Biography of Vet L. Brown, Bartow, Polk County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
II, page 306, 1923.

BROWN, VET L. has been prominently identified with the development of Polk County and 
adjacent sections of Florida.  He has influenced the settlement of hundreds of families 
in the state and consequently the investment of many thousands of dollars in land here.  
Mr. BROWN is vice president and manager of the Lake Garfield Nursery Company at Bartow.

He was born in Summit Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, three miles from Linesville 
and three miles from Conneaut Lake, on May 9, 1869, second of the three sons of W. BARRETT 
and ELIZA JANE (SHOTWELL) BROWN.  His parents were also natives of Crawford County and are 
now deceased.

Mr. BROWN spent his boyhood days in Crawford County, attended school there, and at the age 
of fifteen began selling nursery stock.  His experience in the nursery business covers a 
long period of years.  About 1900 he engaged in the real estate business at Pittsburgh, and 
for five years, while still maintaining his headquarters at Pittsburgh, made periodic trips 
to Florida bringing prospective settlers and investors.  His organization was the means of 
bringing over three thousand people to Bartow, a large part of whom became either investors 
or permanent settlers.  One result of this was the development of 6,000 acres, mostly planted 
to citrus fruit.

Mr. BROWN in May, 1915, organized the Lake Garfield Nursery Company, and this company not 
only conducts a nursery for the propagation of citrus and other fruits, but has 1,000 acres 
planted to groves.  Through Mr. BROWN's personal efforts a total of over four hundred people 
have bought more than 14,000 acres, largely in Polk County, and thus Mr. BROWN has been a 
most useful factor in developing this section of country during the past twelve years.  He 
has had his home at Bartow since 1916.

May 18, 1907, he married Miss JUNE RANKIN, of Linesville, Pennsylvania.  He is a member of 
the Polk County Citrus and Agricultural Growers Protective Association, is a member of the 
Kiwanis Club, president of the Bartow Chamber of Commerce, and is thoroughly public spirited 
in his attitude toward all civic and material improvements in this section of Florida.