Notes for: Chester Crawford FOSGATE

Chester lived with his parents in Medford Hillside, MA and completed the 9th garde in high school. He quit svhool and went to work because his parents wouldn'y let him play football. He played one year and would have been captain of the team the next year, but when his folks found out about it, they said, "no football" and he said "Then no school". He worked at various jobs in Boston, then for Sweeney & Lynes and Co who were fruit merchants in Boston. This job sent him to Louisiana buying strawberries, Georgia buying peaches and Florida buying citrus fruits.

It was in Orlando that he first met Margaret Cowell, who was in Orlando for the winter with her parents. They were married in 1913.

In 1919 he formed his own company, Chester C Fosgate Company, which still bears his name. He packed fresh citrus in his plant in Orlando until 1925. In 1926 he built a new plant in Forest City, FL, (ten miles northeast of Orlando). In 1925 whilst he was moving his operation to Forest City he got into the grocery business in his old packing house location on Amelia Avenue and the railroad in Orlando. This became the first super-market in Central Florida and one of the largest in the state.

After 3 years he sold his market to Clark and Lewis of Jacksonville, FL as he preferred to run his citrus business which was then in operation at Forest City. He continued in the citrus business until his death in 1965. He lived in Orlando from the time of his marriage until 1943 when he moved to 147 Virginia DRive, Winter Park, FL.