Suwannee County School District history

1822 – On 12 August, 1822, two additional counties are created; Duval county was carved out of St Johns County, and Jackson County out of Escambia county.

1824 – Florida Territory continues to grow in populations, so once again more counties are added.

On 4 February 1832, the future Suwannee County becomes part of the newly formed Columbia County.

1857 – Construction begins on an east-west railroad, known as the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad Line, across North Florida.

1859 – The first post office in Suwannee County is established in Houston on 22 December 1859.

1860 – The community of Wellborn is founded at a time when cotton is king and one of the largest cotton warehouses in the area is located within its town limits.

1866 – The Live Oak post office is established 26 June 1866.

The county seat was moved from its original site at Houston to Live Oak in 1868 because of the latter's superior geographical position and railroad facilities.

1869 – The Florida Legislature changes its laws to allow the citizens of a county to choose their county seat, and the first election is held on 27 March 1869.

In 1870, the AME Church resolved to expand Pearce’s school.

Live Oak was chosen for the school site in 1872 due to its proximity to railroads, and 10 acres of land was purchased for the construction.

Named Brown Theological Seminary, the school was renamed in 1873 to Brown University.

1878 – The Live Oak community is incorporated as a town on 24 April 1878.

1880 – The town of O’Brien is established.

In 1882, the depot also became the terminus for the Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad.

1886 – New Branford, formerly known as Rowland’s Bluff, is incorporated as a town.

First public white school built in 1889 on land donated by Nancy Parshley on what is now First Baptist Church property.

1892 – Live Oak’s oldest existing business, the B. W. Helvenston and Son Insurance Agency, is founded.

1904 – The Suwannee County Courthouse, which is still in use today, is built.

1907 – There is an attempt to relocate the capital of Florida from Tallahassee to a more central location, and the City of Live Oak is proposed as the new site, but the attempt fails.

1908 – After building the Live Oak, Perry, and Gulf Railroad (affectionately known locally as “the Loping Gopher”) to serve his sawmill, and later freight and passenger traffic, Thomas Dowling moves his lumber mill to the west side of Suwannee County.

First public white school built in 1889 on land donated by Nancy Parshley on what is now First Baptist Church property. It was used as such until 1916, when a new school (Parshley School) was built nearby.

A second school, also named after Douglass, was built in the 1920s.

Douglass High School – A one-story building was completed in 1927 on South Houston Street, on the east side of the street and south of Ebenezer AME Church at approximately 421 South Houston Street.

In 1939, it was the first African American school in Live Oak to offer high school level classes.

If the building still existed in 1947 (some indications are that it was gone by 1943), it was sold at auction with the remaining Florida Memorial buildings and torn down to make way for the Suwannee County Hospital. It was used by Florida Memorial, possibly until the school merged with another out-of-town school in 1941.

The building was sold to Elijah F. Henderson by Nathan Walker and continued to be used as a white school until it was sold to Florida Memorial (also knows as Florida Institute) in 1873. It was used by Florida Memorial until 1942, when the school moved from Live Oak.

Construction began in 1950 on the new 30-classroom school facility that housed grades one through twelve.

In 1965, construction on a new gymnasium was completed, the first one for an African American school in Suwannee County.

With the integration of Florida’s public schools, Douglass School graduated its final high school class in 1969, the last segregated class to graduate in Suwannee County.

In 1982, the Branford Shrine Club purchased the depot from the S.C.L Railroad and moved it to its present site for use as a club house and community center.

Returning home to Suwannee County in 1998, Eric began working for the Suwannee County Clerk of the Court.

The campus featured a music room, teacher's lounge, office space, clinic, cafeteria, library, chemistry lab, and agricultural and homemaking departments. It was renamed the Douglass Center and used as an alternative school until 2006.

The Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners acquired the campus in 2008 and adapted it to a community center.