In the same year, 1935, Palm Beach Harbor becomes an official port of entry as the aptly titled Port of Palm Beach.
The farmers’ market trend continues in 1937 when the Wauchula Farmers Market opens about 70 miles outside of Tampa. It will eventually cover 10 acres and bring in nearly $40 million in annual sales.
The next year, in 1938, three more farmers’ markets open across the Sunshine State: Jacksonville Farmers Market, the Starke State Farmers Market, and the Palatka State Farmers Market.
Florida’s citrus industry achieves a first in this year as well, as Florida’s Natural invests in juice-extracting machines—a technology that leads to the innovation of canned orange juice.
Grapefruit canning factory, circa 1937.
Image: Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com
In 1939 the Davis family, owners of Florida’s Table Supply chain, purchases half of Jacksonville-based Winn & Lovett’s 73 grocery stores. On the wholesale side of the market, approximately 25 miles east of Tampa becomes the home of another open-air market: the Plant City Farmers Market, established in 1939.
Decades later, it includes more than 100 vendors, spans 9-plus acres and moves nearly $44 million in product a year.
Yet another market opens in southeast Florida the same year: the Pompano Farmers Market, which will encompass more than 12 acres and sell more than $56 million annually by the twenty-first century.
1940s
Revolutionary Retail
Jenkins closes his first two grocery stores in 1940 to make way for the first Publix Super Market, his dream store.
The new and improved market includes innovations such as air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, electric doors, and Italian Terrazzo floors. During the same year, several Central Florida citrus farmers form Florida Citrus Growers, Inc. to help strenghten the state’s citrus industry. The organization, headed by George L. Fullerton, reaches out to the American Farm Bureau Federation in Chicago for help in creating an affiliated farm bureau in Florida.
