The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Mutual Crate Company, Highlands Crate Company, and Ridge Crate Company Corporate Succession

Evidence: corroborated.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the citrus container manufacturing complex situated along the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad south of Avon Park encompassed four distinct corporate entities: the Highlands Crate Company, the Flint Lumber Company, the Mutual Crate Company, and the Avon Manufacturing Company (later joined by the Ridge Crate Company)[sos-charters][brooksville-1935-11-28]. Because several of these mills shared common managers, joint logging spurs, and overlapping ownership ties to the Florida Citrus Exchange, regional press accounts frequently interchanged corporate titles. Florida charter records, trade documentation, and contemporary newspapers clarify their distinct legal identities, operating relationships, and post-1929 corporate fates.

Distinct Charters and Ownership Structures

The state of Florida incorporated the primary crate concerns as entirely separate corporate bodies with distinct charter numbers and municipal headquarters[sos-charters]:

  1. Highlands Crate Company (Charter 8647): Filed 25 May 1918 and chartered 28 June 1918 with capital of $50,000; corporate domicile at Bartow in Polk County[sos-charters]. Highlands Crate was organized and controlled directly by the board of directors of the Polk County Sub-Exchange of the Florida Citrus Exchange to serve as its centralized container manufacturing subsidiary[palatka-1922-06-18][brooksville-1931-06-11]. It did not operate an independent sawmill plant in Avon Park initially, but held a controlling 50 percent stock interest in the Avon Manufacturing Company, expanding to outright sole ownership in the 1920s[palatka-1922-06-18].
  2. Mutual Crate Company (Charter 8958): Filed 28 April 1919 and chartered 2 June 1919 with capital of $50,000 (increased to $100,000 on 27 May 1920); corporate domicile at Avon Park[sos-charters]. Unlike Highlands Crate, Mutual Crate was an independent grower-owned cooperative organized by regional citrus growers—including officers I. C. Smith of DeLand, C. H. Walker of Bartow, and A. V. Anderson of Avon Park—with its output contracted directly to its grower-stockholders across Polk, Hardee, Highlands, and Volusia counties[tampa-trib-1924-06-15].
  3. Avon Manufacturing Company (Charter 9248): Filed 17 September 1919 and chartered 22 November 1919 with capital of $75,000 (increased to $200,000 by November 1920); corporate domicile at Avon Park[sos-charters]. Avon Manufacturing owned and operated the large veneer and sawmill plant built adjacent to the Flint Lumber Company sawmill on the McArtin timber tract[sos-charters][taplines-mutual].

Joint Management and Industrial Synergy (1921–1930)

Although Mutual Crate and Highlands Crate/Avon Manufacturing were legally independent corporations, their physical plants stood side by side on the industrial spur south of Avon Park (near modern Hatcher Avenue and Alligator Creek)[taplines-mutual]. Both plants drew timber from the same 71,000-acre forest holdings over the 16-mile logging railway network originally constructed by the Flint Lumber Company[taplines-mutual].

Consequently, the two operating companies functioned as an integrated manufacturing complex under unified management:

  • J. A. Caldwell (General Manager, 1921–1931): Caldwell managed both the Mutual Crate Company and the Avon Manufacturing Company simultaneously, coordinating an aggregate annual output exceeding 2.5 million citrus and vegetable crates[palatka-1922-06-18][brooksville-1931-06-11]. Caldwell sat on the Mutual Crate board of directors as well as managing the Sub-Exchange’s interests[tampa-trib-1924-06-15].
  • William H. Yates (Manager, 1931 onward): Yates served for years as office manager for both Highlands Crate and Avon Manufacturing under Caldwell. Following Caldwell’s death in spring 1931, the board of the Polk County Sub-Exchange elected Yates general manager of both companies[brooksville-1931-06-11].

