Getting to Clermont, Florida: Hills, History & Citrus Tower

Why Clermont's Hills Are Unlike Anywhere Else in Florida

Clermont sits on terrain that has no business being in Florida. The hills rise hard and fast, ridges of sand and clay carved, in a sense, by oranges. Citrus groves covered these slopes into the mid-twentieth century, terraced rows of trees holding the soil in place and funding the local economy. Then came the freezes—repeatedly, brutally—and the groves dwindled. The hills stayed. What remains is a town that climbs, literally, over the ghost of an orchard era.

Clermont's History: From Citrus Groves to Training Grounds

Clermont was established in 1884, named for the French hometown of A.F. Wrotnowski, who managed the Clermont Improvement Company. The town incorporated on 9 June 1891, disbanded on 25 May 1895, and reincorporated as a city on 28 December 1916. That stop-start civic life mirrored the region's boom-and-bust agricultural cycle. Citrus dominated Lake County's economy well into the mid-twentieth century, then collapsed under successive freezes and suburban sprawl. The town's next act arrived in 2001, when the National Training Center established itself here, turning the hills into an athlete's proving ground.

Visit the Florida Citrus Tower: A 1956 Landmark with a View

The Florida Citrus Tower, built in 1956, still stands above a landscape its builders would barely recognize. It was one of Florida's earliest roadside landmarks, a 226-foot observation spire meant to showcase miles of productive groves. Those groves are largely gone—killed by cold, replaced by rooftops. The tower endures anyway. Not as a monument to what citrus was, but as a stubborn piece of mid-century roadside optimism that outlived the industry it celebrated.

Why Athletes Train in Clermont: The 'Choice of Champions'

Clermont adopted the slogan "Choice of Champions" in 2014, built around the National Training Center established in 2001. The center draws cyclists, triathletes and runners to the same hills that once held orange trees. The terrain that made citrus farming difficult—steep, draining, irregular—makes for punishing interval work. The slogan is a rebrand of the landscape itself: what killed the groves now builds endurance. The town's identity has shifted from what the land produced to what the land can make you do.

Lake Minneola Waterfront Park: Swimming, Fishing & Pig on the Pond

Waterfront Park on Lake Minneola is the current recreational hub, offering swimming, fishing piers and a playground. It also hosts Pig on the Pond, a three-day event and the biggest in south Lake County, drawing more than 20,000 people. Run by Project Scholars, a non-profit, the 2026 edition marked its 27th year. The festival is named for a pig roast, but the real draw is the lakefront setting—flat ground at the base of the hills, a rare easy descent in a town that rewards climbing.

Clermont Demographics: A Quick Look at the Data

Clermont's census data tells a story of a town that has pivoted from agriculture to amenity. The median home value sits at $368,600, with a median gross rent of $1,774. Median household income is $79,789, and 35.7 percent of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The unemployment rate is 5.9 percent. Of 18,718 total housing units, 558 are held for seasonal or recreational use, and 1,800 sit vacant—a mix of second homes, investment properties and market slack. The median age is 42.4 years, and the population is 44,984. These are numbers of a commuter and training town, not an orchard town.

The hills remain the defining feature. Citrus built them into the economy, freezes tore the groves out, and now athletes climb what farmers once abandoned. Clermont is a town that keeps finding new ways to use its steepest asset.