In October 1857, shortly after the United States Post Office officially recognized the name Orlando, Alabama businessman B.F. Caldwell donated four acres for a courthouse at the site that is now Heritage Square, at Central Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue. “It is from this site that the city limits of Orlando – originally one and one-half miles square – were first platted,” a plaque on the site proclaims.
But only a few hundred people lived in the county, and money to build the courthouse was scarce, so in the meantime, county officials used a deserted two-room log cabin in the pine woods on Church Street. Joshua Mizell served as judge.