E.W. Henck, a young man from Boston, arrived in this wilderness section of then Orange County in November 1872 and selected a homestead site in what is now Historic Longwood. Intent on establishing a town, he named it Longwood after a beautiful Boston suburb, now Brookline, that he had helped lay out as a young engineer. The Hartley family had a homestead southeast of Henck's, and the Searcy and Rand families were other early residents. Henck platted the town, became the first postmaster in 1876, and in 1879, with Mr. Haskell and Mr. Rand, obtained a charter for the railroad between Sanford and Orlando. The railroad was completed in 1880 with a station in Longwood, and the village grew rapidly with the railroad, a large sawmill owned by Capt. Peter Demens, orange groves, and the arrival of winter visitors. In 1883 Longwood was incorporated as a town with Henck as its first mayor. By 1887 the population had grown to 1,027, with 3 hotels, 5 churches, 8 stores, and a weekly newspaper. The killing freezes of 1895 and 1896 devastated the orange business, and together with depletion of the nearby native forests greatly reduced the population. The Florida land boom of the early 1920's brought a revival with the paving of many streets, a municipal water system, and in 1923 its re-incorporation as a city. Nearby attractions included a dog track, a horse track, and a golf course. After the boom fizzled and the depression of the 1930's left the population much as it had been before the boom, population growth in central Florida in the later part of the 20th century began Longwood's expansion outside the historic district. The area platted by Henck became Longwood's Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.