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City of Gainesville history
City of Gainesville company history timeline
1812 Patriots War and Newnan's Battle in Alachua
1817 Arredondo Grant gives most of present-day Alachua to Spanish merchant
April 21, 1821 - The town formerly known as Mule Camp Springs was chartered as Gainesville
1821 Settling of Micanopy by Edward Wanton.
Originally part of the Arredondo Grant, Alachua County was created in 1824 as a massive county, extending from the Georgia border to Tampa Bay.
1826 Bellamy Road, linking St Augustine to Pensacola, finished
1828 County seat established at Dells, renamed Newnansville
1828 - The Gold Rush frenzy began in nearby Lumpkin County bringing an influx of new settlers and the beginnings of a business community
In 1841, W.S. Peters and associates signed their first contract with the Republic of Texas "which provided that within three years, they would bring 600 families into North-Central Texas" into what came to be known as the Peters Colony.
The population expanded with an influx of planters and farmers as Florida achieved statehood in 1845.
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.
In 1850, Gainesville was established on a 40-acre tract of land donated by Mary E. Clark.
Gainesville, named in honor of Seminole Indian War General Edmund P. Gaines, was founded on September 6, 1853.
In 1888, it became High Springs. 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.
His plantation was located near Sweetwater Branch and his house, built in 1854, is the oldest one in the city.
1856 First courthouse built
The first hint of prosperity arrived with the Butterfield Stagecoach in September 1858, bringing freight, passengers, and mail.
In 1858, the town, then called Archer after Florida's first secretary of state, James T. Archer, was laid out.
1858 Town of Archer incorporated
When the Florida Railroad reached the town in 1859, the city was renamed Waldo to honor Doctor Benjamin Waldo of Ocala, a doctor and member of the State Legislature.
By 1860, Alachua County had over 8,000 inhabitants, while Gainesville, its main city, had some 232 residents.
Two encounters with Federal troops occurred here: the first, a skirmish on February 15, 1864, and the second, a battle on August 17, 1864.
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.
David Yulee built a plantation here which hosted the Confederate "Gold Train" in 1865.
After the war, education thrived as Gainesville Academy, the town's first school, combined with Ocala's East Florida Seminary in 1866.
The first black school, the Union Academy, opened its doors in 1867.
On April 14, 1869, Gainesville was incorporated, making that date its official birthday.
22, 1873 - City services begin with the election of a City Marshal
June 14, 1875 - Solid Waste Collection begins in the City
1875 - General James Longstreet purchased the Piedmont Hotel near the railroad depot in anticipation of the Atlanta-Washington railroad opening
1875 - The Gainesville Street Railway Company was formed and a streetcar line was constructed with horse and mule-drawn trolley cars
In 1875, Henry B. Sanborn, a regional sales agent for Joseph Glidden's Bar Fence Company of DeKalb, Illinois traveled to Texas.
Melrose Platted in 1877 and once called Banana, the town thrived with the opening of Sante Fe Canal, connecting the town with Waldo.
Bonnie Mount The oldest house in Melrose, it was built in 1877 by two Kentucky brothers as a one-story farmhouse.
On June 22, 1878, workers of the Denison and Pacific Railway laid the first rails and crossties of a new extension from Denison to Gainesville.
1878 - Brenau University, formerly Brenau College and originally the Georgia Baptist Female Seminary, a college for women was founded
Cattle money also financed the construction of the new county courthouse in 1878 and provided much of the tax revenue to support local schools and the building of public roads.
On November 7, 1879 people came from all corners of the county to witness the arrival of the first locomotive Gainesville.
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
Moore Hotel Opened in 1882 as a tourist hotel for Hawthorne visitors and sportsmen and run continuously by the Moore family until the present, it now is used as an apartment complex.
1882 Dutton Cotton Ginnery, the largest producer of Sea Island Cotton in Florida, established.
Evinston Named after a leading landowner in the region, this town was formed by the arrival of the railroad in 1882.
The municipality owned and operated a public water works, a dam having been built on Elm Creek in 1883 to create a reservoir which would hopefully provide the community with an adequate water supply.
A series of fires in 1884 burned many of the wooden buildings around the square.
Alachua When a railroad line bypassed Newnansville in 1884, the town of Alachua was created and quickly became an agricultural center.
Kelly-Neilson House Built in 1884 during Windsor's orange prosperity, this large mansion with its decorative shingles exemplifies the stick style of rural architecture.
Renamed Gruelle, it became Rochelle in 1884 to honor Martha Rochelle Perry, his wife.
Island Grove Established in 1884, the town received its name because it was surrounded by water.
In 1885 a magnificent new red brick courthouse replaced the old wooden one and large, comfortable residences for the local merchants and professionals were built around the downtown area.
In 1888, it became High Springs.
1888 Phosphate mining becomes a major industry.
By the 1890's phosphate and lumbering assumed greater significance for the economy when the record-setting freezes of that decade destroyed the citrus industry in northern Florida.
Spring 1890 - A bond issue to fund the waterworks passes and the original water distribution system totals some 5 1/2 miles
1892 - The City created a Board of Education and opened Gainesville High School
Newberry After the discovery of rich phosphate deposits in western Alachua County, a town called "Newton" was established on a new railroad line in 1894.
The name was soon changed to Newberry, after a South Carolina town and incorporated as such in 1895.
McKenzie House The largest and most elaborate of Gainesville's Victorian homes, its was built in 1895 and was the home for many prominent Gainesville families.
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.
Original Gainesville expanded to include newer subdivisions, and it became the fourth largest city in Florida in the early 1900's with a population of nearly 4000.
