Ghost Town Tuesday; Brewster, Florida

Back in 2015 I was out searching for ghost towns that still had standing structures in the Bone Valley Area of Polk County, Florida. Along Florida State 37 south of Bradley Junction I found the remains of what was Brewster.

Brewster was a phosphate company town built by American Cyanide in 1910 along the rails one mile east of modern FL 37 on Old Highway 37. Brewster had all the amenities expected a real town such as; a school, a grocery store, gas station, and even doctor's office. Mining in Brewster shuttered in the early 1960s leading to the community being closed in 1962. Residents of Brewster were allowed to purchase their homes, many of which ended up to the north in; Fort Meade, Bradley Junction, Bartow, and Mulberry. Some of the mining facilities in Brewster were used until the 1970s before every usable asset was moved to the Fort Lonesome Mine.

FL 37 was moved west of the original Brewster town site some time between 1966 and 1973. There is a handful of buildings resting off of FL 37 in a state of decay. The saloon building still bears the name of the community of Brewster.

The smokestack off in the distance was part of the Brewster Power Plant which was the first building assembled in the community.

An abandoned access road to the mines west of FL 37 can be found behind a fence in Brewster.

Comments

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high

Mines Road

Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area. Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County. The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte. The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom. Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail). La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora. The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River. Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207. Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939. Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune . Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903. The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba

Gribblenation

Search This Blog