Swedish Pioneer Memorial

Swedish Pioneer Memorial. Barberville Pioneer Settlement. , During the post Civil Was era, numerous Swedish people came from northern states and directly from Sweden to settle and help develop the still largely wilderness area of central Florida., In 1868, John A. Bostrom, a native of Sweden’s Island Province of Gotland, became the first permanent settler in what today is the City of Ormond Beach., For Bostrom’s original pioneering, unselfish aid to others coming to the area, leadership in chartering the city and early mayoral service, he is today recognized as the founder of the City of Ormond Beach. Bostrom is also credited for his innovative growing techniques as a pioneer in Florida’s early commercial orange production., Peter Pierson in 1876 together with family members and other Swedes, established what today is the Town of Pierson, first called “Piersonville”as a railroad stop. This group also laid the foundation for the fern industry which later led to Pierson’s recognition as the ”Fern Capital of the World.”, Beginning in May 1871, the first of three waves of recruited workers arrived from Sweden to aid Henry Sanford’s initiation of Central Florida’s citrus industry and subsequently build the town of “New Upsala.” Today within the City of Sanford. Posthumously Henry Sanford and Swede Carl L. Vihlen were acknowledged by the Florida Citrus Mutual for their efforts in developing the Valencia orange in Florida., When the so called “Big Freeze” of the mid-1890’s ended much of the “Orange Fever” in the area, the Swedes began growing celery: helping to make Sanford the “Celery Capital of America.” From the growing new Upsala Colony, groups of Swedes soon moved on to help contribute significantly to the building of nearby Apopka, Lake Mary, Oviedo, Maitland and Forrest City.