The site that is now Baldwin Park has a long and proud history of United States military service. From 1940, throughout World War II, and until 1968, the site was an Army Air Corps and Air Force base. In 1968, that base became the Orlando Naval Training Center (ONTC), sort of a college campus for sailors. Over 650,000 Naval recruits received basic training here before the ONTC was closed in 1999. Lake Baldwin and Baldwin Park take their names from former Under Secretary of the Navy, Robert H. B. Baldwin. Lakefront land has been donated for a commemorative Veterans Park planned for the northern shore of Lake Baldwin.