Historical Markers of Alachua County UCG Sunday Seminar May 24, 2020 Fletcher Crowe [email protected]
First, The History of Gainesville in 30 Seconds 1492 Columbus discovers the New World 1539 Hernando de Soto marches through this area, Spanish colonists later begin ranching cattle in Paynes Prairie with Timucua Indian labor, naming the largest hacienda La Chua, taken from the Timucua word for "sinkhole." SEE MARKERS 1 AN D 2 1817 -- Gainesville and North Florida was part of a land grant to Don Fernando de la Mata Arredondo from the Spanish Crown. The wealthy merchant and most of the Spanish activ- ity focused around cattle farming in and around Paynes Prairie. SEE MARKER 5 AND 6 1819 --The United States purchases Florida from Spain 1824 -- Newnansville founded (today's city of Alachua). SEE MARKERS 12 AND 13 1835-42 -- Second Seminole War SEE MARKERS 10, 13 AND 17
1845 -- Florida became a state with slavery. SEE MARKERS 14, 15 AND 16 1854 -- Gainesville became the county seat of Alachua County in 1854. Many believe that Gainesville came from a settlement named Hogtown. SEE MARKER 1O AND 18
1853 -- The East Florida Seminary in Ocala founded. It would eventually become the Uni- versity of Florida. SEE MARKERS 21 AND 22
1859 -- When the cross Florida railroad bypassed Newnansville and was located further south, the town of Gainesville was established. It was named for General Edmund P. Gaines, who was considered a hero during the Seminole Wars. The railroad connected the shipping port of Fernandina with Cedar Key by Sen. David Levy Yulee. SEE MARKERS 13, 18 AND 20
1860 -- Civil War breaks out. 1864 -- J. J Dickison raids Gainesville SEE MARKERS 23 AND 24 1869 -- Gainesville is incorporated; the economy was based on cotton production SEE MARKER 18 AND 26 1906 – The University campus in Gainesville opened with 102 students; soon thirteen Gothic-style buildings SEE MARKER 27 1894-5 -- Freezes destroyed the citrus industry, and the boll weevil blighted the cotton crops. SEE MARKERS 11 AND 15
1914 -- World War I breaks out; marks the end to the Alachua phosphate industry in Archer
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1926 – A hurricane cripples the Florida land boom 1929 -- The Great Depression; the years of Jim Crow segregation SEE MARKERS 26 and 33
1941-- Pearl Harbor; after WWII, GIs stream into UF SEE MARKER 35 AND 38
1954 – Brown vs. Board Desegregation Decision SEE MARKERS 36 AND 37 Gainesville Historical Markers
SEE: http://apps.flheritage.com/markers/map/index.cfm?county=Alachua https://www.hmdb.org/results.asp?Town=Gainesville&State=Florida
SEE ALSO: http://apps.flheritage.com/markers/markers.cfm?click=1
1. The Law School Mound 20. Boulware Springs (1895-1908) 2. De Soto Trail 21. East Florida Seminary 3. Forced into Service: The Florida 22. Roper Park De Soto Trail 23. The Battle of Gainesville 4. Micanopy 24. Capture of the Jefferson Davis 5. Five Centuries of Ranching on the Baggage Train Prairie 25. Matheson House 6. Arredondo Grant 26. Josiah T. Walls 7. William Bartram (1739-1823) 27. University of Florida Historic 8. Paynes Prairie Campus 9. Alachua Sink 28. Gainesville Railroads 10. Hogtown and Hogtown Fort 29. Jesse Johnson Finley 11. The Bellamy Road and Melrose 30. Chestnut Funeral Home 12. Newnansville (1824-1890) 31. Mount Pleasant United Methodist 13. Old Stage Road Church 14. The Bailey House 32. "The Great Endurance Run" 15. Haile Plantation (c.1850) at Ka- 33. The Newberry Lynchings of 1916 napaha Plantation 34. Alachua General Hospital 16. Rochelle 35. Thelma Boltin Center 17. Fort Clarke 36. Mt. Carmel Baptist Church 18. City of Gainesville 37. The Home of A. Quinn Jones 19. Evergreen Cemetery 38. Gatorade's Birthplace
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1. THE LAW SCHOOL MOUND Marker Location: University of Florida Law School grounds, in front of the Universi- ty of Florida Law School.