The Great Depression Divergence: Receivership vs. Sub-Exchange Expansion

The onset of the Great Depression shattered the unified dual-mill arrangement and drove the companies along divergent paths:

1. Mutual Crate Company Receivership and Private Succession (1930–1990s)

Severely affected by agricultural credit contraction and plummeting crate prices, the Mutual Crate Company went into receivership in June 1930[taplines-mutual]. In August 1933, the company’s assets and physical plant were liquidated at a receiver’s sale to new private owners[taplines-mutual]. The sale inventory included two industrial steam locomotives: locomotive No. 2 (a 50-ton engine sold for scrap) and locomotive No. 3 (an operational 30-ton Lima 2-6-0, builder number 1030, built in 1906), which continued switching logging and crate cars around the plant into the 1940s[taplines-mutual].

The reorganized Mutual Crate mill continued operating through World War II until the mid-1950s, when it was acquired by the Revell Crate Company of Wauchula[taplines-mutual]. On 5 March 1986, F. L. Revell, Jr. and K. D. Revell conveyed the 5.01-acre main mill property on Hatcher Avenue to the Elberta Crate & Box Company of Bainbridge, Georgia, for $500,000[hcclerk-deed-875-397]. Elberta Crate operated the facility at 224–229 Hatcher Avenue until production ceased in 2008 following labor disputes and regulatory citations, formally liquidating the property by warranty deed in March 2016[hcclerk-deed-2521-153].

2. Highlands Crate Company, the Ridge Crate Acquisition (1935), and HESCO

In contrast to Mutual Crate’s bankruptcy, the Highlands Crate Company remained firmly supported by the cooperative capital of the Polk County Sub-Exchange and the Florida Citrus Exchange[brooksville-1931-06-11][brooksville-1935-11-28]. Retaining control of the Avon Manufacturing plant, Highlands Crate expanded its Avon Park footprint in late 1935.

On 27 November 1935, broker Charles Clements announced the sale of the Ridge Crate Company plant at Avon Park to the Highlands Crate Company for $40,000[brooksville-1935-11-28]. The Ridge Crate mill was a fourth local packaging facility whose independent operations were absorbed by the Sub-Exchange to introduce modern machinery for manufacturing “4-One” wire-bound citrus crates, which were rapidly superseding heavier nailed wooden boxes across the industry[brooksville-1935-11-28].

Highlands Crate Company continued operating its regional crate supply network under industry leaders including William C. “Bill” Pedersen (who served as president) and John Leroy Olson[citrus-hall-fame-pedersen]. Highlands Crate subsequently merged with the Exchange Supply and Service Company of the Indian River citrus district to form HESCO, creating one of Florida’s largest agricultural packaging and grove supply cooperatives[citrus-hall-fame-pedersen].

References

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

  1. Secretary of State of the State of Florida, Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida, lists of corporations chartered, 1917-1918 and 1919-1920: charters 8647, 8778, 8958, 9248 and 9729 (references/florida-secretary-of-state-corporation-charters.md) (1920) · official
  2. Palatka Daily News, Palatka Daily News, 18 June 1922, page 2: the crate mill at Avon Park, its timber, its railroad and its ownership (1922) · newspaper
  3. The Brooksville Journal, The Brooksville Journal, 11 June 1931, page 13: W. H. Yates elected manager of the Highlands Crate and Avon Manufacturing companies (1931) · newspaper
  4. The Brooksville Journal, The Brooksville Journal, 28 November 1935, page 1: Avon Park crate plant sold to citrus concern (1935) · newspaper
  5. Donald R. Hensley, Jr., Mutual Crate Company of Avon Park, FL (2026) · secondary
  6. The Tampa Tribune, Mutual Crate Co., Enjoys Great Year, The Tampa Tribune, 15 June 1924, page 14 (1924) · newspaper
  7. Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, William C. Pedersen Biography, Florida Citrus Hall of Fame (2026) · secondary
  8. Highlands County Clerk of Courts, Highlands County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Official Records Book 875, Page 397 (Warranty Deed, 5 March 1986, Instrument #577984) (1986) · official
  9. Highlands County Clerk of Courts, Highlands County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Official Records Book 2521, Page 153 (Warranty Deed, 30 March 2016, Instrument #1808835) (2016) · official

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