Displays at the museum pay homage to the Animated Magazine and theatrical productions at Rollins College (above) as well as to important local artists and arts influencers such as Albin Polasek and Hugh and Jeannette Genius McKean (below). | Courtesy Winter Park History Museum
Winter Park is known as the City of Culture and Heritage or the City of Arts and Culture, depending upon whom you ask. In fact, either moniker is applicable, as Echoes of Expression: The History of Arts & Culture in Winter Park, demonstrates at the Winter Park History Museum.
The exhibition tells the story of an early “art colony” established in Winter Park, as well as the importance of Rollins College as an arts incubator. It also highlights the multitude of exceptional arts venues and organizations that thrive here—at least 24 within a compact, 10-square-mile radius.
“We always try to pack as much history in as we can,” says Executive Director Christy Grieger. “This is a sophisticated exhibition that shows since its earliest days, people here have prioritized infusing arts and culture into everyday life. It really showcases our vibrancy and diversity—there’s truly something for everyone.”
Of course, you can’t talk arts in Winter Park without mentioning Hugh and Jeannette Genius McKean, who founded the world-renowned Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art—named to honor Charles Hosmer Morse, a Chicago industrialist (and Jeannette’s grandfather) who later became a permanent local resident and whose philanthropy helped to shape modern Winter Park.
For all of their civic and cultural work on behalf of the community and state, the McKeans were much beloved and showered with honors. Among their legacies: Christmas in the Park, which features a performance by the Bach Festival Choir and the installation of stained-glass panels by Louis Comfort Tiffany in Central Park. The event celebrated its 47th anniversary in 2025.
Another prominent section of the exhibition celebrates Czech-born sculptor Albin Polasek, namesake of the Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, which showcases more than 200 of his works—many of them iconic. Polasek retired in Winter Park in 1950 and continued sculpting despite a stroke a year later. A speaker event highlighting Polasek’s life and work will be held at the Farmer’s Market on Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m.
In addition, there’s a visual timeline that spans Winter Park’s founding in 1880s through the first quarter of the 21st century, along with an art gallery wall that celebrates local influencers, musicians and artists—including the younger set with original artwork from students at Orange County Public Schools.
Naturally, there are nods to the annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival—one of the most popular such festivals in the Southeast—and, for history buffs, the whimsically named Animated Magazine, a live annual event that welcomed popular national and international figures to Rollins for public presentations beginning in 1927 and running through 1969.
A mini library salutes the published books of local and locally connected authors. Even the soundtrack for the exhibition—the music of the Bach Festival Choir—pays homage to the city’s history. The all-volunteer choir, which today stands at nearly 200 musicians, has delighted audiences for more than 90 years.
Echoes of Expression will run through May 2 and is free to the public (although donations are welcome). The Winter Park History Museum is located at 200 West New England Avenue, Winter Park. For more information, call 407.647.2330 or visit wphistory.org
