The lake's name is translated as walk-in-water, and the settlement's name is a condensed form of those English words.
In 1910, a Seaboard Air Line Railroad connection was built to the town.
[1] In 1918, the community was also served by the Kissimmee River Railway, a steam rail line in Polk County, Florida stretching 7.26 miles from Walinwa to Nalaca in an area that developed with logging, sawmill, and turpentine industries.
It also served the logging and mill town of Sumica and the turpentine settlement of Nalaka, Florida.
The turpentine town is mentioned glancingly in a historical marker for SUMICA.