Skip to main content

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com.






Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950.

The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibly" be accessible.  When I visited the Nichols Mine there was no gates preventing access nor any signage saying that the former roadways were impassible.  There is an entrance way to the Nichols Mine and company town site which is in a heavy state of disrepair.















The Nichols Mine has various intact buildings and roadways strewn about the site amid large barrels of hay.  What was apparent was that several buildings like the Phosphate refining facility and possibly a commissary were still intact.  I believe that the Nichols Mine had been converted to a ranch but I wasn't sure and it wasn't even really clear if I was welcome which why I turned back towards the gate.












In the public side of Nichols there was still an active Post Office and even an AMC Javalin located on Mount Carmel Church Road and County Route 676.







Along the rails crossing through Nichols it appears that at least partially the former Company Town Site was converted to a rail siding.





Interestingly there was a phosphate refining facility located south of the rails on County Route 676 which was operated by Mosaic.  The refinery facility was still present on Google Images as of 2011 but it has been demolished since.  The open phosphate pit can be seen on the left of the first photo below.









Labels:

Comments

Elizabeth Madden said…
I grew up in Nichols, FL. I attended the 2-room school house there until the end of the 3rd grade. Grades 1-3 were in one room, grades 4-6 were in another. We even had a library and an AV room. We all rode our bikes home for lunch. It was idyllic. I have photos that I will send along.
8:46 PM
Anonymous said…
I also was born in Nichols 1939, attended 6 grades of school. Would love any old pictures.
12:39 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

By
The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...
1 comment
Read more

The Dummy Lights of New York

By
  A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights  that  were  placed  in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also  originally  positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as  " dummy lights "  and were common until  traffic lights were moved  onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection.  In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights  are found  in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

By
Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east.  Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista.  Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage.   Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agricu...
Post a Comment
Read more