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Clewiston,through time.

5 eras · 1915–2026 · every fact sourced · compiled from the sources shown, not yet reviewed by a historian

Start in 1915
Populationfrom 1990

—

Lakeshore farms and a planned town

1915–1925: Lakeshore farms and a planned town

Era 1 · 1915–1925

Lakeshore farms and a planned town

The earliest settlement in the Clewiston area was made in 1915 by a dozen Japanese farmers from California on the ridge along Lake Okeechobee, at a time of few roads and no railroads. In 1920 John and Marian O'Brien, backed by Alonzo C. Clewis, founded Clewiston and hired city planner John Nolen to lay it out; their first goal was a railroad, and the Moore Haven and Clewiston Railway carried its first passengers in 1921.

Image shown for this era: Black-and-white 1921 photo of the tomato crop being moved by rail on the Moore Haven and Clewiston Railway, the line built to serve the new town of Clewiston.. 1921 · State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (N048843), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Japanese farmers clear the lakeshore ridge

    A dozen Japanese farmers from California made the earliest settlement in the Clewiston area, clearing land on the ridge along Lake Okeechobee.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. John J. and Marian O'Brien start Clewiston

    Clewiston was started in 1920 by John J. and Marian Horwitz O'Brien, who had developed nearby Moore Haven. Tampa banker Alonzo C. Clewis backed the venture, and the town was named after him.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. First passenger train reaches Clewiston

    Ground was broken for the Moore Haven and Clewiston Railway in 1920, and the first passenger train arrived on Labor Day 1921. The line became part of the Atlantic Coast Line.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
3 more from this era

  1. Clewiston's first school

    Lee County agreed to provide a teacher if the community built a schoolhouse. A one-room wood-frame school opened on Avenida del Rio with sixteen pupils.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Clewiston gets a post office

    A post office was established in Clewiston on February 24, 1922.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. The O'Briens leave Clewiston

    Hostility toward the founding couple, including shots fired into their home and its burning, led John and Marian O'Brien to leave for Palm Beach. Other investors went on to rescue the town.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  3. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  4. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Lakeshore farms and a planned town

Era 2 · 1926–1930

Celotex, Southern Sugar and the storms

Investors led by Bror G. Dahlberg of the Celotex Corporation formed the Southern Sugar Company, built the first Clewiston Inn in 1926 and opened the town's first sugar mill in 1929. The hurricanes of 1926 and 1928 nearly destroyed the town, and Southern Sugar went into receivership in 1930.

Image shown for this era: Black-and-white map printed in a 1926 book on the hurricane, showing the young town of Clewiston on Lake Okeechobee's southwest shore with the rail line to Moore Haven, and La Belle to the west.. 1926 · Joseph Hugh Reese, Florida's Great Hurricane (1926), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. First Clewiston Inn built

    The Southern Sugar Company built a large hotel on the lakeshore ridge, made of its own Celotex products. It was the largest hotel in the region until it burned.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Clewiston Grammar School opens

    The new grammar school, designed by local architect James L. Catling on the site set aside in John Nolen's town plan, opened with 76 pupils.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Historic Schools, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. First sugar mill opens

    A sugar mill bought from the defunct Pennsylvania Sugar Company was moved to Clewiston in 1927, and the town's first sugar mill officially opened in 1929.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
1 more from this era

  1. Post office and telephone building completed

    The first Clewiston post office building on Bond Street was completed, housing both the post office and the Clewiston Telephone Company's exchange.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: First Clewiston Post Office, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Visiting Hendry County, Florida, VISIT FLORIDA (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Celotex, Southern Sugar and the storms

Era 3 · 1931–1945

U.S. Sugar and the war years

In 1931 Charles Stewart Mott bought Southern Sugar's assets and formed the United States Sugar Corporation, under which the town's sugar industry flourished. The new Clewiston Inn became the town's social center, and during World War II British cadets trained at nearby Riddle Field.

Image shown for this era: Color photo from summer 1941 of four British air cadets leaping over a tennis net during a break from flight training at Clewiston.. 1941 · Official photographer, Ministry of Information Second World War Colour Transparency Collection (Imperial War Museum TR 90), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. United States Sugar Corporation founded

    Charles Stewart Mott bought the assets of the failed Southern Sugar Corporation in Clewiston and renamed it the United States Sugar Corporation.

