Waterbury is an unincorporated area in

Manatee County Manatee County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county seat and largest ci ...

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.

History

Waterbury was a planned company town by the James L. Waterbury Company of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

located within a large citrus development in eastern Manatee County. The development was first proposed in 1914 by James L. Waterbury, a recent transplant to

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...

. The Waterbury property was originally six square miles just south of the

Manatee River The Manatee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 river in Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida. The river forms in the northeastern co ...

, half to the north and half to the south of the intersecting East and West Coast Railroad (today location of State Road 70). The project required over 10,000 acres in the Manatee River valley to be drained. The southern half of the development was to be a town known as Pomelo Park and the northern half was to be the town of Waterbury. In 1918, the beginnings of the grapefruit farm were planted. The town of Waterbury was platted in 1920. It was intended to have 192 building sites over one square mile located in the heart of the grapefruit trees. The Waterbury project gained notoriety locally because the company used dynamite to clear the many pine trees on the land, which was a novel process for its time. By 1922, 650 acres of trees had been planted. A lodge and administrative office for the grapefruit operation had also been built. In 1923, James Waterbury sold his company to Rudolph Haas of Springfield. At that time, the Waterbury grapefruit development was home to over 700 acres of groves, as well as office buildings, laborer housing, stables, and packing houses. The recession that hit Florida in 1926 severely damaged the citrus industry and the Waterbury Grapefruit Company went out of business. In the 1930s, the property was acquired by the State of Florida as part of the Murphy Act. In 1967, the Hunsader family of Wisconsin purchased the land that was platted for the proposed town of Waterbury and developed a tomato farm there. Today the planned site for the town is still part of the Hunsader Farms property, but no original buildings remain. Today the original Waterbury Grapefruit grove tracts are home to agricultural businesses and rural residences.

References

Unincorporated communities in Manatee County, Florida Unincorporated communities in Florida {{ManateeCountyFL-geo-stub