HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

Crystal Springs

The following is taken from The History of Zephyrhills 1821-1921 by Rosemary W. Trottman.

Zephyrhills received many colonists who came first to Crystal Springs and found that they like Zephyrhills better, or they came to visit relatives or friends in Crystal Springs and decided to buy in Zephyrhills. Because of its nearness and because they shared a high school, it seems wise to tell of its beginnings also.

The Co-operative Homestead Company with National Headquarters at 232 Nasby Building, Toledo. Ohio, bought ten thousand acres of Zephyrhills Colony land and added to it the Renfroe lands including the well known Jarve Springs, much of which lay in Hillsborough County. The Springs became Crystal Springs and the new colony, the Crystal Springs Colony.

Mr R. K. Burke seems to be the man who acted as agent in purchasing the Colony Company and Renfroe lands. However it was A. B. Hawke, J. B. Mercer and L. L. Holford, as well as R. K. Burke who signed receipts for money received for the Florida Headquarters of the Co-operative Homestead Company.

A statement of account issued by the Crystal Springs Colony to Mr. William McCreadie, 5 Portland Park, Hamilton, Scotland, on November 16, 1916, and loaned by Mrs. John McCreadie gives a picture of the financial plan for the colony. The charges were listed as $120 for Tract 11, Section 25, Common Good Fund $120, Individual Improvements $120 and interest $5.30, totalling $365.30. A long list of payments beginning with a payment of May 4, 1912 of $24.00 in cash and continuing until May 6, 1916, with a payment of $8.75, leaving a balance of $76.40 due the Individual Improvement Fund, after 80 rods of fencing and the labor required in erecting it had been subtracted.

A fragile portion of the constitution of the Common Good Society that was a part of the land contract and a place on its cover on which a member might keep a record of his own payments survives. This tells us that the Society according to Section 23 of the constitution "is especially provided that until one hundred (100) dwellings have been established within the colony, the Co-operative Homestead Company shall act as Trustee for the society, and shall hold and administer the Commongood Funds and property in such manner as shall be mutually agreed upon between it and a majority of the resident members, and any provision of these By-laws contrary to this section shall be dormant until said one hundred dwellings have been established, whereupon this section shall become null and void. Meantime the resident members shall organize as fully as possible, so as they may intelligently advise with the Co-operative Homestead Company regarding the Commongood administration, and be fully ready to take full charge of Commongood affairs in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing By-laws." It is this Commongood Funding and administration, first by the Company and then by the residents, that caused the Crystal Springs Colony to be referred to in many newspaper and other accounts as being a colony of socialists.

The Commongood Society's constitution provided for the usual officers and a governing council of nine serving without compensation, meeting on the first Saturday of each month to receive and pass on such detailed and written reports of the executive committee and recommend such matters to them as may seem to them important to the society. The governing council was at first divided into three classes of one, two, and three years so that only one third would consist of new members at any one time. In addition there was an executive committee of three members that met weekly to select the heads of all departments, and all persons handling funds or authorized to transact business for the society. The executive committee was charged with making written reports together with a statement of all receipts and disbursements. A financial statement was to be printed and each resident member was mailed a copy quarterly. A meeting of the society was to be held on the second Saturday of each month at 2:30 P.M. Special meetings might be called on petition of 20 per cent of the resident members.

"All money of the society shall be deposited in the name of the society in a bank designated by the society, and all disbursements shall be by signed check 'Crystal Springs Commongood Society, per ______ Treasurer.' All deposits shall be endorsed in the same manner.

"The treasurer shall draw checks only on presentation of a voucher signed by the head of the department or committee for which the voucher is drawn and countersigned by the secretary of the Executive Committee.

"The society shall elect an auditing committee of three (3), who shall carefully audit the accounts of the society semi-annually and make signed written reports.

"The title to all collectively owned real estate of the society shall be vested in such trustee or trustees as the governing council shall select and shall be administered according to the will of the society expressed as herein provided."