    Source

    1. Our History and Legacy, U.S. Sugar (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Fire destroys the first Clewiston Inn

    The original Celotex-built hotel burned in under an hour, leaving the town without a hotel. Within two months U.S. Sugar was planning a replacement.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)

  3. New Clewiston Inn opens

    U.S. Sugar's fireproof new inn, designed by L. Phillips Clarke and Edgar S. Wortman of West Palm Beach, opened and became the town's social center.

    Source

    1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
1 more from this era

  1. Riddle Field opens west of town

    No. 5 British Flying Training School opened at Riddle Field, where more than 1,300 British cadets learned to fly during World War II.

    Source

    1. Riddle Field, Museum of Florida History (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Clewiston Inn, National Park Service (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Riddle Field, Museum of Florida History (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: U.S. Sugar and the war years

Era 4 · 1946–1983

Cane, citrus and the Hoover Dike

Citrus, cattle and winter vegetables grew alongside sugar in the 1950s and 1960s. Flooding after hurricanes in 1947 led to the lake levee being expanded, and it was dedicated as the Herbert Hoover Dike at a ceremony in Clewiston in 1961.

Image shown for this era: Herbert Hoover speaking at a microphone at the 1961 Herbert Hoover Dike dedication in Clewiston. 1961 · State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory (floridamemory.com/items/show/40594), via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

Key moments

  1. Herbert Hoover Dike dedicated in Clewiston

    Former President Herbert Hoover spoke at the ceremony in Clewiston dedicating the expanded Lake Okeechobee levee named in his honor.

    Source

    1. Effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida, Wikipedia (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. Clewiston, Southwest Florida Travel (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. Effects of the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane in Florida, Wikipedia (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: Cane, citrus and the Hoover Dike

Era 5 · 1984–2026

America's Sweetest Town today

The Clewiston Museum opened in 1984 to keep the history of the town and the sugar, cattle and fishing industries. A $1.5 billion repair of the Herbert Hoover Dike that began in 2005 was completed with a ceremony on the lakeshore in Clewiston in 2023, and sugar remains the town's largest industry.

Image shown for this era: Sign at the headquarters of the United States Sugar Corporation in Clewiston, 2018. 2018 · Yanjipy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · Source

Key moments

  1. Clewiston Museum established

    The Clewiston Museum opened to share the history of the Hendry and Glades area, from fossils and Seminole history to sugar, cattle and Riddle Field.

    Source

    1. About Clewiston Museum, Clewiston Museum (accessed 2026-11-09)

  2. Dike repair completed with ceremony in Clewiston

    The Army Corps of Engineers marked the completion of the Herbert Hoover Dike rehabilitation, under way since 2005, at a ribbon-cutting in Clewiston.

    Source

    1. USACE celebrates completion of the Herbert Hoover Dike Restoration Project, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District (DVIDS) (accessed 2026-11-09)

Sources

  1. About Clewiston Museum, Clewiston Museum (accessed 2026-11-09)
  2. After 18 years, $1.5B dike repair done at Florida's Lake O, WLRN / Associated Press (accessed 2026-11-09)
  3. Clewiston, Southwest Florida Travel (accessed 2026-11-09)
Correct this era: America's Sweetest Town today

Then & Now

Clewiston, 1920 to 2026

John J. and Marian O'Brien start Clewiston · drag to compare

Linen postcard of the Clewiston Inn: a two-story building with a white-columned portico and red tile roof behind a lawn and curving drive, framed by trees under a pastel sky.
U.S. 27, Clewiston's main commercial street, at W. C. Owen Avenue in September 2024: royal palms along the roadside, traffic lights, a pickup towing a boat and a hotel at right under a bright blue sky with white clouds.
19202026

Then image1940 · Tichnor Brothers postcard, Boston Public Library, Print Department (Tichnor Brothers Collection), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY · Source

Now image2024 · cubanoboi @ Mapillary, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA · Source

Help us get it right

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This timeline is compiled from the public records cited on each era and event. Every quote is checked against its source automatically, and items marked Reviewed have also been checked by a person. Images are public domain or openly licensed, each with its credit. If you know something we’ve missed or got wrong, or you hold records of your own, we’d like to hear from you.

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