Corporate Farming: How Chase & Company Has Grown Into a Dominant Force in Florida Agri-Business

Corporate Farming: How Chase & Company Has Grown Into a Dominant Force in Florida Agri-Business

Corporate Farming

Sanford (Fla.)

Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941

Agriculture--Florida

Corporate farms

Farming

Citrus--Florida

Citrus fruit industry--Florida

Celery

Celery industry

Fruit industry--Florida

Packing industry

Packing houses--United States

Fertilizers--Florida

Fertilizer industry--Florida

A pamphlet about the history and structure of Chase & Company. One of the first vendors to lease a stall at the first Sanford State Farmers' Market, Chase & Company was established by brothers Sydney Octavius Chase and Joshua Coffin Chase in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove in Windermere, Florida. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes. Between 1894 and 1895, Central Florida was hit by several freezes and most of the citrus crop was destroyed. Chase & Company did not grow citrus crops again until 1904 when Joshua came back from an extended stay in California. Between 1894 and 1900, different types of pesticide equipment was created, including equipment driven by steam, machines, and horses.Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.

Original pamphlet: "Corporate Farming: How Chase & Company Has Grown Into a Dominant Force in Florida Agri-Business": Agricultural Collection, Celery Collection, Museum of Seminole County History, Sanford, Florida.

ca. 1900-1999

Digital reproduction of original pamphlet: "Corporate Farming: How Chase & Company Has Grown Into a Dominant Force in Florida Agri-Business."

Museum of Seminole County History, Sanford, Florida.

Sanford Collection, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

application/pdf

342 KB

1 pamphlet

eng

Text

Sanford, Florida

Zellwood, Florida

Belle Glade, Florida

Donation

History Teacher

Economics Teacher

Geography Teacher

Originally owned by Chase and Company.

Copyright to this resource is held by the Sunniland Corporation and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Cepero, Laura

Warner, S. C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.

Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.

"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.

1 pamphlet