Early in the development of the Crystal Springs colony a community hall was built for the Commongood Society's meetings. It was used for social meetings as well. One resident of Zephyrhills remembers enjoying the frequent dances held there. Probably before Reverend or Pastor Nutting arrived to build his last Little Brown Church, the colonists held church services there.

Other very interesting people who were residents were: Mr. Oldham, storekeeper; L. L. Holford, at one time (1916) Treasurer; A. B. Hawke, Sec.; J. B. Mercer, Manager and Treasurer; and R. K. Burke. All of the men who signed receipts as treasurer or manager were excellent penmen. Mr. Mercer signed his name with a flourish reminiscent of the penmanship of the former century.

Mr. Billings, a man of small stature and scholarly appearance was a violin maker. Violinists from the entire area visited his shop for repairs, tuning, and his conversation. Mr. Parks was a 95-year-old resident with young eyes. He bought and sold scrap iron during the war effort, roving far afield driving his car and visiting with his customers. He read and drove without glasses and was well informed.

Some residents moved themselves to Zephyrhills seeking higher land or influenced visitors to settle in one or the other of the two neighbor colonies. Coming from Crystal Springs to Zephyrhills was Victor Johnson's father, mother, sister and Victor. He had come from England to Crystal Springs and then to Zephyrhills. An older brother of James Lair was a resident of Crystal Springs. When James and Ruby Lair came as bride and groom, they also bought land in Crystal Springs and grew strawberries. When farming did not prove profitable they moved to Zephyrhills and opened a small drygoods store.

A Century Later, The World Knocks

By NICOLA M. WHITE

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - Where Central Avenue dead-ends, this small community looks like it has for generations: tall oaks and pines, dirt roads, a barn-style roller rink with smooth Tennessee maple floors.

But look at a Pasco County planning map, and you'll see how the landscape is changing. Thousands of houses - and people - soon could close in on this former socialist colony.

To the west, a mini-city of 7,000 houses is planned. Other projects to the west and north will add more than 2,500 units. Slowly, suburbanization will creep around this rural community in southeast Pasco, where the springs that supply Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water flow.

Home prices in Hillsborough County have fueled a hot housing market in Pasco. Until recently, rural east Pasco - long a haven for middle-class retirees - stayed under the radar. Southeast Pasco wasn't even a blip.

Developers ignored the Crystal Springs area, which seemed too out of the way for commuters.

Not anymore.

Tucked just south of Zephyrhills, near the Pasco-Hillsborough county line, most of the community sits west of State Road 39. For motorists heading south toward Interstate 4, Crystal Springs slides by the passenger-side window: a few small houses, a church, a carny selling elephant ears from a roadside stand, a Circle K gas station, an ancient sign advertising the roller rink.

Most of the community lies beyond that fleeting glimpse, in a network of modest mobile homes and dead-end dirt roads.

"We're just one little town trying to survive," said Betty Giles, 82, a Crystal Springs native whose grandmother was among the original socialist settlers.

Residents worry that Crystal Springs, which is not incorporated, could be overwhelmed by development. Growth from Zephyrhills to the north, unincorporated Pasco County to the west and the Plant City area in Hillsborough County to the south is expected to bring about 9,500 homes.

A planned development that would be built at an old dairy farm would front Crystal Springs Road, one of two paved roads that wind through the community and pass the springs.

As their cars kick up dust on their way to S.R. 39 or Chancey Road, the main routes leading to Tampa, newcomers will see aging double-wides and concrete block houses - places valued at less than half or a third of what the new houses will go for.

But they won't see the rich, complicated past of this almost forgotten piece of Old Florida. In Crystal Springs, there's not a library or museum to preserve the history, which lives almost entirely through longtime residents.

The Spirit Of Cooperation

At the turn of the century, idealists from the North thought they could find utopia in Florida, buy virgin land cheaply and farm side-by-side.

