How did Valrico get its name?
How did a city that’s name sounds like it has a Spanish background, but has loads of southern charm get its name from a northern man?
There's also no other town quite like it, it is unique. Valrico is one of a kind, and it’s the only community with that name in the entire country.
Valrico began as a region of cotton plantations before the Civil War. The area surrounding what is now Valrico Lake was first known as "Long Pond". Thus Valrico area was known as Long Pond.
The arrival of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad in 1890 brought many new immigrants from points north. William Tousey, a philosophy professor from Tufts College, gave the community its current name, Spanish for "rich valley", even though there's really no valley here.
When the railroad was completed in 1890, Valrico was "on the map" with a railroad depot and a post office. Professor Tousey and others platted streets and businesses opened, and the community experienced the dreams and promises Florida communities have experienced during "boom times" from that day until the present.
Valrico boasted retail stores and a bank, and even had a golf course laid out in its plans. The freeze of 1895 put an end to some of those dreams, and time took its toll of others. Between 1910 and 1914, investors again initiated a new period of development for Valrico. Promotion and improvement of the land along the Hopewell Road (SR 60) as a fashionable agriculturally oriented rural development. In 1914, the plat of the town set on a modified grid plan to the north and east of the Seaboard Atlantic Line tracks, was filed. Nurseries, Dairies and lumbering, with its saw mills and turpentine stills were among the busiest business endeavors. The successful development of this little community was once again going strong. Development plans included a dance pavilion and a golf course. Residents raised the monies to build a civic center known as the Improvement Association in 1914.
By 1915, the government had established a rural mail route, the mail being carried by the popular horse and buggy. The area around Valrico Lake was most noted for its citrus. Two major packing houses, Fugazzi, a Cincinnati-based firm and the Florida Citrus Exchange, handled most of the citrus harvest in the pre-World War II era. Local clay was used in making bricks, and Valrico brick was used in 1916 to construct the bank building and the large civic building, which still is in use today as the home of the Village Players Theatrical Company.
Little other than its natural beauty, the original street arrangement and the groves survive today to reflect the historic character of the community. Current day, Valrico is a bedroom community approximately 17 miles E. of Tampa, FL.
Valrico is bordered by Brandon, Lithia, and Durant. This entire area is a great family oriented area. Valrico has a large variety of homes from condos, townhouses and single family residences. It also offers gated communities such as Riverhills, Twin Lakes, and Canterbury Oaks, to name a few.
Valrico is growing today. Many new subdivisions have been built and completed in the last several years. The surrounding areas of Brandon, Lithia, and Durant have also been growing. New developments have been built in the Bloomingdale area around the Bloomingdale Golf Course. Traveling south is the subdivisions of FishHawk Trails, and FishHawk Ranch located in Lithia. The growth in Valrico has been fueled by homeowners looking for affordable single family housing. The future of Valrico has never looked brighter.
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