Town of Fort White

Town of Fort White is a Florida historical marker in Fort White, Columbia County, dedicated 1995.

N 1st St., Deese Memorial Park, Fort White

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The town of Fort White, named for a former Second Seminole War fort built nearby in 1837, was founded in 1870 and flourished briefly after the arrival of the railroad in 1888. Phosphate mining and the growing of citrus and cotton sparked a boom that before 1900 made Fort White the second largest city in Columbia County with a population of nearly 2,000. The boom collapsed when severe freezes in the winter of 1896-1897 destroyed the local citrus industry. Phosphate mining ceased by 1910, and the boll weevil ended cotton farming before World War I. A handful of historic buildings, such as the Old Fort White School (1915) remain from the town's era of prosperity.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1837 · Southern States. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Colton's Florida (1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1860 · Johnson's Florida (1860) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1868 · Colton's Florida (1868) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1870 · Johnson's Florida (1870) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Southern States, 1837, covering the location of Town of Fort White, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Southern States, 1837, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Florida Historical Marker Program, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State

Town of Fort White

Historical maps covering this location

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