Crosby’s 1887 Account of Frost vs. the 1894-95 Freezes
In his 1887 promotional book Florida Facts Both Bright and Blue, town founder Oliver M. Crosby treated winter freezes as a minor nuisance rather than an existential economic threat, and wrote as though they were strictly confined to northern Florida.
He advised his readers to protect tender plants “where there is liability to injury, as in the upper part of the State.” He framed cold weather largely as a matter of personal comfort or preference, observing that Florida “is no place for stout people, who delight in frost and snow, and feel best when the thermometer is registered below freezing,” and noting that “women frequently confess to homesickness, and often even long for colder weather.”[crosby-1887-book]
His confidence that moving south to the Lake Wales Ridge would protect citrus from the kinds of freezes that hit the upper half of the state in 1886 proved misplaced. The freezes of December 1894 and February 1895 struck Avon Park directly, destroying the citrus crop and killing the trees that formed the foundation of the local economy.
The disaster collapsed the enterprise Crosby had built. Settlers halted installment payments on their land, the Bank of Avon Park failed, and the town’s population plummeted from approximately 500 to 128.[nrhp-avon-park-district] Mired in debt from the ruin of the Florida Development Company, his personal holdings and company assets were auctioned off, and he left Avon Park virtually penniless.[nrhp-avon-park-district]
Where this comes from
- Evidence
- corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
- Review
- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
- Rights
- society
Sources
- Oliver Marvin Crosby, Florida Facts Both Bright and Blue: A Guide Book to Intending Settlers, Tourists, and Investors (1887) · book
- Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation / National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Avon Park Historic District (ref. 90000486) (1990) · official
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