100 yards west is an aboriginal burial mound built ca. A.D. 1000 by Alachua Tradition peoples, ancestors of the Potano Indians who lived in Alachua County in the 16th and 17th centuries. Initially several individuals were buried in a central grave, a small earthen mound was raised over them. Through time additional burials were laid on the mound's surface and covered with earth. The villagers who built the mound probably lived along the shore of Lake Alice. Well before the mound was built, people of the Deptford Culture, 500 B.C. to A.D. 100, camped on this same lo- cation. The remains of their campsite were covered by the mound. First dug in 1881 by a local Gainesville resi- dent, the mound and earlier campsite were scientifically excavated by Florida State Museum archaeologists and students in 1976.
2. De Soto Trail Marker: State Road 121 & US 441 at a wayside park near Hague.
Florida's De Soto Trail commemorates the overland route of Hernando De Soto, who made a four-year exploration of the southeastern United States from 1539 to 1543. His approxi- mate passage through Alachua County in August, 1539, follows State Road 121 from Levy County through Gainesville to U.S. 441. Interpretative exhibits are located along the trail, one at a wayside park near Hague.
One sign reads: In 1539, a Spanish expeditionary force led by Hernando de Soto landed in the Tampa Bay area. Nearly 600 heavily armed adventurers traveled more than 4000 miles from Florida to Mexico intending to explore and control the Southeast of North America. The route of de Soto has always been uncertain, including the location of the village of An- haica, the first winter encampment.
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In 1987 a state archaeologist, led a team of amateurs and professionals in an excavation which recovered more than 40,000 artifacts there. The evidence includes links of chain mail armor, copper coins, the iron tip of a crossbow bolt, Spanish olive jar shards, and glass trade beads. The team also found the jaw bone of a pig. Pigs were not native to the New World and historical documents confirm that the expedition brought swine. These finds provided the physical evidence of the 1539-40 winter encampment, the first confirmed de Soto site in North America. From this location, the de Soto expedition traveled northward and westward making the first European contact with many native societies. Within two centuries, most of the southeastern native cultures were greatly diminished.
3. Forced into Service The Florida De Soto Trail
Location: Marker is on NW 83rd Street north of North West South Road, on the left when traveling north. Marker is located near the southeast corner of the Santa Fe College main parking lot on NW 83rd St., near 3000 NW 83rd Street, Gainesville FL 32606
It’s August 13, 1539. Hernando de Soto and his scouting party are passing through the Indian villages of Utinamocharra located just south of here. My army of more than 700 men follow behind. We will march quickly through this area on our way north to the Apalachee chiefdom to find food and gold. We also hope to find new Indian guides, as many have deserted our ranks.
The governor commanded his men to ambush and seize as many natives as possible, for those who had come along and had served had now fled, and guides were needed. Accord- ingly they took thirty Indians, counting children and adults. Then we coaxed the captives on the one hand with flattery, gifts and promises of reward should they do their duty, and on the other with great threats of cruel death if they should fail in it.
The Spanish relied heavily on Indian captives to act as guides and interpreters during their expedition. Many times, these captives lied and misled the Spanish in order to protect their people and villages. When discovered, the guilty were burned at the stake or torn apart by war dogs. Those who escaped unknowingly brought disease back to their villages from contact with the Spanish.
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The people of Utinamocharra built several clusters of small villages . Their close proximity facilitated alliances for trade and protection. However, it did little to protect them from the onslaught of European armies and their infectious diseases.
In 1536, de Soto obtained a royal commission to conquer and settle the region known as La Florida (now the southeastern United States), which had been the site of earlier explora- tions by Juan Ponce de León and others. De Soto set out from Spain in April 1538 with 10 ships and 700 men. After a stop in Cuba, the expedition landed at Tampa Bay in May 1539. They moved inland and eventually set up camp for the winter at a small Indian vil- lage near present-day Tallahassee.
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4. MICANOPY Marker Location: C.R. 25A at N.E. Peach Ave., Micanopy, in front of the gazebo.
