"𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝑰𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒖𝒔"

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of national award-winning West Volusia Chinese American horticulturist Lue Gim Gong. He died on June 3, 1925, in DeLand Memorial Hospital at age 65.

Born in Canton, China, Lue was an immigrant who came to the United States and moved to North Adams, MA, where he worked in a shoe factory. There he met his eventual guardian, Fannie Burlingame, when he joined her Sunday School class, designed to teach the Chinese to speak, read, write, and speak English, arithmetic, and religion. Ms. Burlingame, a mathematician and botanist, recognized his interest in horticulture and encouraged him to pursue it by tending to the Burlingame family gardens.

In 1885, Lue traveled south with Fannie to DeLand, where she and her sister owned land, as he had been advised to seek a warmer climate for his health. On December 11, 1886, Lue settled permanently in DeLand, where the family owned five acres of orange groves.   

He immersed himself in citrus cultivation, learning how to cross-pollinate citrus plants. By 1911, he successfully cross-pollinated a Hart’s Late Valencia orange with a Mediterranean Sweet to produce a new variation, the “Lue Gim Gong Strain”, that ripened early in the fall and was highly cold resistant. This achievement won the American Pomological Society’s Siler Wilder Medal, the first such award for developments in citrus. Lue also developed a variety of juicy grapefruit that withstood temperatures 10 degrees colder than other varieties.

Lue Gim Gong is buried in Oakdale Cemetery. His grave was unmarked for about 5 years when a member of the New York State Historical Society visited DeLand, found the unmarked site, and returned to New York and collected sufficient funds for a marker. In 1999, Mrs. Hawtense Conrad donated $3,500 for the placement of a new headstone that incorporates the original marker. Also in 1999, the West Volusia Historical Society built a gazebo on the grounds of the DeLand House Museum, which holds a bronze bust of the horticultural genius. 

For more of Lue’s intriguing story, visit WVHS Conrad Educational & Research Center at 137 W. Michigan Avenue in DeLand. You can visit the gazebo and view a display of interesting artifacts, historical documents, and photos in the Society’s Archives Library. 

PHOTO: The colorful mural of Lue Gim Gong and his pet rooster “March” is located in downtown DeLand at Artisan Alley and New York Avenue, near the West Volusia Visitor Center (116 W. New York Ave).