Alachua County history

Alachua County, created in 1824, stretched from the Georgia border to the Gulf of Mexico as far south as Port Charlotte.

Early in 1826, a post office was established, roads were built, stores were set up and a settled land began to emerge.

1828 County seat established at Dells, renamed Newnansville

Haile Plantation One of the few ante-bellum plantation homes remaining in Florida, it was built in 1850 by Thomas Haile as part of his cotton and rice plantation.

After becoming a state senator, Roper offered the buildings and land to the state if the East Florida Seminary, founded in Ocala in 1852, would move to Gainesville.

The town had an opera house, paved streets, city water, telephones and electric lights. 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.

Newnansville was so much in the main stream it served as the Alachua County seat until 1854 when a railroad was constructed from Fernandina to Cedar Key.

1856 First courthouse built

In 1857, Newnansville and the surrounding area was the most thickly populated section of Alachua County and more than one third of the voters lived in Newnansville.

The Gainesville Academy, a private school founded in 1858 by James Henry Roper, served both male and female students.

The first railroad arrived in Gainesville in 1859, and Downtown Gainesville became a center of agriculture and industry.

By 1860, Alachua County had more than 8,000 inhabitants, while Gainesville, its main city, had some 232 residents.

1864 Battle of Gainesville.

David Yulee built a plantation here which hosted the Confederate "Gold Train" in 1865.

In 1866, the Freedmen’s Bureau established Union Academy in Gainesville to serve the African American community.

1869 Gainesville officially incorporated

In 1872 a Jewish cemetery was established at the corner of University Avenue and Waldo Road.

Margaret Tebeau opened her Boarding and Day School in 1873 in downtown Gainesville.

In 1877, the East Florida Seminary moved and was open to white students.

When the railroad arrived in 1879, the town was renamed to honor James Hawthorn, a prominent landowner.

1881 Sante Fe Canal, connecting Waldo with Melrose, completed

Doctor Robert Robb and his wife, Doctor Sarah Robb, moved to Gainesville in 1882 to give Robert a chance to recover from tuberculosis.

Hague Another town created by the coming of a railroad line in 1883, it got its name from its first postmaster, Archelaus Hague.

In 1884, when the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad bypassed Newnansville about a mile to the south, the settlers moved their businesses and a new town, Alachua, began as a shipping point.

According to a March 1885 issue of the Alachua Advocate (the forerunner of the Gainesville Sun) “F.E. Williams is making an effort to get a Post Office established in his new town at the railroad depot.

1886 Second major downtown fire on south side of Gainesville square

Williams didn`t actually succeed in getting a post office until April 30, 1887.

In 1888, it became High Springs.

By 1894, six million barrels of fruit were shipped to market.

The name was soon changed to Newberry, after a South Carolina town and incorporated as such in 1895.

High Springs Opera House Built in 1896, this two-story Romanesque Revival brick building had stores on its main floor and had an opera house, theater, movie palace and community center on the second.

Incorporated in 1897, the town's chief crops were cotton and potatoes.

1900 Gainesville Graded and High School built (later named Kirby Smith Center). County population is 32,000.

On April 12th, 1905 the City of Alachua was officially incorporated and had a population of 526.

1906 University of Florida opens with two buildings and 102 students

1911 Post Office built

The electric light and waterworks plant began operating in 1913.

In 1914, Chestnut Funeral Home, one of the county’s oldest businesses, was founded.

1917 First library opens.

1923 New high school built (Buchholz High)

The schools grew and in 1924, the Alachua High School Basketball team upset the sports world with a victory in the state tournament over Duval High of Jacksonville.

Cox Furniture purchased it for storage and shipping in 1925.

1926 Dixie Hotel constructed (later finished as Seagle Building)

Cross Creek Never more than a few fishing camps, Cross Creek became the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 1928 and has been immortalized by her two finest books, The Yearling and Cross Creek.

The Advocate reporter wrote: “Alachua will swallow up the trade of Newnansville.” The prediction came true, although one man continued to operate a store in Newnansville until his death in the 1930’s.

1935 Gainesville airport constructed

The Yearling won a Pulitzer Prize in 1938, while her book Cross Creek artfully captured "Cracker" Florida.

1939 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' The Yearling wins a Pulitzer Prize

They also established the Campville Brick Co., which became the town's main industry until its closing in 1940.

1942 Milton Lewis becomes first Alachua County casualty in World War II

The university expanded to more than 9,000 students, then admitted women in 1947 and built a medical school in the next decades.

1950 City adopts quadrant system for street names

1956 UF medical center opens

1964 New Post Office built.

1966 Sante Fe Community College established

1967 Veterans Administration Hospital opens

1968 Thomas Hotel closed and leased to Sante Fe Community College

1969 Neil Butler becomes the first African-American elected to the City Commission since Reconstruction.

Since 1970 Since 1970 The county and Gainesville also changed dramatically in the postwar years.

1971 Gainesville voted the "All American City"

1972 Historic Gainesville, Inc., a preservation group, formed and saves the Thomas Hotel from destruction

North Florida Regional Medical Center opened in 1973.

1979 New Regional Airport opens

Gainesville population is 81,000 and the county's is 151,000 1983 Historic Preservation Ordinance enacted.

In 1986, the Outdoors Trading Co. restored the building, opened a successful restaurant and created a Theater of Memory in the old opera area.

1987 First African American woman serves on City Commission

Purchased by Micanopy in 1989, it was restored and transformed into a local historical museum.

Restored in 1990, it became Gainesville's first bed and breakfast.

1991 UF football team wins first SEC championship.

1994 Money Magazine names Gainesville No.

As a climax to these revitalization efforts, Money Magazine named Gainesville the most liveable city in America in 1995.