The elegant Tarpon Inn, built in 1893, was part of the projection for the small town becoming a prosperous citrus community, a grove-town. It burned to the ground in 1904.
Sketch by Patti Middleton
Grove City Was To Be A Citrus Town
Written by Diana Harris
John Cross was an English agriculturalist who came to S.W. Florida
from India where he had owned a coffee plantation. He arrived
about1880. Most likely the newly budding citrus industry in
Florida presented a potentially interesting challenge to him.
In 1886 Cross purchased a large piece of land which was located
on a magnificently beautiful, pristine bay. He immediately set
about getting the land platted, and a small town came into being
almost overnight, he named it Grove-City-on-the-Gulf. It is
thought Cross is the one who gave our bay its name, Lemon Bay.
At this point in time, scurvy was still a very serious problem.
Lemons were the prescribed treatment as they were for other
health problems. But they were pricey and had to be imported
from Spain. Knowing there was a secure market for lemons
Cross’s plan was to create a citrus community, a “grove-town”. He
would sell home building lots with extra acreage on which owners
would grow citrus fruit, preferably lemons. His land prices were
$8 per acre for back lots, $20 per acre for water front. Terms were
10% cash, balance $5 per month with no interest.
Cross, knowing he had to publicize his new town, set up an exhibit
about Grove City at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The exhibit
must have been very interesting because it became the inspiration
for many of our early pioneering families to come to this area.
The night of December 17, 1894 suddenly changed the future face of
Grove City. The temperature went down to 17 degrees. Surprisingly,
many of the young trees survived the long cold night. However, a
second hard freeze (14 degrees) on January 8, 1895 marked the end
of the lemon dreams, for Grove City and the whole west coast of
Florida.
Cross’s lemon promotion was clever and well planned. Perhaps if
he had stayed in the area and encouraged people to replant Grove-
City-on-the-Gulf would have grown up truly being a city full of citrus
groves. The only citrus legacy the area has been left with are the
two beautiful names, Lemon Bay and Grove City.
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