, began broadcasting on Feb. 1, 1958, as WLOF-TV 9 standing for “We Love Orlando Florida”. Channel 9 operated on the corners of Central and Parramore. — WFTV-Channel 9

Circa 1952. The iconic sign of the McNamara Pontiac dealership on Colonial Drive. — McNamara Pontiac

Circa 1950. Once the site of a large Publix Supermarket in Callahan, today this Orange Blossom Trail building is a dry cleaner. — Groceries to Dry Cleaning

Circa 1960. Chastain’s Restaurant. 23 North Orange Blossom Trail. The restaurant’s solan was “Serving Good Food For Fine People”. In the parking lot, was a two-story lighted glass booth with a spiral staircase. The booth served as a DJ booth. — Chastain’s Restaurant

how we live

callahan housing in parramore

During the early 1900’s, single-family homes in Callahan were built for Orlando’s black domestic (maids - cooks) and agricultural (grove - vegetable pickers) workers. The small wooden shotgun house became the popular house style. The shotgun house with its noticeable pitched room was a narrow rectangular residential structure with rooms arranged one behind each other with doors at both ends of the house. Thus, the name “shotgun” spoke of firing a shotgun bullet through the front door without hitting a wall.

With the growth and size of the single family, came the bungalow house and its variances. Characteristics of the bungalow new style varied as single or multiple stories with sloping roof dormer window, wide porches different textures (wood, brick or cement block). To this day, the shotgun and bungalow elements reflects Callahan’s residential authenticity.

Built around 1920, This rental duplex shotgun structure represents a transformation from the single-family unit to a multi-family unit. Shotgun duplexes were built to accommodate larger family and their relatives. One main porch entry with two separate linear front and back doors still prevailed in style.

01.

Constructed in 1910, Gabriel Jones’s two-story wood frame vernacular house on Terry street, had style and character at a high degree of uniqueness.. The two-story multi-family house showcased it wrap around open front porch and white stately columns.

02.

This bungalow in Callahan showcased multiple sloping roofs with a vaulted window and an enclosed porch, for sitting on a hot summer night.

03.

With the shift from agricultural commerce to industrial commerce, the single-family home took on change as well. Breaking away from the traditional shotgun style, this 1920 structure employs a flat roof, metal awning and industrial siding. The structural uniqueness formed the design workmanship employing a variety of different construction supplies.

Mary Alice Drew

First Vice President of the Callahan Neighborhood Association

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Callahan Oaks built in 1989 is constructed with shotgun style elements, mainly the pitched roofs and standard window. This complex was built to meet the demand of affordable housing in Callahan . — Callahan Oaks

Renovated in the early 1990, this modernized multi-unit brick structure of cement block replicates the traditional shotgun house. The upgraded amenities include modern appliances, air conditioning, lighted parking lot with secure fencing. — Modernized "Shotgun" House

Built in the mid 1950’s, this family style home emulates the traditional Callahan shotgun house with the pitched roof, back-to-back room floor plan. The exception here is that the exterior is made of cement block instead of wood. — Traditional 1950s "Shotgun" house

The demand for single family homeownership led to this contemporary condo complex built in the 1990’s. Here shotgun elements took on massive scale of using stucco on the exterior, one roof serving multiple units and housing multi-level structures with attached enclosed garages. The historic Gabriel Jones House once occupied the property. — Contemporary Condo Complex

Built in 2018, the traditional shotgun house gets a modern hip makeover. There are asymmetric walls, multiple roofs with various window style to accommodate the variance of day light. — Modern "Shotgun" House

callahan: years of neglect

Cause…Effect…Recovery

In the 1980’s Orlando’s crack cocaine epidemic became ground zero in the Callahan community. The national and local strategies to address and resolve the problem FAILED. Inadequate policies, corrupted/unfair zoning regulations, weak code enforcement designed and deployed FAILED too. Our beloved Callahan image became the poster child of high drug related crime, high unemployment, poor housing condition, failing community businesses, slum, and absentee landlords. At one-point, ninety percent of the homeless population in Orlando was in our community. Times were bad, the community’s identity along with our sense of trust and respect existed under seize.