A Timucua Indian village of the Potano tribe was located near here when the early Spanish Explorer Hernando De Soto led his expedition through the area in 1539. Botanist William Bartram visited Cuscawil- la village nearby in 1774. The first permanent white set- tlement in what is now Alachua County, called Wanton, was started in 1821. Wanton Post Office was established in 1826; the name was changed to Micanopy in 1834. Fort Micanopy, also called Fort Defiance, stood near here dur- ing the Second Seminole War. Several skirmishes were fought nearby. The town was in- corporated September 15, 1858.
5. Five Centuries of Ranching on the Prairie Marker Location: Marker can be reached from Southeast 15th Street (Camp Ranch Road) 0.4 miles south of Southeast 41st Avenue when traveling south. Marker is located on the La Chua Trail, in Paynes Prai- rie Preserve State Park, 1/4 mile south (by foot only) of the La Chua Trailhead.
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Organized cattle ranching at the prairie began here in the 1600s. You are standing at the site of the largest ranch in Spanish Florida, Hacienda de la Chua (right). Hacienda de la Chua was the main supplier of beef to St. Augustine, and an unknown amount to Cuba. It was attacked and burned by English-led Creek Indians in 1705.
After the Spanish were forced to leave, free-roaming scrub cows became the property of whoever could catch them. The Seminole Indians gathered these cows and established large herds envied by white settlers. William Bartram visited this area in the spring of 1774 and stated that the prairie “was grazed by innumerable droves of cattle.” The vital role of cattle herding to the Seminole culture and economy was seen in the name of one local leader, Cowkeeper (1710-1783).
The Seminole Indians fought three wars (1818-1858) with the Georgia militias and the U.S. Army over ownership of the land and cattle, and the harboring of escaped slaves. Paynes Town, located on the south side of the prairie, was the last Seminole settlement in north Florida. It was abandoned by the start of the Second Seminole War, which began near Bolen Bluff with the Battle of Black Point in 1835.
After the Seminole Indians were forced to retreat south, cattlemen from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas seized range territory that the Seminole Indians had relinquished. These cracker cowmen or cowhunters, named for the crack of their whips, survived difficult con- ditions. They spent weeks or months driving cattle across marshes and woods, and fighting off panthers, bears and cattle rustlers.
In the 1890s, the entrepreneurial Camp Family became the owners of most of Paynes Prai- rie. After a failed attempt to create hydroelectric power by damming Alachua Sink, they turned their attention to cattle ranching. With the intent to make ranching more profitable, they established a network of dikes and canals to control the flow of water on the prairie. Each of today's trails in the prairie basin is on a Camp Ranch dike.
When the State of Florida purchased the Preserve in 1970 from the Camp family, 10,000 to 15,000 head of cattle were grazing on the prairie. This heavy grazing left its mark—it has been said that the only thing taller than 6” had either four legs or barbed wire nailed to it. These were good conditions for cattle, but not for wildlife
Hacienda de la Chua at Paynes Prairie and other cattle ranches in North Florida provided hides, tallow, and sun-dried beef for the Spanish garrison in St. Augustine and for export.
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6. Arredondo Grant Don Fernando de Maza Arredondo, a Spanish merchant and citizen of St. Augustine, had assisted in raising troops in 1811 for the town's protection and played a significant role in its civic life, hazarding his own fortune to aid the city when public resources failed. As a compensation for his services in 1817, the King of Spain granted him 280,000 acres em- bracing most of Alachua County with its center in Micanopy. On this grant, Horatio S. Dexter and Edward M. Wanton, agents for Don Fernando, began the settlement of Alachua County. In November of 1820 Wanton settled near present day Micanopy and erected two houses. By 1826 Wanton's town had a post office, twenty-five homes and a powered sawmill and it was soon to be renamed Micanopy, after the great Seminole Indian chief and warrior.
7. WILLIAM BARTRAM (1739-1823) Marker Location: N.E. Cholokka Blvd. Micanopy,(County Road 25-A)
The great Quaker naturalist of Philadelphia made a long journey through the southeastern states in the 1770's collecting botanical specimens. In May, 1774, he visited the Seminole Chief, Cowkeeper, at the Indian village of Cuscowilla located near this spot. His book, "TRAVELS...", provided the earliest reliable account of North Florida landscape, flora, fauna and Indian life and his vivid images of local scenes inspired Coleridge, Wordsworth and Emerson.
