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In the 1870s, this area from Deland along the St. Johns River to Palatka was where Florida’s citrus industry really got its start. Early pioneer orange growers compared it to Florida’s gold rush, gold as in the color of oranges. Everybody was catching the “orange fever” and making good money shipping their fruit to the Northern states. Then devastating back-to-back freezes of 1895-96 wiped out the growers. This is why you do not see many orange groves until you get south and west of Orlando. However, a few groves and packinghouses north of Orlando did hang-on until late in the game, one of those was the one I found in DeLeon Springs, probably the last complete intact citrus packinghouse in this part of the state. |
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Strawn’s success as a grower was not without problems; he was faced with fighting insect infestation of his trees, periodic freezes, over-production in the citrus market, and in 1921 suffered a great loss when his packinghouse burned to the ground. He rebuilt using metal buildings, which, along with a few of the original wooden structures can still be seen. From the highway, the Strawn packinghouse resembles a ghost town. There is a water tower, some old gas pumps, several small buildings and the big warehouse size packinghouse, which is still stacked with wooden crates. The most modern, and last structure to be built, is the cinder-block office building. It has been so long since there were any orange groves in this part of the state, that the old packinghouse looks out of place, but it stands as a reminder of when citrus was king all the way to Palatka. Today this part of the state is famous for its “non-edible” crops, the leather-leaf and asparagus ferns grown for the florist market. Checking around, I learned that the Strawn Packinghouse, which is not open to the public, has now been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is an effort underway to preserve this piece of history. |