George Washington Scott

George Washington Scott (February 22, 1829 – October 3, 1903) was a Florida and Georgia businessperson, education philanthropist, former planter, and former military officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Biography Scott was born in Alexandria, Pennsylvania, and was the fourth child of Agnes Irvine and John Scott Sr., both of Irish descent. He became a merchant and farmer in Pennsylvania. In 1850 Scott visited Florida and moved to Quincy, Florida, in 1851. In 1852, Scott moved to Leon County, Florida, where he established a mercantile exchange and his George W. Scott Plantation.

Scott became the first person to exploit Florida's vast phosphate deposits and in 1887 purchased 1,000 acres (4 km2) of land along the Peace River in Charlotte County, backed the Arcadia Phosphate Company, and sold the Comer-Hall Fertilizer Company in Savannah. In May 1888 the first shipments of phosphate were made to his G. W. Scott Manufacturing Company. Scott built a fortune in real estate and fertilizer in Atlanta.