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Alachua County Communities

Alachua County History

The first people known to have entered the area of Alachua County were Paleo-Indians, who left artifacts in the Santa Fe River basin prior to 8000 BCE. Artifacts from the Archaic period (8000 - 2000 BCE) have been found at several sites in Alachua County. Permanent settlements appeared in what is now Alachua County around 100 CE, as people of the wide-ranging Deptford culture developed the local Cades Pond culture. The Cades Pond culture gave way to the Alachua culture around 600 CE (remains of which were found under the Law School Burial Mound). Long before the Spaniards arrived in Florida, The Timucua-speaking Potano tribe lived in the Alachua culture area in the 16th century, when the Spanish entered Florida. Alachua County's unique combination of fertile soil, broad prairies, clear lakes and abundant game had spawned a complex Indian civilization called Timucuan. Throughout the 16th century, DeSoto and other Spanish explorers plundered the region, then Franciscan priests founded missions and finally ranchers established a large cattle ranch on Paynes Prairie.

During the early 1700s, the English and their Indian allies destroyed these missions. Later, the Seminole Indians made settlements around Micanopy. In 1774, British naturalist William Bartram visited the Alachua region twice and described the region's natural beauty and scenic wonders. Spain had a difficult time controlling the vast territory of Florida. In 1817 F. M. Arredondo received the 20 mile square Arredondo Grant in the southern part of what is Alachua County. By the time Florida was formally transferred from Spain to the United States, people from the United States and from Europe were settling in the area. Wanton's Store, near the site of the abandoned King Payne's Town, attracted settlers, primarily from Europe, who founded Micanopy. Spain, unable to stop the influx of American settlers, finally ceded the area to the United States in 1821. Originally part of the Arredondo grant, Alachua County ("Alachua" is thought to be a Spanish corruption of the Timucuan word for "big jug") was created in 1824 as a massive county, extending from the Georgia border to Tampa Bay. The 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek required the Seminole to move a reservation south of what is now Ocala, and the flow of settlers into the area increased. Many occupied former Seminole towns, such as Hogtown (Gainesville).

Constant partitioning and The Second Seminole War slowed the county's development, but the coming of the Florida Railroad opened up the interior for both settlement and trading. The route cut diagonally across the county and bypassed the county seat at Newnansville in the northwest. As a result, it was decided at a Boulware Springs meeting on September 6, 1853, to move the county seat near the railroad and create the new town of Gainesville. By 1860, Alachua County had more than 8,000 inhabitants, while Gainesville, its main city, had some 232 residents. During the Civil War, Gainesville served as a major Confederate Commissary and was the site of two battles, a skirmish on February 14, 1864, and a larger battle on August 17, 1864, in which J. J. Dickison routed superior Union forces to deter the Union occupation of North Florida. Reconstruction brought martial law, Republican rule, the immigration of freed slaves and economic prosperity. Two main schools were established, The Union Academy for African-Americans and East Florida Seminary for whites.

By the end of Reconstruction, Alachua County had a population of more than 18,000, while Gainesville, with 1,400 residents, was a mercantile center for cotton and vegetable crops. During the next 25 years, the county continued to prosper as the citrus and phosphate industries gave it a secure economic base. After two major fires in the 1880s, Gainesville rebuilt with an emphasis on brick structures, and an imposing new red-brick courthouse symbolized its growth from town to city. Gainesville's central location brought two more railroad connections, with trains coming down Main Street. With a population approaching 3,000, the city was one of the state's largest. The town had an opera house, paved streets, city water, telephones and electric lights. East Florida Seminary expanded, becoming a military school, while a new public school was erected. Merchants such as Dutton, Miller and Baird built fine new homes near downtown and fashionable districts were created in the southeast and along University Avenue.

New towns--including Archer, High Springs, Melrose and Hawthorne- -spawned by the railroad expansion and the citrus and phosphate boom welcomed investors, tourists and speculators. Although severe freezes in the 1890s blighted much of this prosperity, Alachua County entered the 20th century with a population of 32,000 and a growing economy centered in the phosphate, cotton and vegetable industries.

The first two decades of the new century brought Alachua County's agricultural economy troubled times, as freezes destroyed the citrus industy and the boll weevil blighted the cotton crops. World War I brought an end to the phosphate industry as international trade was disrupted. As John J. Tigert began his presidency at UF, Florida came under yet more hard times. The Mediterranean fruit fly crippled the state's citrus production in the South, and the deadliest hurricane to ever hit Florida destroyed what was left of the state's economy. A year later, the Great Depression began with the collapse of the stock market in 1929. Gainesville had experienced a land boom and bust some years before the main collapse, so by the time the Depression hit the rest of the country Gainesville had already entered a holding pattern and was not much affected. Still, one of the most significant events in the history of the county occurred in 1905, when Gainesville was chosen as the site for the University of Florida. When the university opened a year later, it had only 102 students, 15 faculty and two unfinished buildings. Twenty years later, the student body numbered 2,000, and students went to classes in 13 Gothic buildings, including a library, a gymnasium and an auditorium. By the 1930s, the university had become the most important staple in the county's economy and helped it weather both the land boom collapse of the mid 1920s and the Depression of the 1930s.

