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General Note

The photographer Sherman Fairchild was born in 1896 in Oneonta, New York. He was contracted by the government to develop a camera for aerial photography; such cameras already existed but produced highly distorted photographs due to slow shutter speeds which could not keep up with the movement of the flying plane. Fairchild developed a camera where the shutter was placed inside the lens which allowed the camera to be fast enough to produce photographs with minimal distortion. After World War I the Army made his cameras their standard aerial cameras.

Biographical Note

James Cash Penney (1876-1971), philanthropist and founder of J.C. Penney Department Stores, purchased 120,000 acres in Clay County and invited farmers to claim 40-acre tracts by clearing the land, building houses, growing crops and raising livestock. In 1922 Penney and associates formed the Florida Farms and Industries Company that planned, plated and registered 10,000 acres as Long Branch City. In 1927 the Florida State Legislature chartered the city as the Town of Penney Farms (later in 1937 the town limits would be reduced to 1,500 acres). In 1929 due to the Great Depression Mr. Penney had to sell his holdings except 200 acres, which he deeded to the Memorial Home Community, and turned over its operation to the Christian Herald Foundation. In 1971 it became the self-sustaining Penney Retirement Community, Inc., and in 1999 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.