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As a result of the Morrill Act, 69 colleges are funded, including Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
As land grant colleges are founded, the North and South are engaged in the U.S. Civil War.
The Florida Constitution of 1868 creates the Office of Commissioner of Immigration with the objective of attracting settlers to Florida to engage in agriculture.
1870s
Orange City
By the year 1870, the first commercial tomatoes in the United States are grown in Manatee County. Over the next few decades, the tomato business in Southwest Florida grows by leaps and bounds.
In 1871, The Florida Constitution is amended to consolidate the Offices of Surveyor General and Commissioner of Immigration as the new Commissioner of Lands and Immigration.
During the same time period, the sharecropping system in the South replaces the old slave plantation system.
As part of the new system, freed slaves rent small plots of land in return for a portion of their crop.
In 1875 Dr. Seth French, David P. Graves, John E. Stillman, William Hawley, John C. Thorpe, James M. Smith, and Allen Cameron purchase about 5,000 acres of land in Volusia County to start a town.
They name it Orange City after the thousands of acres of orange groves planted in and around the town.
A year later, in 1876, the town’s first hotel (now called the 1876 Heritage Inn) opens for business.
1880s
Ag Colleges
Orange City, thriving six years after its formation, is officially incorporated in 1882.
Under the Morrill Act, the first Florida land grant college is established in 1884 at Florida Agricultural College in Lake City, Florida.
The same year, Henry Plant constructs a railroad linking his fledgling town to Tampa, about 23 miles away. This greatly expands the market for local farmers looking to sell their freshly harvested winter strawberry crop.
In 1885 the town is incorporated and renamed ‘Plant City’ to honor the railroad tycoon.
The Florida Constitution is revised in 1885 and the Commissioner of Lands and Immigration post is renamed Commissioner of Agriculture.
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