Parramore is a neighborhood in west-central

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. It is a historical neighborhood for Orlando residents of

African descent Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

, and suffered greatly during the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

era. In 2015, the unemployment rate was reported as 23.8% and median household income was $15,493. The area was developed as a segregated

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community. It was built in the 1880s by Orlando's fourteenth mayor,

James B. Parramore James B. Parramore (January 20, 1840 – February 6, 1902) was an American politician, who was the fourteenth Mayor of Orlando from 1896 to 1902. Biography James "Buck" was born in Thomasville, Georgia on January 20, 1840, to Redden and Mary Ann ...

, as a development "to house the blacks employed in the households of white Orlandoans." While the historic east border of Parramore was Division Avenue (which marked the line where

residents living in the west could not cross into the east after sundown), Interstate 4 was constructed directly between Parramore and the prosperous and mostly white neighborhoods of central downtown, just east of Division Avenue and just west of the railroad tracks. Parramore's "official" boundaries (according to the city of Orlando) extend to Interstate 4, but the regions in between Division and the interstate are generally not residential, hosting such facilities as the

Amway Center Amway Center is an indoor arena located in Downtown Orlando, Downtown Orlando, Florida. The arena is home to the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association, NBA, the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL), Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, and the O ...

and the

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Bob Carr Theater (originally the Orlando Municipal Auditorium and formerly the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre) is an auditorium located in Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange ...

. Smaller businesses are located on the west side of Division Avenue and include grocery stores, barber shops, and soul food restaurants. Many of the issues facing Parramore historically and currently can be traced to institutionalized or even unintentional neglect from the city and county governments, exacerbated by the fact that the city limits of Orlando do not extend all the way through, and therefore one block might be dependent on city services while being bordered on three sides by blocks that depend on county services. The western border of Parramore is

Orange Blossom Trail U.S. Route 441 (US 441) in Florida is a north–south United States Highway. It runs from Miami in South Florida northwest to the Georgia border north of the Lake City area. Like all AASHTO designated highways in Florida, US 441 always c ...

, a thoroughfare where violence and other crimes are common. Orlando officially considers Parramore to be three separate neighborhoods: Lake Dot (between

Colonial Drive State Road 50 (SR 50) runs across the center of the U.S. state of Florida through Orlando, with its termini at SR 55 (US 19) at Weeki Wachee and SR 5 (U.S. Route 1) in Titusville. SR 50 is signed east–west. Within various counties throu ...

and Amelia Street), Callahan (between Amelia Street and Central Boulevard), and Holden/Parramore (between Central Boulevard and Gore Street). All three are bounded on the east by Interstate 4 and on the west by Orange Blossom Trail. A soccer stadium,

Exploria Stadium Exploria Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Orlando, Florida. The stadium is located along West Church Street in the Parramore neighborhood west of Downtown Orlando. It is the home of Orlando City SC, which entered Major League ...

, was built in Parramore along West Church Street between Glenn Lane and Terry Avenue.

References

{{coord missing, Florida Neighborhoods in Orlando, Florida History of racial segregation in the United States White supremacy in the United States