Polk County FlArchives Biographies.....Carter, Henry B. November 7, 1871 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Nancy Rayburn Naev@earthlink.net May 7, 2007, 2:42 am

Author: The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. II p.275  1923

     CARTER, HENRY BASCOM passed through the early stages of his business 
career in Georgia.  While there he acquired an extensive experience and an 
increasing field of operations in timber lands, lumber manufacturing, 
turpentine production and naval stores, and these interests eventually brought 
him to Florida.  For many years his headquarters have been in Polk County at 
Lakeland, and he has also acquired orange groves and among other interests is 
proprietor of the Thelma Hotel of Lakeland and director of the First National 
Bank.
     Mr. CARTER was born in Robeson County, North Carolina, November 7, 1871.  
When he was only six months old he was left an orphan, and subsequently was 
bound out and reared in the home of Doctor Edmons at Lumberton, North 
Carolina, until he was about seventeen years old.  He had to work as a means 
of getting an education, and the unusual success he has achieved has been the 
direct product of his energy, ambition and initiative, manifested even when a 
boy.
     On going to Georgia he found work around lumber and turpentine plants, 
doing common labor, but using his keen mind and observation to get an intimate 
knowledge of the practical details of the business.  In time he was operating 
a plant of his own, and developed an increasing business in turpentine 
production at several points in Georgia.  Gradually his operations extended 
over that state and also Florida and Alabama.  On coming to Polk County, 
Florida, Mr. CARTER  bought a tract of about 80,000 acres of land.  At one 
time he increased his holdings here to 120,000 acres in Polk County.  A great 
part of this area was timber land, and Mr. CARTER established mills and 
factories for working up these raw resources.  His business enterprise has 
been one of the contributing factors to the industrial prosperity of the 
county.  Mr. CARTER in 1906 located his home at Lakeland, and has in many ways 
been identified with the upbuilding of that city, erecting a residence of his 
own and several other buildings.  Some years ago he bought the Kipler Hotel, 
and subsequently renamed it the Thelma Hotel in honor of his daughter.  He 
still owns and operates this high-class, fireproof hotel, with 120 rooms, one 
of the best hotels in this section of the state.  His ownership extends to 
other real estate in Lakeland and to several valuable orange groves.  He is 
interested in property in Saint Petersburg, Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa, and 
is president of the Carter-Richey Company, dry goods merchants at Tampa, and 
owns an office building in Miami.


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