Some went to Ruskin, a socialist community in south Hillsborough County.

In the early 1900s, an overflow of Ruskin settlers headed north. The group grew and in 1911, as the Commongood Society, they founded Crystal Springs. It was official the next year.

The settlers drew up plans for a town square, bathed in the springs, grew sweet potatoes, strawberries and a "miracle vegetable" called dasheen, a root vegetable similar to the potato and also known as taro. They split the profits from the harvest.

"Everyone had a deed," Giles said.

That worked for a while.

Many settlers were urbanites drawn to the idea of rural life, but they weren't wholly successful living it.

After 100 families had moved to the area, the founder of the community, A.B. Hawk of Toledo, Ohio, was supposed to give over control to the residents. He didn't.

Disputes about property rights split the community. Arguments broke out at Commongood meetings. Some people moved away.

In 1927, Hawk sold part of the land to a New York financier, causing more uproar. Much of the controversy centered on who owned the springs, the heart of the community.

Generations later, a similar fight would erupt, further separating the community from its roots.

By most accounts, Crystal Springs' socialist experiment had failed by the late 1920s. The vegetables didn't bring in enough money. The town square never materialized.

Still, the spirit of cooperation lived on. Much of the community's social life revolved around the Crystal Springs Community Association hall, where residents held meetings, attended school and danced to a player piano.

In many ways, that communal spirit lingers today.

Residents still participate in association meetings, voting on when they should clean up the community cemetery or how much they should spend on a Wal-Mart gift card for a needy family.

They also deal with a problem common to many isolated, rural communities: methamphetamine. Every month, a Pasco County sheriff's deputy briefs the community association on crime statistics. At recent meetings, he has urged forming a neighborhood watch and talked about how to spot meth labs.

The crime talk contrasts with the hall itself, rebuilt in 1982 and decorated with homemade floral curtains and sepia photos of past members. A yellowed front page from a 1918 edition of The Crystal Springs Colonist hangs on the wall. The paper boasts of open land and "our springs."

"Through the competitive system, success is too often merely a monument to superior cunning, skillful deceit and conscienceless oppression," the newspaper reads. "We stand for true success - the kind where cash dividends are accompanied by health and happiness - mentally, morally and physically."

Lofty goals.

Such idealism likely will retreat further when big-box stores and subdivisions surround Crystal Springs.

The Springs

Over the years, attendance at the association's monthly meetings has dwindled. Of the estimated 1,175 people who live in the community, 39 belong to the group. About 15 show up regularly.

"A lot of people don't know we're here," said Cindie Cornelius, 50, past president of the association.

Cornelius grew up in upstate New York but made Crystal Springs her home 19 years ago after her husband, Ron, became the postmaster. She was drawn to the open spaces for her horses.

Cornelius became involved in community affairs, serving as the association's president for seven years.

She's not sure she likes the changes she's seeing now.

"I don't think there's enough services, enough shopping. There's not enough schools, that's for sure," she said. "And where are we going to get the water?"

Part of Crystal Springs' identity slipped away 10 years ago when the popular swimming hole at the springs closed, many say.

The springs have been the source for Zephyrhills bottled water for years. In 1996, the owner, Thonotosassa rancher Robert Thomas, allowed Nestlé to pump more water. Then he closed the springs to the public.

The prolonged fight drew national headlines and scarred the community. Even today, many don't want to talk about "the water wars."

They do talk about the impending growth.

Development has been the hot topic at Crystal Springs meetings for months.

The questions are typical for any place bracing for growth: What's going to happen to our roads? What about the schools?

Though newcomers - and cars - will increase the need for services in southeast Pasco, some current residents are skeptical that their needs - such as paved roads - will be met.

"We're going to be ignored again," Judy Wagner, 42, who has been lobbying the county to pave her street, said at an association meeting.

The Cemetery

One of the community's many dusty roads leads to Crystal Springs' dead.

