Historic Turkey Creek High School

Historic Turkey Creek High School is a historic school in Plant City, Florida, United States. Originally built in 1927, the building is now used by the Turkey Creek Middle School.[2]

Historic Turkey Creek High School
Historic Turkey Creek High School is located in Florida
Historic Turkey Creek High School
Historic Turkey Creek High School is located in the United States
Historic Turkey Creek High School
Location5005 Turkey Creek Rd., S.,
Plant City, Florida
Coordinates27°56′40″N 82°10′15″W
AreaLess than one acre
NRHP reference No.01000177[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 2, 2001

It began as a log cabin in 1873 on Turkey Creek Road near Trapnell Road. In 1903, the school moved to a new two-story building on the southwest corner of Highway 60 and Turkey Creek Road, and was consolidated with Pleasant Grove School and Bledsoe School. The first class of the new school graduated in 1908, with three students receiving their diplomas. In 1972, the high school ceased operation, while the junior high continued until its conversion to a middle school in 1995. The school is now located at 5005 Turkey Creek Road South, just north of Highway 60.[3]

On March 2, 2001, it was added to the US National Register of Historic Places.

Agriculture

The history of Turkey Creek and Plant City is inextricably linked to strawberry farming. Many schools in Florida, especially those in eastern Hillsborough County, were known as "strawberry schools" because they operated on a schedule dictated by the winter strawberry growing season. Historically, these schools closed for three months during the strawberry picking season in the winter months, rather than in the summer like most US schools. While this practice ended in 1956 after a series of heated rhetorical attacks by Jock Murray of the Tampa Tribune,[4] Turkey Creek Middle School still closes for the Plant City Strawberry Festival in late winter.

The school has a large FFA program and raises almost $20,000 per year from sales of student-grown agricultural products.

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Turkey Creek Middle School". www.hillsboroughschools.org. Archived from the original on 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  3. Jurgensen, Amber (14 March 2013). "Turkey Creek school celebrates 140 years". Plant City Observer. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  4. "Community Atlas" (PDF). University of South Florida. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-12-16. Retrieved 2013-12-11.
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