8. Paynes Prairie Marker: U.S. 441 (Southwest 13th Street)
Paynes Prairie, now a State Preserve, is a large, flat, marshy plain covered by grass and scrubby trees. It measures eight miles long with a width of one to four miles. Water drain- ing into the Prairie goes underground through the soluble limestone of Alachua Sink. His- torically Paynes Prairie has alternated between being a lake and a prairie. It was occupied by Timucuan Indians until the late 1600s when the land served as a large cattle ranch for 8
the Spanish. In 1774 the famous naturalist William Bartram visited the Prairie and de- scribed this area as the great Alachua Savannah. In 1871 the sink was plugged with logs and debris and so became the Alachua Lake, plied by low-draft steamboats like the "Cico- la" which shipped citrus. In 1892 the sink became unplugged and rapidly drained, once again reverting to its prairie state.
9. Alachua Sink Location. Marker can be reached from Southeast 15th Street (Camp Ranch Road) 0.4 miles south of Southeast 41st Avenue when traveling south. Both the marker and the Alachua Sink are located on the La Chua Trail, in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, 1/4 mile south (by foot only) of the La Chua Trailhead.
The Alachua Sink, a name likely derived from the Potano word meaning “jug,” is the deep- est of Paynes Prairie’s sinkholes and acts as a conduit for water entering the Floridan aqui- fer at a rate of up to 6 million gallons per day. Sinkholes have altered the landscape of this area, allternating dry to wet to dry, affecting human activities dating back approximately 12,000 years. The largest cattle operation in Spanish Florida, Hacienda De La Chua, oper- ated near this site in the late 1600s. William Bartram described the Alachua Sink during his time on the Great Savannah in 1774, when the prairie was occupied by Seminoles. Dur- ing the 1870-80s the prairie was flooded and the sink was a landing site for steamboats, where cargo could be loaded onto the Florida Southern Railway, until Alachua Lake sud- denly drained in 1892. The State purchased this area in 1970, and in 1971 it became the first State Preserve.
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10. HOGTOWN and HOGTOWN FORT Marker Location: in West Side park on corner of 34th St. and 8th Ave.
Side 1: Near this site was located Hogtown, one of the earliest settlements in Alachua County. It was originally an Indian village which in 1824 had fourteen inhabitants. Hog- town settlement is also mentioned in documents of the early nineteenth century which dis- cuss land grants issued by the Spanish crown during the Second Spanish Period in Florida's history (1783-1821).
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In the late 1820's Hogtown became a white settlement as American pioneers occupied Indi- an land from which the Seminoles had been removed by the terms of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. In 1854, the town of Gainesville was founded on a site located a few miles east of Hogtown.
Side 2: During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), a set- tler's fort was built at the Hogtown settlement near this site. Shortly before the onset of that war, men from the Hogtown settlement and from Spring Grove, a community located about four miles to the west, organized a volunteer company of mounted riflemen, the Spring Grove Guards. Spring Grove was at that time the seat of justice in Alachua County (1832-1839). For several months, members of the Guards periodically paraded and patrolled the countryside to protect the inhabitants against Indians. The fort at Hog- town was one of more than a dozen Second Seminole War forts located in or near present-day Alachua County.
11. The Bellamy Road and Melrose Marker: Near the City of Alachua
Constructed from 1824 to 1826 by John Bellamy, a surveyor and engineer, the Bellamy Road was the first federally financed road in Florida. Connecting Pensacola to St. Augus- tine, the road was twenty-five feet wide and the stumps were cut to within twelve inches of the ground so that wagon axles would clear them. Bellamy used his own equipment and slaves and suffered natural hazards, as well as Indian attacks, during the construction. This road opened the interior of North Florida to exploration.
Melrose Marker, Side 1: The region south of Santa Fe Lake was not settled until after the Seminole War in 1842, although it was on the Spanish mission trail from St. Augustine from about 1600 to 1763 and, during the English (1763-1784) and second Spanish (1784- 1821) periods, on the overland route to Pensacola. Florida's first Federal highway, the 1826 Bellamy road, followed about the same path. Many of the early landowners came from South Carolina and Georgia. After the decade of Reconstruction following the Civil War, an influx of new families came to the region, many to engage in planting orange groves, a few of which had been started in the 1850's.
