FLVC logo

Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company Photographs, 1920-1939

 

Summary

Creator:
Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company
Extent:
1.25 Linear Feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection has been divided into two main series: Photographs and Textual Materials. The Photographs series is divided into sub-series based on subject: Building and Structures, Davenport Locales, Landscapes, and People. The Textual Materials series contains Advertising and Marketing materials as well as Correspondence. All materials in this collection were organized alphabetically due to few dated materials.

Biographical / historical:

The development of Holly Hill near Davenport, Florida began in December 1919 as part of the Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company, a subsidiary of the Wilson and Toomer Fertilizer Company. Like other Florida land development companies during the 1920s, the Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company packaged together the sale of house lots with citrus grove lots. Soon, the deal shifted to if someone bought a grove lot, they would receive a lot in town. Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company also built multiple amenities in Davenport including the Holly Hill Inn in 1920 as well as the Holly Hill Golf and Country Club in the mid-1920s. In 1927, the Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company formed Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc., and soon after its creation, Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc. bought its business as a citrus fruit marketing company and its trademarks from Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company. However, Holly Hill Citrus Growers Association started selling citrus as an agent of Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company, thus violating the agreement and causing Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc. to file a successful lawsuit against Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company. Due to the lawsuit, the effects of the Great Depression, and other economic and ecological disasters in Florida, Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company faced foreclosure in the 1930s and was bought out by Wilson and Toomer. The country club that had been built also closed in the 1930s and was turned into housing and citrus groves. In contrast, Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc. flourished despite these same issues and continues to exist to this day.

Additional Sources: Hetherington, M.F. History of Polk County Florida: Narrative and Biographical. St. Augustine, Florida: The Record Company, 1928. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/regional_ebooks/11. "Holly Hill Fruit Products Co. Inc." Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations. https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ByName. Holly Hill Growers' Ass'n et al. v. Holly Hill Fruit Products, Inc., no. 7367, Circuit Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, 1935.

Acquisition information:
Based on Professor Thomas Mack's unpublished manuscript "Documented History of the Florida Citrus Archives," the materials are presumed to have been donated by Robin Hooker, a graduate from Florida Southern College's Citrus Institute, who had found the materials as he went through his father Glenn Hooker's citrus memorabilia. However, it is unknown exactly when the materials in this collection were donated to the Citrus Archives. The Thomas B. Mack Citrus Archives were transferred to the Roux Library in 2005 then to the McKay Archives Center in 2009.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from the Holly Hill Grove and Fruit Company Photographs must be obtained from Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Archives Center or the appropriate copyright holder. Please inquire if you have questions at 863-680-4453.

Location of this collection:
Florida Southern College
111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr.
Lakeland
FL
33801
USA