We are Crescent City, Florida
In the heart of the Fruitland Peninsula, this land proved fertile for lush orange groves and ferneries and our city is proud of our deep roots in agriculture.
While our relationship with our land has evolved, our relationship with water has continued to define us through our most precious natural resource, our two lakes.
From the reed grass and lily pads that give Lake Stella its serene calm, to the water softly lapping the docks that surround Crescent Lake, our water is our treasure. It also provides unrivaled recreation from world-class crappie and bass fishing to kayaking, swimming, and taking in the abundant wildlife.
Our water surrounds us.
The same water has also shaped the people that have called us home.
Tools and pottery from Native Americans from thousands of years ago can be found on our shores and waterways, relics of our earliest settlements.
Later residents came here to escape - people looking for a new life after the Civil War, northerners seeking a winter refuge, or newcomers simply seeking a slower pace of life.
Our stories flow through us.
We have great stories here.
Steamships were a common sight on Crescent Lake, bringing in settlers and visitors alike, and carrying our name out to the world.
Our women's club, one of the oldest in the country, helped pave our streets and brought us our first library and movie theater. Today, the club continues to show that women make it happen locally. Likewise, our hometown son, A Phillip Randolph, made things happen nationally as a leader of the Civil Rights movement and architect of the March
on Washington. These stories make us intensely proud and are still told on our streets,
at our homes, and in our pulpits.
These narratives have ingrained in us who we are and made us proud of who we have become. We have a diversity of people - a mix of race, culture, and nationality, and we celebrate this unique blend of flavor each day.
We are a warm people, where strangers quickly become friends, and outsiders are welcomed with open arms. We have torn down many of the walls that divided us, and continue to create an environment of inclusion.
We may not be elite nor exclusive, but we are indeed rich people.
We are a humble community, but know that we are the oasis of Old Florida.
We are uncomplicated but hardly unforgettable. There is a serenity and peacefulness here that is like no other.
- It is the pace of life.
- It is the smile and wave of the stranger on the street.
- It is the fellowship in the church halls and the conversations in the barber chair.
- It is the Spanish moss waving in the breeze on our grand oak trees.
- It is the ripples of water and cranes flying along the shore.
Crescent City is special.
We are the Land Between Sunrise and Sunset.
We are the Life Between the Lakes.
Government
Crescent City is governed by a mayor and a four-member city commission.
As of 2022, the Mayor is Michele Myers, and the Commission members are H. Harry Banks, Lisa Kane DeVitto, Cynthia Burton, and Christopher Bailey.
City Manager, Charles Rudd
City Clerk, Karen Hayes
History
A. Philip Randolph, the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was born in Crescent City in 1889. Randolph would become a prominent civil rights leader, especially during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Randolph Street in Crescent City is named after this influential figure.
Crescent City has two listings on the National Register of Historic Places, Hubbard House and the Crescent City Historic District.[11]
Eagle's Nest Grove in Crescent City is the oldest continuous organic citrus grove in Florida.[12]
Crescent City is the home of the American College of Applied Science (ACAS) and its 20-acre (81,000 m2) Dream Pond Science Field Station and Reserve for animal science and behavior. ACAS was licensed by the Florida Department of Education, Commission for Independent Education in January 2005.