Valrico

What's in a name

Valrico, Spanish for ''rich valley,'' gained its name from a Tufts professor when he moved there in 1880.

By MICHELLE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 28, 2003

Before the Civil War, Valrico was called Long Pond, and cotton plantations were said to have existed nearby.

Long Pond, or Lake Hunter, as some refer to the 55-acre gourd-shaped lake, is located north of State Road 60, south of Wheeler Road and west of Valrico Road.

When William G. Tousey came to the area in 1880, the landscape orange groves and pine tree forests dotted the landscape. A professor of psychology at Tufts College in Boston, Tousey purchased property so he could live there part of each year. He was so impressed with the landscape he named it Valrico, the Spanish word for " rich valley."

For years, logging operations used horse-drawn wagons to carry pines to the Alafia River, where the logs were sent downstream to Tampa Bay.

In 1890 Tousey and others built streets, constructed a post office and opened businesses. There was a railroad depot, bank and retail stores. By 1915 a horse and buggy mail route was established.

Today, Valrico has a post office, a bank, retail stores, a golf course and many homes where orange groves and pine forrests once flourished.

Before World War II, there were two major packing houses: Fugazzi, an Ohio-based firm and the Florida Citrus Exchange. Local clay was used in making bricks, and Valrico bricks were used in 1916 to construct the large civic building on Fifth Street, north of State Road 60, which is still used today by the Village Players.

In the early 1920s, the late W.F. Miller deeded a triangular park at Front and Main streets to the community. The original post office and general store were built in the early 1900s. Today the heart of Valrico is a mile south of the park.