John A. Snively

Who was John A. Snively?

John Andrew Snively was a pioneering citrus grower in Florida and Georgia, USA. At his height, his companies were responsible for one-third of the Florida citrus crop.

Snively was born in Schellsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Frank B. Snively and Laura Irvin Snively. In 1910, at age 21, he moved to Winter Haven, Florida and began working as a fertilizer salesman. A few years later, just before the Florida land boom of the 1920s, Snively bought his first grove. It was a 10-acre site near Lake Eloise in Winter Haven. Through hard work and thrift, he managed to expand his grove operations. In 1934, he established the Polk Packing Company, which later became Snively Groves Inc. His company was the largest fruit packing and canning company in the United States in the 1930s, which employed over 1,500 people, and was the largest business in Winter Haven at the time.

With the out break of World War II, the citrus industry boomed. The demand for canned and packaged citrus fruit from the United States and other Allied Nations greatly exceeded growers ability to supply the fruit. The Allies were willing to purchase all of the canned fruit that could be produced of any quality and at any price. Citrus prices skyrocketed, and Snively Groves Inc experienced massive growth.