The original settlers set aside land so community members could be buried free. Residents still are.

To visit, go to the post office on S.R. 39 and ask the postmaster for the key. Then travel down a dirt road shaded by pine trees and you'll come to a locked gate, beyond which lies the cemetery.

In late summer, bugs bite at visitors' bare ankles. Dry earth crunches underfoot.

But people come here - to visit relatives, lay fresh flowers and maintain the grounds.

On a recent visit, Cornelius brushed aside long grass hiding gravestones. She and other community association members regularly clean up. Vandals, who break in to drink beer and party, leave behind trash and sometimes topple gravestones.

"When we cleaned, we found markers in the woods," she said.

No one is sure how many people are buried here. The Hillsborough River trickles through the woods nearby.

Soon, the back yards of 325 families in the planned Hidden River subdivision could encroach on the woods, the river and this quiet place.

Hidden River is one of the smallest of the subdivisions that would encircle Crystal Springs. Plans for Two Rivers Ranch, west of the community on the west side of U.S. 301, call for 7,000 houses.

Cedar Crest Village, part of Rucks Dairy at S.R. 39 and Tucker Road, will bring about 778 luxury apartments and a shopping center. Its residents, expected to be young professionals who work in Tampa, will commute along S.R. 39 - past Crystal Springs.

The Roller Rink

On a recent Friday night, kids lined up outside Crystal Springs Roller Rink, a community institution since 1939.

It's at the west end of Central Avenue - the part where the asphalt ends and gravel and dirt begin.

Here, moms who slipped on the rink's white suede rental skates as children pull up in minivans and SUVs to drop off their children, who do the same.

The rink is far from fancy: There's no air conditioning, no heat, no rock or pop music.

"I wasn't born with no air conditioning," said owner Truman Rooks, 75.

Beginners make their way around on spindly legs. Older kids glide by on their own inline skates. This night, Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" whines over the stereo system.

Spring Becker, 33, who grew up skating on Friday and Saturday nights, sticks around to watch her children.

"Nothing's changed," she said of the dimly lit rink and the community she grew up in.

But she knows it will. Soon.

"I would rather my children grow up in a small community where we knew everybody rather than it be so crowded," she said. "I don't want to look out my window and, you know, see house after house after house."

CRYSTAL SPRINGS

Population: 1,175 Racial makeup: 93.6 percent white 5.4 percent Hispanic 0.6 percent black 0.7 percent American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1 percent Asian Median age: 36.5 Median household income: $42,578 Median home value: $68,800 Percentage of mobile homes: 59.8 Average price of houses being built in nearby Zephyrhills: $180,000 to $350,000 Estimated housing units to be built nearby: 9,500 Sources: 2000 U.S. Census, Zephyrhills city records

A New Town (1912)

The following article appeared in the Miami Herald Record on June 20, 1912.

Crystal Springs is the name of a new town which is being established at the southern edge of Pasco county, on the Seaboard Air Line railway, about midway between Plant City and Dade City. Several thousand acres of the surrounding lands have been laid out in ten-acre farm tracts, of which several hundred have already been purchased by colonists from the north. A number of Florida people are also said to be buying allotments on this location. Already a village of more than thirty dwellings has been established.

Other Notes

Crystal Springs Colony was founded in 1911 as a socialist enclave, where property was shared and collective enterprise was established for the common good. Central to colony life were the springs, prized as much for their aesthetic value as for physical and economic sustenance. In 1916, some of the colony's investors, needing to pay off some debts, formed the Crystal Springs Colony Corporation. Claiming to represent the town, they seized ownership of the spring in 1925 and sold it without the community's permission. A tactical change of venue to federal courts across the state proved prohibitive for the strapped colonists, who ultimately dropped the case. The controversial transfer of ownership under these conditions has given springs supporters ammunition to argue that ownership of the springs should revert to heirs of the original colonists.

More on the history of Crystal Springs is at http://saveoursprings.com/history.htm.