The Mississippian People and their descendants, including the Timucua, Tocobaga, Miccosukee, and Seminole, lived among these lakes and rivers for millennia and called the area “Wekiva,” meaning “spring of water” in the Muscogee language. In the 1850s, the area became part of a proposed canal linking the state's coasts. Euro-American settlers David Codie Hill, or “Code,” and Alice Hill arrived in the Lockhart area in 1873 and planted citrus groves. More residents arrived in 1885 with the newly constructed Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad, and in 1886 Wekiva was the only scheduled stop between Apopka and Orlando. In the mid-1880s, David Lockhart, the community’s namesake, built a sawmill between the rail line and Lake Gandy to the north. After back-to-back freezes devastated the citrus industry in the 1890s, Lockhart sold the mill to the Warnell Company in 1901. Between 1906 and 1908, Moses O. Overstreet acquired and expanded the mill operation, later serving as county commission chairman and as a state senator. By 1910, the Overstreet Crate Company was one of the largest mills in the state and furnished nearly 1/5 of all orange crates shipped from Florida, but a fire destroyed the mill in 1917. Lockhart Baptist Church, erected in 1903, became a centerpiece of the community. Edgewater Drive, formerly the Orlando and Apopka Road, runs near the rail line through Lockhart, and after Orange County voters approved road paving in 1913, the road was paved with brick in 1916 under Overstreet’s leadership and became part of the Dixie Highway, opening Central Florida to millions of auto travelers. Subdivisions platted during the 1920s land boom helped ensure Lockhart’s successful existence after the 1917 mill fire. Exum’s General Store opened in 1929 and remained the longest operating grocery in Central Florida until closing in 1974. The Lockhart Elementary School building, constructed in 1936, has been preserved through many renovations, and its alumni include fifth-generation Lockhart residents descended from the Isaacson family, who first settled there in 1883.