Pasco County Centennial

Pasco County Centennial. , One June 2, 1897, following the construction of railroads through the area, Pasco County was created by the Florida Legislature out of the southern end of Hernando. It was named to honor Samuel Pasco of Jefferson County - a native of England, Confederate veteran and chairman of the 1885 Florida Constitutional Convention. He was speaker of the Florida House when the legislature elected him to the United States Senate in 1887., The area was inhabited before 10,000 B.C. There were numerous Indian communities here when Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century. Early residents had disappeared by the late 1700's when the area was resettled by Seminole Indians., Fort King Road was cleared in 1825. Fort Dade was built on the Withlacoochee River in 1836, following destruction of Maj. Francis Dade and his command in December, 1835. Most local Seminoles were removed to Oklahoma by the 1840's, when resettlement under the Armed Occupation Act began. The fort was rebuilt in 1849 in what is now Dade City, where a post office had been established in 1845. In 1856 two children were massacred at the Bradley settlement (Darby), in one of the last recorded Indian attacks east of the Mississippi., Fort Dade (Dade City), Tuckertown (Richland) and Lake Boddy (Pasadena) were established communities in the 1840's. Hopeville (New Port Richey) and Pleasant Plains (Land O'Lakes) were settled in the 1850's, Sapling Woods (Elfers) and Cedar Tree (near Lake lola) in the 1860s, and Macon (Trilby) and Hudson's Landing (Hudson) in the 1870's. In 1881 Judge Edmund Dunne founded San Antonio as the center of his "Catholic Colony.” St. Joseph was established in 1883, St. Leo Abbey was founded in 1889, the college opened in 1890 and the town of St. Leo was incorporated in 1891. Port Richey and Gall Keys (Aripeka) were founded in the 1880's. The Orange Belt Railway Co, established Odessa about 1888. The early settlement called Abbott Station became Zephyrhills in 1910, and New Port Richey was founded in 1915. Lacoochee, settled in 1888, became the home of Cummer Cypress Co. in 1922., Baillie's Bluff was a center of the Florida sponge industry until the late 1880's. During the Civil War, salt works along the Gulf coast were principal suppliers to the South. From Reconstruction until after World War II, turpentine and lumber were major contributors to the local economy. The Bank of Pasco, established in 1889, was the county's first. The "great freeze” of 1895 destroyed the citres groves. Sunnybrook Tobacco Co. at Dade City was the county's largest employer from 1908 until the 1920's when "black shank” wiped out the industry. Citrus cultivation revived and Pasco Packing Association (Lykes-Pasco), which pioneered development of fruit juice concentrate, was organized in 1936. Severe freezes in 1983-84 again devastated the local citrus industry., The livestock industry saw important changes with the end of open range in 1947 and introduction of new breeds of cattle in the next decade., With the population explosion in western Pasco, the character of the county changed dramatically. By 1970 development of residential communities, mobile home parks and villages was well underway countywide., Pasco County government was conducted in a small building, rented from Coleman and Ferguson, until 1889 when a frame courthouse was erected following the countywide referendum in which Dade City was chosen county seat. In 1909 it was replaced by the domed brick structure, designed by Artemus Roberts, on Courthouse Square. A county building was opened at New Port Richey in 1961. A new courthouse in Dade City and an identical government center in western Pasco County were constructed in 1979-80.