1900 Gainesville Graded and High School built (later named Kirby Smith Center). County population is 32,000.
19, 1902 - Gainesville became the first city south of Baltimore to have street lights
June 1903 - A cyclone struck Gainesville leaving 106 people dead, 300 injured and property damage estimated at $750,000
March 1, 1905 - City free mail delivery began
The University of Florida (1905) has played a major role in the city’s growth, and it remains the primary factor in the economy.
The city's growth and prosperity continued in 1906 when the University of Florida began operations on land west of the city.
1906 University of Florida opens with two buildings and 102 students
Gracy House Luther C. Gracy, a turpentine and lumber dealer, built this magnificent Colonial Revival mansion in 1906 with lumber from his own mills.
November 1909 - The square and streets adjoining for one block were paved
In 1910 William Reuben Thomas moved into Gainesville's most elaborate private residence, the "Sunkist Villa", situated near Sweetwater Branch.
10, 1910 - The Gainesville post office opened
1911 Post Office built
The first airplane landed in 1911 – not because the pilot wanted to, but because of a navigational mistake on his part.
22, 1915 - The formal opening of the City's first skyscraper, the Jackson Building which is still standing today
1917 First library opens.
The surrounding areas continued to develop in the 1920's with the building of the Thomas Hotel and the establishment of the Highlands and Duck Pond area.
1923 New high school built (Buchholz High)
Cox Furniture purchased it for storage and shipping in 1925.
The University Auditorium and Smathers Library, both built in 1925, are both examples of the Collegiate Gothic style found on campus.
1925 Gilchrist County formed from western part of county
1926 Dixie Hotel constructed (later finished as Seagle Building)
1928 Hotel Thomas opens.
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.
Also contributing to Gainesville's relative well-being in the 1930s was the success of the Gainesville Community Circus which first performed in May 1930 and thereafter gained a national reputation.
C. Addison Pound Pound became president of Baird Hardware in 1930, which was Gainesville's largest business for 40 years.
The Yearling won a Pulitzer Prize in 1938, while her book Cross Creek artfully captured "Cracker" Florida.
Newberry Municipal Building Built in 1938, this stone building was constructed as a WPA project during the Depression years.
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
1957 - United States Army Corps of Engineers construct Lake Sidney Lanier which currently covers more than 38,000 acres and is the most visited Corps lake in the nation with an economic impact of more than $2 billion annually
1963 - Gainesville College founded, now part of North Georgia College and State University
1964 New Post Office built.
1966 Sante Fe Community College established
The area still has some agriculture, including corn (maize), tobacco, and peanuts (groundnuts). Santa Fe Community College was opened there in 1966.
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.
By 1970, Alachua County had 104,000 inhabitants with three-fourths of them residing in or around the Gainesville city limits.
1972 Historic Gainesville, Inc., a preservation group, formed and saves the Thomas Hotel from destruction
1976 Thomas Center restoration undertaken
1979 New Regional Airport opens
Cox furniture used the building for over fifty years and in the 1990s Ken and Linda McGurn remodeled it into a restaurant and offices. It then served as a university museum and general education center until 1983, when it was renovated as condominiums, professional offices and a restaurant.
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.
New downtown library opens 1994 Money Magazine names Gainesville No.
During the Olympics Gainesville was named Hospitality Capital of the World by an NBC BroadcasterOctober 1997 - TV 18, The Government Channel begins broadcastingAug.
4, 1998 - New City of Gainesville Logo adopted
The return of Amtrak on June 14, 1999 brought Gainesville back full circle to one of the original sources of its growth and success.
January 2001 - The Red Rabbit Public Transportation System begins operation with three buses and four mini buses
August 2006 - The portion of Green Street between Jesse Jewell Parkway and Spring St was renamed to Henry Ward Way
February 2008 - "Dredgefest" begins at Longwood Cove
8, 2008 - Frances Meadows Aquatic & Community Center opens to the public
30, 2010 - New Gainesville Public Safety Complex opens housing the police department, municipal court and Fire Station No.
1, 2014 - Danny Dunagan, Gainesville's first elected mayor, takes office
2018 - Gainesville ranked No.
January 2019 - Classes begin at Lanier Technical College's new Gainesville campus
September 2020 - A groundbreaking ceremony is held for the fourth-side-of-the-square project, known as Gainesville Renaissance
October 2020 - A groundbreaking ceremony is held for Solis Gainesville, a mixed-use development across the pedestrian bridge
October 2020 - The new Gainesville Skate Park officially opens to the public
December 2020 - WeGo, the Gainesville's new vanpool service, officially launches for public use
June 2021 - The City of Gainesville launches the “Downtown Get-Around”, an eight-person club car servicing the area of the historic downtown square
31, 2021 - Former Gainesville Fire Chief Jerome Yarbrough retires after 37 years of faithful service.
7, 2021 - A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held to celebrate Chattahoochee Golf Club's reopening following extensive summertime renovations
March 30, 2022 - Gainesville Parks & Recreation, along with United Way of Hall County and The Salvation Army of Gainesville, hosts a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the start of construction on a new Mini Pitch Soccer Court at Myrtle Street Park
4, 2022 - Sam Couvillon, Gainesville's second-ever elected mayor, takes office
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City of Gainesville competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Of Alexandria | - | $370.0M | 5,082 | 39 |
| City of Renton | 1901 | $91.0M | 3,000 | 41 |
| Town of Garner, NC | 1905 | $499,999 | 175 | 9 |
| City of Salinas | - | $3.0M | 228 | 45 |
| City of Allen | 1953 | $3.4M | 125 | 15 |
| City of Kissimmee | - | - | 15 | 10 |
| City of Cupertino | 1955 | $37.0M | 50 | 3 |
| City of Novi | 1969 | $17.0M | 204 | 2 |
| City of Berea | - | $2.9M | 125 | - |
| City of Fort Collins | 1913 | $106.8M | 1,310 | 11 |
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