Willow, Florida facts for kids

Railroad bridge near Willow

Willow is a ghost town in Manatee County, Florida, United States. A ghost town is a place where people used to live and work, but now it's mostly empty. Willow was once a busy lumber town.

Building a Lumber Town

In the early 1920s, a large lumber mill was built in Willow. This was done by the McGowin-Foshee Lumber Company from Alabama. They rented a huge area of land, about 54,000 acres, just for cutting down trees.

Later, in 1926, a family named Robbins bought the mill. They also bought 40,000 acres of forest land. This land stretched south to where State Road 70 is today.

Life in Willow

Willow was a busy place. It had a sawmill to cut wood and a planer mill to smooth it. There was also a special place to make turpentine from pine trees. The town had a general store, called the commissary, where people could buy things.

About 75 to 80 houses were built for the workers. Each house even had a small garden plot. There was a gas station, a post office, and a train station with a water tower. The town also had a church and a school.

A small railroad ran through Willow. It had three engines and about 30 logging cars. These cars were used to carry logs but had no brakes! At its busiest, the mill could cut 50,000 board feet of lumber every day. About 250 people worked there.

Workers were paid with special tokens called scrips. These scrips could only be spent at the town's general store. Willow had different areas for white and black residents. White children went to school in a town called Wimauma, while black children went to the school right in Willow.

Why Willow Became a Ghost Town

Willow's success didn't last forever. The Great Depression hit in the late 1920s. This was a time when many people lost their jobs and money. The price of lumber dropped a lot.

Because of this, the lumber business moved to Tampa in 1937. When the mill closed, most people left Willow. The town slowly became empty, turning into a ghost town.

What's Left Today?

Even though Willow is mostly empty, some things still remain. A large steam engine from the old sawmill is now on display in Tampa.

A railroad bridge built in 1913 still stands over the Little Manatee River. This bridge was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company. It needs a lot of repairs to be used again. Some of the train tracks leading to it have been removed.

You can also see the bare foundations of some of the old buildings. These are like the concrete bases where buildings used to stand.

The Railroad Museum at Willow

Today, a railroad spur (a short track) goes east from the main line to a Florida Power & Light Company plant. CSX Transportation still uses this track for trains.

Since 2009, the Florida Railroad Museum has been growing its facilities in Willow. They do restoration and repair work there. The museum has built a new train station at Willow. They have also put up a fence and security cameras around their buildings.

On weekends, some museum volunteers stay overnight in old passenger train cars. This lets them work at the museum for the whole weekend.