Neglected and overgrown trees and shrubs

Dr. J. B. Callahan Neighborhood Center

The historic marker for the Dr. J. B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, located at 101 North Parramore Avenue in Downtown Orlando, Florida, in 2003. Dr. Jerry B. Callahan was born on a family-owned plantation in Abbeyville County, South Carolina on December 9, 1883. Dr. Callahan moved to Orlando from Daytona Beach in 1908 after earning a medical degree from Shaw University. Dr. Callahan was the first black doctor to open a medical practice in Orlando; he was also the first African American doctor to practice surgery at Orange General Hospital which is today known as Orlando Regional Healthcare.

Dr. Callahan’s home and physicians’ office were on the corner of Parramore and Church Street where he practiced medicine until his death in 1947. Dr. Callahan was a member of the Orange County Medical Society and an active member of his Baptist Church.

In 1952, the high school moved to a new location and the building was converted to Callahan Elementary School, the only elementary school serving the Parramore community. In 1970, Callahan Elementary became the only school in Orange County to close permanently due to desegregation. The site was converted into a community center and was renamed the Dr. J. B. Callahan Neighborhood Center in 1987.

Photo of red brick sign for Callahan Neighborhood Center

The red brick Callahan Neighborhood Center marker was designed to assimilate the character and history of the community. The front façade of the building was retained from the original Jones High School bult in 1921.

The open atrium of the J.B. Callahan Center will draw you inward and upward. The reflection from the barrel vault glass ceiling provides illumination of the Center's energy.

At the main entrance to the J.B. Callahan Center, visitors are presented with the L. C. Jones Memorial, Jones High School first principal. Mr. Jones and his family donated the land for Jones High School.

Mayors and Commissioners

City Beautiful Civic Leaders

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Circa 1997. Entertainment by dancers from the Youth Group Dance Team. The colorful custom outfits fit the occasion and celebration well. — Youth Group Dance Team

Circa 1996. Group picture of the volunteer coaches and players honorees at the Matching Neighborhood Matching Grant Sports Awards Event. Congratulation. — Matching Neighborhood Matching Grant Sports Awards Event

Circa 1996. Christmas Greeting from the Orlando Magic to the Callahan kids. — Christmas Greeting from the Orlando Magic

Circa 1998. Callahan Teens College Tour of Florida A & M University in Tallahassee, Florida. — Callahan Teens College Tour of Florida A & M

Circa 1999. Callahan Teens College Tour of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. — Callahan Teens College Tour of Bethune-Cookman University

Circa. 1997. African American rhythmic entertainment accomplishing the dance troupe. — African American Rhythmic Entertainment

CALLAHAN CENTER ART PROJECT 2020

Everett Spruill, Artist

Multiple banners hanging from the rafters

Circa 2020. Multi-colored banners hanging from the rafters of the J.B. Callahan Center. 32 in total illuminating against the sun’s morning rays.

In the summer of 2020, kids from the Parramore Community and local artist Everett Spruill completed a colossal project of crafting 32 multi-colored banners for hanging in the atrium of the J.B. Callahan Center at 101 N. Parramore Avenue. The artworks will be a long-lasting testament to creativity and community engagement.

Mayor “Buddyy” Dyer and Commissioner Regina Hill unveiling the magnificent banner

Circa 2020. Mayor “Buddy” Dyer and Commissioner Regina Hill unveiling the magnificent banner artwork in the J.B. Callahan Center.

sister Theresa McElwee

Justice & Peace Office Mentor (1977) for the Callahan and Carver Court Leaders

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HOPE AND CHANGE

Comes to Callahan
President Obama
Campaign Visit 2008

October 20, 2008: Look at the size of that crowd supporting Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton speak at a campaign rally at the former Amway Arena in the Callahan community.

“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America.”

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

“Now, as a nation, we don't promise equal outcomes, but we were founded on the idea everybody should have an equal opportunity to succeed. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you can make it. That's an essential promise of America. Where you start should not determine where you end up.”
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

Photo of Obama in the Callahan community

Circa 2008. Our future 44th President’ “Hail to the Chief” at the CHANGE WE NEED RALLY in the Callahan community.

Obama and Orlando Police Chief Val Demings

Circa 2008. Orlando Police Chief Val Deming's and Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the CHANGE rally in Callahan.

Photo of Obama campaign rally in Callahan

Circa 2008. In the shadow of the Ron Blocker building in the Callahan community, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speaks alongside Sen. Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally.

History

education