Marion S. Whaley Citrus Packing House Explained

Marion S. Whaley Citrus Packing House
Location:2275 South US Highway 1
Rockledge, Florida
Coordinates:28.3128°N -80.7103°W
Built:1930
Architecture:Vernacular, Frame
Added:April 08, 1993
Delisted:January 26, 2021
Refnum:93000286

The Marion S. Whaley Citrus Packing House (also known as the Sullivan Brothers Victory Groves Citrus Packing House) was a historic site in Rockledge, Florida. It is located at 2275 U.S. 1. On April 8, 1993, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

History

The structure was first built in 1928 as the Whaley Packing House, by the Whaley family. It would be renamed the Whaley Victory Groves Packing House after World War 2, which it would keep until it was sold in 1960. That year, it was purchased by the Sullivan family, whose previous packing house in what is now Cocoa Village burned down the previous year. They would rename it to the Sullivan Victory Groves Packing House, and were responsible for expanding the building several times. Business would decline from a variety of factors including the loss of orange groves to NASA land purchases, Citrus canker outbreaks, and abnormally low temperatures, leading to the packing house to close for good in 1991. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 8, 1993, and would later be sold for $749,000 in 1998. The property would be seized the bank in 2001, and shortly thereafter sold to Redi LLC who failed to find any buyers for the property. Demolition began on July 16, 2020, 2 years after Rockledge, Florida city inspectors declared the building unsafe.[1] It was removed from the National Register in 2021.[2]

References and external links

Notes and References

  1. News: Walters. Tim. July 29, 2020. History demolished: Old Victory Groves building is no more. Florida Today. February 1, 2020.
  2. Web site: Weekly List 2021 01 29 - National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service).