WG Roe and Sons officially started in 1926. But its origins go much farther back to a time when Seaboard Air Line Railroad built the original WG Roe packaging house and about 100 others in exchange for the fast-becoming lucrative citrus shipping business. WG Roe, a former provider of ice to New York’s produce markets (Roe cut the ice from the frozen Hudson River), expanded his tangerine empire rapidly from there.
BTW, trains called themselves “Air Lines” back then to denote a route that was “as straight as the crow flies.”
Listen to a fascinating story, as told by now WG Roe & Sons/Noble Citrus president, Quentin Roe. Quentin, third generation grower, was interviewed by Kathy Worthington Decker, president of the WInter Haven Chamber.
You can hear the 40-minute podcast, called: “Episode 51 – Freeze, Disease & Tangerine Trees” here.
