Celery Collection

Celery Collection

Celery Collection

Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)

Celery industry

Sanford (Fla.)

Slavia (Fla.)

Celery

The origins of Sanford's connection to celery farming began on December 26, 1894, when a freeze damaged the area's citrus groves. They began to recover during a warm and wet January which promoted new shoots, but a second freeze hit on February 7, 1895, practically wiping them out. The 24 degree temperature was the coldest known in Florida to that point. The freeze was so intense that the sap froze inside the trunks, many of which split open, sounding like gunshots, and crashed to the ground. The population quickly dropped from 5000 to 2000 as the groves were abandoned. I. H. Terwilliger stayed after the freezes and is believed to have planted the first celery grown in Sanford in 1896. J. N. Whitner and B. F. Whitner Sr. planted 3/4 acre in 1897 with celery imported from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Chase & Company also converted to celery cultivation and by 1898, celery became the crop synonymous to Sanford.

Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

eng

Collection

Sanford, Florida

Slavia, Florida

Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida

Cepero, Laura

Mills, Jerry W., and F. Blair Reeves. A Chronology of the Development of the City of Sanford, Florida: With Major Emphasis on Early Growth, 1975.

The Seminole Herald. Sanford: Our First 125 Years. [Sanford, FL]: The Herald, 2002.

Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). Sanford. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.

"Sanford: A Brief History." City of Sanford. http://www.sanfordfl.gov/index.aspx?page=48.

Sanford: Central Florida's Waterfront Gateway. Sanford, Florida: City of Sanford, 2005.

Petrik, Robert. "Czechs and Slovaks in Florida." American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club. http://acscc.org/Papers/svu_062703b.html.

Robison, Jim. Around Oviedo. 2012.