Brewster is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in southwest Polk County,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States, ten miles south of

Mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

. It is at an elevation of 143 feet above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and has been uninhabited since the early 1960s. The population is 3, according to the 2010 Census. The village of Brewster was founded in 1910 and for decades flourished from phosphate mining. It was largely a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

for

American Cyanamid American Cyanamid Company was an American manufacturing conglomerate. It began as a fertilizer company and added many additional lines of business before merging with American Home Products in 1994. The combined company sold off most of its di ...

. The town had its own schools,

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

theater, medical clinic,

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, which was established in 1913 and discontinued in 1961. Gallagher, John S. (1997) ''Florida Post Offices'', p. 152 Lake Grove, Oregon: The Depot The inventor of the digital computer,

John Vincent Atanasoff John Vincent Atanasoff (October 4, 1903 – June 15, 1995) was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer. Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa Stat ...

, though born in

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Madison County, New York, Madison County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 6,379 at the 2020 census. The town is named after American Founding Father ...

, grew up in Brewster. The village was officially closed down by the company in 1962. Much of Brewster was demolished at the time, but some abandoned buildings remain, including a smokestack which rises prominently in the area as a landmark. The deed to Brewster was turned over to the state of Florida in partial payment of a judgment against American Cyanamid for environmental damages.

Gallery

File:Brewster Florida Smokestack in 2012 from Old Highway 37.JPG, Brewster Florida Smokestack in 2012 from Old Highway 37 File:Brewster Florida Abandoned Buildings in 2012 from Old Highway 37.JPG, Brewster Florida Abandoned Buildings in 2012 from Old Highway 37 File:Brewster Depot.jpg, Artist rendering of the former Brewster railroad depot

References

External links

Brewster Pages

Ghost towns in Florida Company towns in Florida Former populated places in Polk County, Florida Populated places established in 1910 Census-designated places in Florida 1910 establishments in Florida {{US-ghost-town-stub

Gallery

See also

References

External links