Philip Phillips, who would later be known simply as “Doc,” was born on January 27, 1874, in Memphis, Tennessee. Born to French supply merchant Henri Phillippe and his wife, Isabelle, Phillips spent much of his childhood in Lebanon, Tennessee, later attending a prestigious medical school on the East Coast. After studying at New York’s Columbia University, earning the title that would become a moniker for Central Florida citrus, Dr. Phillips gave in to his entrepreneurial spirit and made the decision to forgo the practice of medicine and move south, toward a land of new opportunity. Endowed with $5,000 from his father, the young doctor made his way to Florida where he purchased his first orange grove in Satsuma in 1894, laying the foundation for what would become his rather ambitious dream of being Central Florida’s citrus king.
An unfortunate victim of chance, Dr. Phillips lost everything when, in early 1895, Florida suffered one of the most devastating freezes in state history. Two days of below-freezing temperatures and acres of worthless trees forced the doctor to move back to his home state of Tennessee.
In the years that followed, Doc made a life for himself in Tennessee, though it is hard to say with certainty how his time there was spent. Some say that he opened a small medical practice and even became an investor in a local hardware store, all the while continuing to explore the possibilities of the fledgling citrus industry. In fact, Phillips spent much of the late 1890s buying up small groves during brief visits to Central Florida; a prudent move that would, eventually, bear fruit.
The sand still in his shoes — and success on his mind — in 1902, Dr. Phillips packed his bags and once again made his way south; this time with his sights set on Cuba and the promise of great economic potential. Political unrest made him rethink his final destination, though, and the “Doc” found himself once again in Florida, this time settling in Kissimmee where he established a small cattle business that he intended to grow alongside the orange groves.
Not long after his arrival, however, Phillips found himself pulled from the herds, drawn back to citrus and the maintenance of his many small groves. In 1905, Doc moved his family from Kissimmee to Orlando, purchasing an orange grove on land that is now home to Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, after being assured that the area was “frost free.”
Dr. Phillips was known for the many innovations the company incorporated in the packaging and processing of orange juice. As the family citrus business grew, housing was established for workers in the Dr. Phillips community and a post office was built to provide services. From delivering turkeys to the families of the field hands on Christmas morning, to establishing a hospital for the sole purpose of caring for local black families, to planning an entire community around the needs of his employees, Doc Phillips was a pioneer in far more than just Central Florida citrus. He was a visionary in the realm of human need and a man worthy of the epitaph: “Under his hand, the wilderness bore fruit.”