During the years before World War II, the county's population remained fairly constant, at nearly 40,000, but Gainesville rose to almost 14,000, nearly four times its size in 1900. These years witnessed the construction of a magnificent new post office, the White House Hotel, Trinity Church, the Seagle Building and a public hospital. In 1928, William Reuben Thomas opened the Thomas Hotel, which served as the town's social and cultural center for the next 30 years. World War II deeply affected both the county and Gainesville, as thousands of men and women from the county and the university served in the war. Some died as heroes, including Milton Lewis; some became war aces, including John Alison; and one, Colonel Paul Tibbets, piloted the plane which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. As World War II mobilization began, soldiers were brought to Florida for training, notably to Pensacola for flight school and Jacksonville for naval deployment. After the war (and the fortuitous invention of air conditioning), Florida experienced population boom as newly returned servicemen moved to the state, drawn by memories of excellent weather and cheap accommodations. As the 1950s and 60s progressed, many high-tech industries began in Florida, most notably the Space Program at Cape Canaveral. As the state's population expanded, so too did its universities. From the 1940s to the 1970s, The University of Florida went from being a school of 5,000 white men to a having a diverse student body of more than 28,000 men and women.

The county and Gainesville also changed dramatically in the postwar years. By 1970, Alachua County had 104,000 inhabitants with three- fourths of them residing in or around Gainesville. Increasingly, the county's economy was dependent on the city's educational and medical facilities. Agriculture employed less than 20 percent of the area's workforce, although the region still led North Florida in the production of peanuts, corn, tobacco, nuts and certain fruits.

During these years, the county's smaller towns changed from being farm centers to become havens for artists, retirees and Gainesville professionals. They also attracted tourists to their historic downtowns. The county's natural wonders, including Paynes Prairie and the Devil's Millhopper were protected by becoming state parks, and historic sites such as the Rawlings house, the Haile Plantation and the Dudley Farm were preserved. With a population of more than 200,000, the county offers abundant archaeological, historical and natural sites to visitors and residents alike.

Downtown Gainesville has become a professional and government center while retail stores and merchants have moved to large malls in the northwest and southwest areas of the city, especially around Interstate 75. In the 1980s, neighborhoods surrounding Downtown Gainesville such as the Duck Pond, the Southeast and Pleasant Street created historic districts, which helped preserve their unique residential character. These preservation efforts spurred the city to sponsor restoration projects for the Thomas Center, the Hippodrome, the Seagle Building and the American Legion Building. A new courthouse and a new library were built, while older buildings, including the Star Garage, the Florida Theater and the Bethel Gas Station, were restored. As a climax to these revitalization efforts, Money Magazine named Gainesville the most liveable city in America in 1995. As of the 2010 census, the County population was 247,336.

During the post-Reconstruction period, white Democrats regained control of the state legislature and worked to restore white supremacy. Violence against blacks, including lynchings, rose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as whites imposed Jim Crow and discriminatory laws, disenfranchising most blacks, which forced them out of the political system. Alachua County was the site of 21 documented lynchings between 1891 and 1926. Ten lynchings took place in Newberry, six in a mass lynching there in 1916. These extra-judicial killings were conducted outside the justice system, by mobs or small groups working alone. Nineteen of the victims were black; two were white. In September 2017, the County Commission approved plans to place markers with the names of the victims at the sites of every extra-judicial killing in the county. A plaque will be placed in Gainesville outside the Public Defenders Building, listing all the individuals who were lynched.

http://www.alachuacounty.us/Govt/Pages/AlachuaCountyHistory.aspx

EARLY FLORIDA PLATES

In May 11, 1905 a State law was passed that required all motor-driven vehicles to be registered with the Secretary of State for a $2 fee. The registrant was then given a number which was to be reproduced on a homemade plate with the plate being a minimum of 3” high and at least 2” long and placed in a conspicuous place on the rear of the vehicle. These ranged from hand painted wood or metal units to leather plates with metal house numbers riveted in place. In 1909 the requirement to show FLA was added to the law, and further, it required the plate to be 4 ½” x 14” of flat steel. This system was required up to Sept. 30, 1915. While some sources mention the “paper certificate”, the State issued round discs (about the size of a half dollar) with the registration numbers.

On Jul. 5, 1911, a Forida law was passed for the licensing of motor vehicles by each county in addition to the continued licensing with the Secretary of State. On this date only 48 of Florida’s present counties were in existence. The first county issuance appears to have started on Oct. 1, 1911. The first unified Florida plate was issued in 1918. Prior to 1918 each county and in some locations cities issued plates. The majority of these were porcelain plates. There was a time when the State issued a 2” in diameter “Motor Vehicle Title Certificate Plate”. These were made in both aluminum and sheet metal. It appears that these would have been attached some how to the vehicle – probably nailed to a wood dash or riveted to sheet metal. Amazingly, these are common today. They may have been issued during the period of the “County Plate” system. On-line references attribute them to the time period of 1910 – 1920 and others say 1920 – 1930.

Old Bellamy Road

In the 1820s, Florida became a US territory, and the new American leadership began focusing on development of the Floridian economy and infrastructure. In 1824, Congress approved funding for the first federal highway in Florida: a road to be built from St. Augustine to Pensacola, following the route of the old Spanish road. A plantation owner named John Bellamy was contracted to build the St. Augustine to Tallahassee portion, and from him that portion of the road received its name: Bellamy Road. The Bellamy Road followed the general route of the Spanish Royal Road (el Camino Real) or OldMission Trail, used by Native Americans and Spanish missionaries, running from Mission San Luis de Apalachee near Tallahassee to St. Augustine.