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Florida: Physical Facts

Know Florida

Circa 1935

Total area of State, square miles	58,666
Total land area, square miles	54,861
Total water area, square miles	3,805
Land area of State, in acres	35,111,040
All land in farms in acres	5,940,229
Number of farms	60,000
Acres of land assessed for taxation	33,909,483
Mileage of public highway	9,200
Mileage of railroad	7,500
Number of counties	67
Number of public schools	2,643
Number of voting precincts in the State	1,101
Maximum elevation of State above sea level, feet	324.3
Average rainfall per annum for past 33 years	52.4
Annual normal temperature	70.8

Florida has more sunshine in winter and less in summer than the Northern States. In Florida the shortest day in the year is only about three hours shorter than the longest day, but along the northern border of the United States there is a difference of nearly eight hours. This, in part, accounts for the mildness of Florida winters and the coolness of Florida summers. The Gulf Stream brushes the southeastern shore of the State and also modifies the climate.

Florida has the oldest permanent white settlement in the United States. It is the last State of the Union to be developed.

It has 35,000,000 acres; 2,841,600 acres are in water.

It lies between 24°30' and 31° North latitude, and 79°48' and 87°38' West longitude.

It has over a thousand miles of coast line.

Its rainfall is fifty-six inches—nearly five feet.

It is the largest State east of the Mississippi River except Georgia. It is equal in area to Maine, Vermont. Connecticut and Rhode Island—four times as large as Holland.

Its elevation is from tidewater to over three hundred feet.

Its mean annual temperature is from 68.8° to 72.3°.

Its highest temperature for thirty years was 107°.

Its lowest was 0.2°, 1899, at Tallahassee.

Florida is in the same isothermal zone as the Madeira Islands, southern Spain, Sicily, Egypt, southern Palestine, northern Arabia, northern India, southern China, the Hawaiian Islands, northern Mexico, southern California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern Texas, and southern Louisiana.

Florida is the land of romance, legend, song and story, from "Way Down Upon the Suwannee River" to "The Over-Sea Route Along the Keys," and from Perdido's bordered valley to St. Augustine's templed shrines.

It is bathed in the passionate caresses of the southern sun, laved by the limpid waves of the embracing seas, wooed by the glorious Gulf Stream, whose waters, warmed by the tropical sun, speed northeastward to temper the climate of Europe.

An emerald kingdom by southern seas, fanned by zephyrs laden with ozone from stately pines, watered by Lethe's copious libation, decked with palm and pine, flower and fern, clothed in perpetual verdure and lapt in the gorgeous folds of the semi-tropical zone.

Estimated wealth, year 1933	$2,000,000,000
Property, assessed value	$519,243,000
Manufactures; Products, value (1931)	$157,074,000
Lumber cut, board ft. (1932)	320,408,000
Value of farm property (1930)	$462,456,000
Value of farm land (1930)	$352,855,000
Value of farm products (1934)	$100,000,000
Cotton, acres	96,000
Cotton, bales	27,000
Value, lint	1,215,000
Citrus fruit, 20,500,000 boxes 1934-35, value	$26,000,000
Banking resources, clearing house exchange (1934)	$639,000,000
Mileage of railways, including sidings Dec. 31, 1927	8,220,63
Railroad improvement and new lines (1920-27)	$142,198,557
Mileage of hard-surfaced roads	8,631
Expended for roads by State Highway Dept. (1915-1929)	90,483,724
Total building contracts (1923-27)	$890,537,000
Resources of banks (1934)	$253,000,000
Value of manufactures (1933)	116,280,000
Value of minerals (1933)	$ 8,000,000
Acres in cultivation (1935)	1,150,000

Source:
Excerpt from "Florida, Physical Facts" Know Florida, Issued by the State Department of Agriculture, Tallahassee, Circa 1935, pg 1.

Exploring Florida: A Social Studies Resource for Students and Teachers
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 2005.