Editing Center Hill, Florida (section)

===Agricultural heyday===
According to Broward Mill, the past president of the Sumter County Historical Society, Center Hill was known for its [[string bean]] production in the early part of the 20th century.<ref name="Soil Survey">{{cite book |author=United States Department of Agriculture |author-link=United States Department of Agriculture |title=Soil Survey of Sumter County, Florida |publisher=[[Soil Conservation Service]] |year=1988 |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |pages=2, 3 |url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00025741/00001/ |access-date=Apr 20, 2014}}</ref> In 1931, Center Hill shipped green beans, green peas, and lima beans to [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]], [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[New York City, New York|New York City]], [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], and [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Florida Department of Agriculture |author-link=Florida Department of Agriculture |title=From Field to Market With Florida Vegetables and Citrus Fruits |publisher= [[Florida Department of Agriculture]] |date=May 1, 1931 |location=[[Tallahassee, Florida]] |pages=8, 38, 100 |url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00002928/00001/8?search=center+hill |access-date=Apr 10, 2014}}</ref> Beginning in the mid-1930s, Center Hill's soil fertility declined. Local bean farmers blamed a decrease in the water table. They believed that the creation of the Jumper Creek Drainage District, which the local circuit court formed in 1922 to reclaim about 24,600 acres by draining water from Jumper Creek into Jumper Lake and the [[Withlacoochee River (Florida)|Withlacoochee River]], deprived them of water and forced them to irrigate large fields. By 1975, bean production was virtually nonexistent, and the population decreased from a peak of 1,500 people to 37 in 1970.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rose |first=G. Norman |title=Snap Bean Production in Florida: A Historic Data Series |publisher=[[University of Florida]] |edition=Economics Report 74 |date=Dec 1975 |location=[[Gainesville, Florida]] |pages=22–24, 62 |url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00027733/00001/36j?search=center+hill |access-date=Apr 10, 2014}}</ref> In 1988, area farmers still sent their [[bell peppers]], cucumbers, [[Squash (vegetable)|squash]], tomatoes, and watermelons to Center Hill for packing and shipping.<ref name="Soil Survey"/>