Polk Proud History Vol
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
POLK PROUD HISTORY VOL. 43 MAY 2018 NO. 2 SAN GULLY AND LAKELAND PHOSPHATE COMPANY Polk County Board of County Commissioners UNDER THE George Lindsey, III, Vice Chair Melony M. Bell DOME Bill Braswell R. Todd Dantzler, Chairman WHERE LOCAL HISTORY MEETS John Hall Polk County Heritage Partner: Kathleen Area Historical Society Polk County History bout 1988, three women who were born and raised in the northwest Polk Center ACounty community of Kathleen were responsible for the idea of establishing a non-profit organization to preserve and promote the area's dwindling history 100 E. Main Street and heritage. Bartow, FL 33830 Many of the old houses and barns had been destroyed by this time in one 863.534.4386 manner or another; pictures of many families and points of interest had been lost www.polkhistorycenter.org forever. Of most concern was that the area's many new residents were unaware STAFF of local history. Myrtice Young These three women were Hilda Gavin Battle (1922-2001), Becky Hardaker Elliott, Historic Preservation Manager and Doris Stalvey Glisson. Betty Ann Williams (1920-2015), a former Kathleen Area school teacher at Winston, Griffin, and Kathleen, soon joined forces with Maria Trippe these three determined ladies and on March 25, 1991, the non-profit Kathleen Lois Sherrouse-Murphy Area Historical Society (KAHS) was created. Madonna Davis Eight communities were ultimately included as part of the Area of the KAHS: Dorinda Morrison-Garrard Galloway; Gibsonia; Green Pond; Griffin; Kathleen; Providence; Socrum; Win• ston. These communities were established generally between 1850 and 1900, Polk County Historical due to migration encouraged by federal lands legislation, fertile lands which Association supported strawberries and other agricultural industries including cattle raising, and the coming of the railroads in the 1880s. DIRECTORS KAHS sponsors events and activities throughout the year, both as fundraisers David Brewer, President and as celebrations of the rich heritage of the Kathleen Area. All events are held Richard A. Fifer, Vice President at the headquarters of KAHS at Heritage Park, an eight acre, tree-shaded park Roderick Hudnell, Treasurer within the community of Socrum at 8950 N. Campbell Road in north Lakeland. Lois Sherrouse-Murphy, Signature events include Heritage Day in March; Fall Festival in November, Secretary with demonstrations of early pioneer skills such as sugar cane grinding/syrup Melvin Sellers, Past President making and whip cracking; and year round spaghetti suppers on 2nd Thursdays. Other activities include educational outreach programs at Heritage Park and S.L. Frisbie, IV within the community on historical topics of interest, sponsorship and place• C. Wayne Guest ment of historical markers in our communities, oral history projects with local John Keating schools, quarterly newsletter publications, publication of the book Lyonal B. Lindsey, Jr. "Communities of the Kathleen Area," (Arcadia Publishing, 2015) and an active Souri Vongvirat Facebook presence with many historic photographs. Donald Wilson KAHS is committed to preserving the past for the future, through promotion of Myrtice Young local history, and to serving as a community and historical resource to connect people. LuAnn Mims, Editor Visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kahsatsocrum to learn more and DIRECTORS EMERITUS to stay current on our many activities. Edward Etheredge, MD Lois Sherrouse-Murphy, President William Lloyd Harris Sue Sellers Kathleen Area Freddie Wright Historical Society SAN GULLY AND LAKELAND PHOSPHATE COMPANY BY RICHARD A. FIFER n southwest Lakeland, between West Beacon Road and Eaton and Thomas Lee Wilson, an attorney and banker IWest Edgewood Drive, there is a street named South from Bartow. San Gully Road. This short road, a little over a half mile The Lakeland Phosphate Company was incorporated on long, is one of the few reminders that a phosphate mining October 28,1913 with $300,000 in capital stock. Deen was company once existed on the southwest edge of Lakeland president. McRae was secretary and treasurer, and Mem• a century ago. minger was vice president and general manager. The In the early Twentieth Century, southwest Lakeland was company's mining property initially consisted of 1,720 predominately farmland. However, farther south, the acres transferred from W. D. McRae and H. E. Mem• land had been ripped open to reveal the massive layer of minger to the company in a deed dated November 15, pebble phosphate that spread throughout much of west• 1913. Subsequent purchases of other parcels eventually ern Polk County. This region was called Bone Valley brought the total to 1,847 acres. Tests showed that the because of the many fossils found imbedded in the phos• company's property contained high-grade phosphate. phate matrix. Pebble phosphate had been discovered in A plant was built