CHIPCO TOWNSHIP

The former town of Chipco was located here, less than six miles west of the former site of Fort Dade #2, built in 1849 during the Seminole War era. The town rose to prominence after the Civil War as an economic center. It was named in honor of Chief Chipco, a Seminole leader and uncle of Chief Tallahassee, whose band traded in the Tampa and Fort Dade area. Chief Chipco was an opponent of the Third Seminole War and later became known as a "friend of the whites." The town of Chipco boasted a cotton gin and press, as well as grist and planing mills, built in 1874-75. In 1877, a frame schoolhouse was built, which doubled as a church on Sundays. There was a post office and a thriving general store that supplied goods to local farmers. In 1887, a station for the Orange Belt Railway was built and began operating as Chipco Train Station #21. The town likely declined due to multiple factors. The Great Freeze of 1895 killed many citrus groves, and the exhaustion of the virgin pine forests negatively impacted the area’s lumber and turpentine industry. The Chipco school continued to operate until 1901. By 1909, the town had disappeared from most maps.