Oscar Scherer State Park History
In her will, Elsa Scherer Burrows (1884-1955) left the family’s 460 acre South Creek Ranch to the state in memory of her father Oscar Scherer (1856-1923), inventor of a process for dyeing shoe leather in 1872. After a year of preparation, Oscar Scherer State Park was opened to the public in 1956.
Sometime later the classification for parks’ changed and it became Oscar Scherer State Recreation Area. Three decades later, Realtor and environmentalist Jon Thaxton began campaigning for the state to protect adjoining Florida Scrub-Jay territory. With help from the Nature Conservancy and wide public support, the state’s Conservation and Recreation Lands (CARL) program used Preservation 2000 funds to purchase 922 acres of adjacent land from Palmer Ranch in 1991.
With the addition, the present Oscar Scherer State Park came into being. It now preserves more than two square miles of nature in a rapidly developing area, and provides resource-based recreation for some 130,000 visitors annually.
Sometime later the classification for parks’ changed and it became Oscar Scherer State Recreation Area. Three decades later, Realtor and environmentalist Jon Thaxton began campaigning for the state to protect adjoining Florida Scrub-Jay territory. With help from the Nature Conservancy and wide public support, the state’s Conservation and Recreation Lands (CARL) program used Preservation 2000 funds to purchase 922 acres of adjacent land from Palmer Ranch in 1991.
With the addition, the present Oscar Scherer State Park came into being. It now preserves more than two square miles of nature in a rapidly developing area, and provides resource-based recreation for some 130,000 visitors annually.
