FL-SC038 Forest City A

Marker text: FOREST CITY

(Continued from other side)

The great freeze of 1894/95 wiped out the citrus in Central Florida and resulted in the loss of most of the smaller communities in this area. Forest City survived with replanted citrus groves. Large citrus related businesses were located in Forest City in the 1920s. In 1926 Chester C. Fosgate packinghouse moved here followed by the first juice and canning plant in Florida in 1928. Citrus began to be displaced by urbanization starting in the 1970's and by the 1990's the packing, canning and concentrate plants were gone.
In 1925 the 7th Day Adventist church purchased 500 acres in Forest City north of SR 436 between Bear Lake and Lake Brantley Road and started Forest Lake Academy. Originally a boarding school for children of missionaries, the school has grown and the campus now includes a church and nursing home.