City: Zephyrhills   County: Pasco   Year: 2023
Location: 40421 Bay Avenue

Palm River Dairy is significant for its role in the development of Florida and the state’s agricultural heritage. The Spoto family first settled in Tampa in 1902 when Ignazio Spoto I, immigrated from Sicily, Italy and founded Spoto’s Dairy. The family changed the dairy’s name to Palm River Dairy after the Palm River section of Tampa. The dairy began pasteurizing milk in the 1920s and sold wholesale milk by the 1930s, using a truck to deliver milk to distributors throughout Tampa. Ignazio Spoto’s son, Joe, grandson, Ignazio II, and great-grandson, Joseph T., and their families, moved the dairy to Crystal Springs in 1959. Over the following two decades, Joseph T. expanded the herd from 140 to 1200 dairy cows. The family designed and constructed the buildings for the dairy including an innovative milking barn that was replicated by other dairies. When it closed in 2021, Palm River Dairy was a 6th generation dairy, and was the last remaining dairy operating in the Tampa Bay region, consisting of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Polk counties.