How did Plant City get its name? Surprise -- it has nothing to do with strawberries or any plants that grow in the ground.
We took The Morning Show LIVE to the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City on Wednesday, March 2nd!
Thank you to the Florida Strawberry Festival, Parkesdale Farms, musician Jay Taylor, St. Clement Catholic Church's "make your own" strawberry shortcake booth, the Beef Wagon barbecue booth, the City of Plant City, the Strawberry Festival Queen and Court, and the Tampa Bay History Center.
Visit the Florida Strawberry Festival website for information about the bands, food, and exhibits at the festival from March 3rd through March 13th.
Why do they call it Plant City?
Plant City is the "winter strawberry capital of the world" -- but the town did not get its name because of all the plants there.
But let's back up. Plant City's original name did have a connection to crops, but your jaw could come unhinged just saying it.
"The previous name was Itchepuckasassa," said Rodney Kite-Powell, the curator of history at the Tampa Bay History Center.
You can imagine settlers found the old Indian name -- which means tobacco field -- something of a mouthful. For that very reason, an Irish postmaster changed the town's name to Cork. But then the first train rolled in.
"It's named for Henry Plant, who brought the railroad to this part of Florida in the 1880's," Kite-Powell said.
Agriculture in Plant City does go back a long way. A Plant City display hanging overhead in the lobby of the Tampa Bay History Center recreates an old fruit packing label, for example. It's a round, red strawberry with airplane wings jutting from its sides and a propeller where the stem should be.
Despite crop connections like that, the name on Plant City's signs came from the name of the railroad owner who sent his tracks through the town.
Why do they call it that? Now you know.
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Grayson Kamm, 10 News