approximately three miles southwest of the Peace River in 1881, and mining of the land near the center of Lakeland — at the south end of Section 26, Mulberry had begun in 1890. Mining of this phosphate Township 28 South, Range 23 East. It consisted of a wet gradually developed into a major Florida industry. rock storage bin, a drying plant with two rotary dryers, a Bone Valley was soon found to extend north of Mulberry. dry bin, a power plant, a machine shop, a laboratory, and The Standard Phosphate Company began mining phos• an office building. A washer was also built, and hydrau• phate south of Medulla in 1906, at what is known today lic mining equipment was purchased. A spur was com• as Tancrede. In 1907, the Medulla Phosphate Company pleted from the nearby Atlantic Coast Line tracks that was formed by C. G. Memminger to mine phosphate would allow the mined phosphate to be transported to south of Tancrede. Mr. Memminger named this location the phosphate terminals in Port Tampa. Christina, after his only daughter, Christine. A sawmill was erected to provide lumber for housing, and Intrigued by the possibility of phosphate wealth, two a village was built adjacent to the plant. Just east of the prominent Polk County residents, William D. McRae and village was a small spring-fed lake. Initially called San• Henry E. Memminger, began acquiring potential phos• gully, the community included a general store, a board• phate land southwest of Lakeland. Mr. McRae was a ing house, a supervisor's house, a company house, and well-known contractor in Lakeland, having built the Bry• workers' houses. All houses faced a single dirt road, ant Building, the Loyal and Eureka Hotels, and the Munn called Main Avenue, running southwest from the power and Memminger homes. H. E. Memminger, the brother plant. Only a long dirt road connected Sangully to Lake• of C. G. Memminger, was a civil engineer who had joined land. his brother in developing the Phosphate Mining Compa• ny in 1906. Lakeland phosphate Co., Lakeland, Fla. After prospecting surveys confirmed the presence of phos• phate in minable quantity and quality, McRae and Mem• minger joined with other investors to form the Lakeland Phosphate Company in October 1913. Foremost of these was Columbus William Deen, former president of the First National Bank of Lakeland. C. W. Deen had retired from banking to focus on his real estate investments, primarily the Dixieland area, south of downtown Lake• land. The other investors included State Senator Oscar M The source of the name, Sangully, is not known with Most of the other phos• certainty. A logical assumption is that it was derived phate mines in Bone from a description of the terrain — sand gully. However, Valley were owned by for many years after its creation, the community was large fertilizer compa• consistently called Sangully and not "Sand Gully." There nies in the Northeast. is no record of any Polk County landowner with the name They shipped their Sangully. There is a remote possibility that the communi• phosphate to their ty was named after Manuel Sanguily (note the difference chemical plants along in spelling), a prominent Cuban patriot and diplomat the Eastern Seaboard, who was frequently in the news at the time of the where the phosphate community's creation. was rendered into fer• tilizer products. The Workers were hired, and the Lakeland Phosphate Compa• relatively insoluble ny prepared to begin mining phosphate in the Fall of 1914. phosphate was first The company anticipated selling its phosphate rock to treated with sulfuric Europe, which had a strong demand for American land acid to create super• pebble and hard rock phosphate. Germany was the big• phosphate, which was C. W. Deen 1923, Miami, FL. gest customer, importing 24% of the total U.S. exports in highly soluble and had Lakeland Public Library Collection 1913. more available phosphorus for plant uptake. However, War in Europe interrupted the company's plans. Follow• the Lakeland Phosphate Company's phosphate was such ing the start of World War I, most of the phosphate a high grade that it could be used directly as a fertilizer mining companies in Florida either reduced or suspend• and soil treatment for crops. It was most effective in large ed mining operations due to the lack of available shipping. quantities on acidic soils. However, the expectation was that the war would be over In November 1915, the company installed a ring-roll mill in six months. to grind the phosphate rock, and it began to sell its As 1914 turned into 1915, the Lakeland Phosphate Compa• ground high-grade phosphate under the brand name ny continued to delay the start of phosphate mining. In NATURSOWN. Being ground raw phosphate, NATUR- March 1915, the general store, operated by Charles F. SOWN was relatively inexpensive to produce. However, O'Doniel as the Sangully Mercantile Company, was it had a hard time competing with the more-powerful forced to close. The company was bleeding money.