Mulberry Phosphate Museum

The Phosphate Museum covers the discovery of phosphate in the 1880s and the development of the mining industry that once made Mulberry the phosphate capital of the world. The museum reflects the industry's long history in Polk and it also displays many of the fossils that were turned up during phosphate mining through the years.

The museum is in the city's historic 1899 railroad depot, supplemented by four railroad boxcars, a caboose and an engine.

The gallery contains artifacts from the community's history, including remnants of the tree from which the town takes its name.

There is also a dragline bucket displayed outside.

Museum officials continually update the exhibits.

For children, there is a pile of phosphate pebbles where they can dig for fossils and small shark teeth.

The Mulberry Phosphate Museum is 101 S.E. First St., at State Road 37, one block south of State Road 60 in downtown Mulberry, behind City Hall.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

For more information, call 863-425-2823.

Information is also available on the Greater Mulberry Chamber of Commerce website at

www.mulberrryphosphatemuseum.org.