palm Harbor Florida Information

The roots of Palm Harbor run deep through American history. The city planted its seed during the 1800s and today, almost two centuries later, continues to mature, feeding off the wisdom and desire for continual growth embedded into the fertile soil by the determined hands of early settlers.

People began to occupy the area now known as Palm Harbor as early as 1860. Between 1864 and 1925 Palm Harbor went through three names, and was a pioneer town, a farming center, a developer’s dream, a resort town and a college town situated on a high pine ridge on the gulf coast.

Even before the Civil War, pioneers began to trek southward to Florida including the Palm Harbor area. The year-round warm weather made the area conducive to farming, citrus groves and fishing. Warm mineral springs gave birth to spas and health resorts. Some citrus groves are still in existence and fishing and farming still provide livelihood to some Florida residents.

The man who contributed most to early Palm Harbor history was J.C. Craver, who traveled to Florida to recover from tuberculosis. He ended up staying 50 years, and commissioned a post office called "Bay St. Joseph," after St. Joseph Sound, to operate out of his home. In 1888, another post office was commissioned under the name of "Sutherland, Florida." He built a general store north of his home in the present downtown area of Palm Harbor, and a community rapidly grew around it.