It’s July 19, 1539…
Conquistador Hernando de Soto’s army has turned northward –
We have found several Indian villages in this area. Many are abandoned but stocked full of harvested corn.
”The next day they came to the . . . — — Map (db m126566) HM
Atlantic Coast Line Depot
Dade City, Florida
Has Been Placed On The
National Register
Of Historic Places
By The United States
Department Of The Interior
c. 1912 — — Map (db m41321) HM
On Christmas Day, 1835, Major Francis Langhorne Dade and his command of 111 men bivouacked near here by Fort King Road, which stretched 125 miles from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala). Three days later, at a point about twenty miles north of . . . — — Map (db m136460) HM
Church Steet, so named because of its churches, developed as a residential area in the 1880's as Dade City grew from an isolated frontier settlement to a railroad town and county seat. Of the several churches built along the street in 1890, First . . . — — Map (db m187771) HM
Built in 1912 to replace an earlier frame structure located about 1/4 mile north, this depot was the first site in Pasco County to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The adjacent track is on the site of the first rail line to . . . — — Map (db m41387) HM
Oak Grove Baptist Church and Cemetery were established here in the early 1870s by Rev. R. E. Bell. Church minutes of 1877 describe the location as "Oak Grove, Florida." By 1886 it was referred to as "Dade City Baptist Church." In the early 1890s the . . . — — Map (db m10480) HM
Erected in 1926 as the Florida Land Boom ended, this Collegiate Gothic style building was financed by bonds of Special Tax School District No. 7. In 1934 it was conveyed to the Pasco County Board of Public Instruction.
Renamed in 1973 in memory . . . — — Map (db m67637) HM
Completed in 1926, on land I. M. Austin donated, this clubhouse is a monument to dedicated local woman who raised $23,000 for its construction. Sallie Embry was charter of the club in 1910. Dollie Hensley, for the next 17 years, lead fund raising . . . — — Map (db m239217) HM
On this site the Enterprise Church stood from 1878 until 1977 to the glory of God and the spiritual edification of those who worshiped here across the years. In 1977 the church building was conveyed to the Florida Pioneer Museum Association, but the . . . — — Map (db m231676) HM
This example of pioneer-style church architecture was constructed in 1915. The bell tower was added in 1920. The church served the St. Rita congregation until 1976 when the Dade City Garden Club moved it to the present site for renovation and use as . . . — — Map (db m67638) HM
Construction on Fort King Road, first known as the Military Road, was begun in 1825 north from Fort Brooke at Tampa Bay. By the 1830’s penetration had been made to Fort King near present-day Ocala, and the road assumed strategic military importance. . . . — — Map (db m129360) HM
About a mile west of this location is the abandoned site of the Freedtown settlement, Pasco County's pioneer black community. It was established about 1869, by newly freed slaves, to the southwest of Lake Buddy.
Freedtown consisted of cabin . . . — — Map (db m243015) HM
Otis E. and Naomi Scott Jones moved to Dade City in the late 1930s and soon became prominent members of the community and St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, where they served as deacon and deaconess. Nearby Naomi Jones Pyracantha Park, which Mrs. . . . — — Map (db m67682) HM
The first bridge crossing the Withlacoochee River at this site was built in the 1850s by slaves belonging to James Lanier. Replaced several times during the following century, the bridge served lumber, turpentine and cattle operations along with . . . — — Map (db m213957) HM
Organized in the late 1800s at Lake Buddy, this congregation moved into Dade City and became known as Mount Zion AME Church. In 1903, with 29 members, a frame meeting house was built. It was later modified to serve as the parsonage. The present . . . — — Map (db m67654) HM
Mount Zion Methodist Church was organized in 1871. A two-story structure, built of hand hewn timbers and sawed rough boards on land donated by Nathan Carter -- with the second floor reserved for the Masonic Lodge -- was completed in 1872 when the . . . — — Map (db m239240) HM
This sole remaining public landmark of the town of Pasadena was built in the 1880's and, like the nearby Lakeview Highlands Hotel, served as a social center in a citrus growing community noted for its wealth until the "Great Freeze" of 1895. The . . . — — Map (db m67635) HM
Pasco County was created from Hernando County on May 12, 1887. The area was first inhabited by Muscogee Indians and the first white men in the area came with Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez in May, 1528. Narvaez fought the Indians near the . . . — — Map (db m41099) HM
The 14 granite panel around the base of the bandstand record and honor the names of the 1,860 military Veterans with a ‘home of record” of Pasco County, Florida that served during World War II. They crossed both great oceans to land on continents . . . — — Map (db m214836) HM WM
Price Park is part of the W.T. Anderson's addition (platted in 1888) and the Chas. H. Robinson's addition (platted in 1906). The park is the former site of the A.F. Price home purchased in 1917 from W.I. Porter. Alfred Francis "Frank" Price . . . — — Map (db m136020) HM
Organized in 1896 with Rev. Henry Williams as pastor. This congregation built its first sanctuary on a nearby lot donated by W. I. Porter. That small wooden structure was dedicated August 12, 1896.
The congregation grew and the present brick . . . — — Map (db m41677) HM
The demands of World War II created a shortage of agricultural workers here at home. To alleviate the problem, the Prisoner of War Special Projects Division of the United States Army established some 500 camps with a total capacity of 378,000 . . . — — Map (db m10483) HM
Organized in 1891, St. Mary's originally served Anglican settlers at Lake Pasadena. Its first resident priest, the Rev. James Neville-Thompson, was ordained there in 1892. After the "Great Freeze" in 1895 the building fell into disuse, while . . . — — Map (db m67651) HM
Captain John Townsend and his wife, Nancy, brought their family and slaves to this area from North Florida in the late 1840's. The log home they built became the center of a pioneer community and a refuge from unfriendly Indians. After 1865 when the . . . — — Map (db m67631) HM
Whitehouse Road marks the south boundary of land settled about 1842 by James Gibbons under the Armed Occupation Act. The first Fort Dade Post Office was established there in 1845. In that year, Gibbons' widow, Mary, wed William Kendrick, Captain of . . . — — Map (db m10474) HM
Dedicated to the memory of William M. and Emily Larkin, supporters of the museum from its inception. Emily's generosity in memory of her husband prompted the museum to be located on these 21 acres, once a part of their ranch "Little Everglades". . . . — — Map (db m231683) HM
