Citrus packing house, Avon Park, Florida, 1924
Citrus packing house, Avon Park, Florida, 1924. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, image RC09038. Public domain.
An open timber-framed shed roof on tall posts covers several long grading and packing tables running the depth of the building. Rows of workers in white caps and aprons stand at the tables; wooden field crates of fruit are stacked in the foreground, and an overhead system of chutes or a conveyor runs the length of the room. The archive’s own catalog assigns the subject term “Citrus fruit industry–Employees” in addition to “Fruit processing plants–Florida–Avon Park,” confirming this is catalogued as a labor photograph, not simply a building photograph. It is the only image found in this project’s research so far that shows an Avon Park packing-house workforce at work. Race is not legible at this resolution and is not stated in the catalog record, and should not be guessed at from the print.
The photograph does not name the packing house. In 1924 at least three concerns operated at Avon Park — the Avon Park Citrus Growers Association, the Pittsburgh-Florida Packing House (Lake Byrd Packing Company), and whatever building or buildings stood behind the “two large orange packing houses” reported in 1913 — so the building shown cannot be identified from the image alone.
Credit line
State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, image RC09038
Rights
Status: public-domain. Published/created 1924, before 1930, and marked with the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0 by the State Archives of Florida on the item page
Original item: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/31910
Related
Where this comes from
- Review
- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
- Rights
- public-domain — Published/created 1924, before 1930, and marked with the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0 by the State Archives of Florida on the item page Held by State Archives of Florida. Rights statement
Sources
- State Archives of Florida, Citrus packing house - Avon Park, Florida
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