The earliest settlers in this area arrived circa 1875, including Swedish families who relocated from Sanford after their obligations to Gen. Sanford were met. By the time the area was platted in 1883, it was known as Forest City, and this platted area, located 1/3 mile south of the intersection of SRs 434 and 436, included a schoolhouse, a rail depot, a general store, and a two story boarding house. Most of the surrounding area was planted with citrus trees, and by the mid 1880s four railroads—a short line to Salt (Wekiva) Springs, the Orange Belt, the Florida Midland, and a spur to the South Florida railroad—served the area, providing a quick way for citrus to reach northern markets. The great freeze of 1894/95 wiped out the citrus in Central Florida and caused the loss of most smaller communities in the area, but Forest City survived with replanted citrus groves. Large citrus-related businesses were located there in the 1920s, with the Chester C. Fosgate packinghouse moving there in 1926, followed by Florida's first juice and canning plant in 1928. Citrus began to be displaced by urbanization starting in the 1970's, and by the 1990's the packing, canning, and concentrate plants were gone. In 1925 the 7th Day Adventist church purchased 500 acres in Forest City north of SR 436 between Bear Lake and Lake Brantley Road and started Forest Lake Academy, originally a boarding school for children of missionaries, which later grew into a campus that includes a church and a nursing home.