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Because the route of the Florida Railroad, completed in 1861 and reorganized after the War, passed west of the region, the Santa Fe Canal Company was chartered in March of 1877 to open a waterway from the railroad in Waldo through Lake Alto to Santa Fe Lake. In May of 1877 Alexander Goodson, Isaac Weston, and Meridth Granger, platted a 30- block town site south of the little bay on the southeast side of Santa Fe Lake. The old Bel- lamy Road was the main east-west axis, with Centre Street, straddling the Alachua, Put- nam, and Clay county border, as the north-south axis.
Side 2: The origin of the town name, Melrose, is shrouded in conflicting legends. The ca- nal linking Waldo to Santa Fe Lake was completed in March of 1881. The stern-wheel steamer, F.S. Lewis, built in Waldo, made its maiden voyage in April 1881. Northern visi- tors, who came to improve their health and invest in orange groves, built winter cottages or stayed at the boarding houses or the several hotels that catered to the winter tourists. The town soon had a number of general stores, a sawmill, cotton gin, livery stables, several churches, and a high school.
The Western Railroad reached Melrose from Green Cove Springs in 1890. The town was then a thriving waterfront resort, lake port, and a horticultural and agricultural center. Dev- astated by the freezes of 1894-95, the citrus groves never recovered. Melrose became a quiet lakeside retreat for seasonal and week-end residents, with a small permanent popula- tion. In 1901 Melrose was incorporated but gave up its charter in 1917. Many of the nine- teenth century homes and buildings still survive.
12. Newnansville (1824-1890) Marker: Northeast of the City of Alachua
Newnansville was the site of a well-developed nineteenth century rural village which be- came the first county seat in Alachua in 1828. Standing at the junction of several important roads, it prospered as a commercial center for the corn, cotton and citrus industries of the expanding Middle Florida frontier. In 1854 the county seat was moved to Gainesville and the town declined in population and importance. When a new railway line, built in 1884, bypassed the town, Newnansville was abandoned. Today all that survive are two cemeter- ies and the remains of a road.
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13. Old Stage Road Location. Marker is at the intersection of Southwest 24th Avenue and SW 69th Terrace, on the left when traveling west on Southwest 24th Ave., near 7001 Southwest 24th Ave. Gainesville FL 32607
The Old Stage Road, one of Alachua County’s original highways, passed near here. Dating from the 1820s, it connected the county’s two major towns, Newnansville (once the county seat, near present day Alachua) and Micanopy to the south. The road served as a major commerce, transportation and military artery. Forts built for protection from Seminole In- dians near Micanopy and Newnansville were linked by the road. During the Second Semi- nole War, Fort Clarke, a U.S. Army post, was built along the road northwest of here.
By the early 1860s, local farmers relied on the road to transport crops to the railroad depot in Arredondo. From 1866 to 1876, a stage line used the road, carry- ing mail and passengers to Ocala and Newnansville, and to Tampa by 1869. Use of the road diminished after steamer service across Alachua Lake (now Payne’s Prairie) began in 1876. Railroad service was expanded to Micanopy in the early 1880s. Newnans- ville had been deserted by 1900. In the 20th century, sections of the road were abandoned in favor of newer and better roads. Original sections of the Old Stage Road still exist.
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14. THE BAILEY HOUSE Marker Location: on-site, at 1121 NW 6th Street
This is one of the oldest houses in the city of Gainesville. It was constructed about 1850 by Major James B. Bailey, a prominent citizen of Alachua County. Bailey was a leading pro- ponent of moving the county seat away from Newnansville to a new place, later known as Gainesville, part of which was to be located on his own plantation. The Bailey House was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Although it has been slightly altered during its existence, Major Bailey's house survives as a good example of the Ante- bellum domestic architecture of this area.
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15. Rochelle Location: Country Road 234, south of Hwy 20
Side 1: Colonel Daniel Newman led a troop of the Georgia militia on a raid into the area in September 1812 in an attempt to annex Florida to the United States in the War of 1812. The raiders engaged a force of Seminole Indians under the command of Seminole chief King Payne near here. Several soldiers and Indians were killed in the fierce battle, includ- ing King Payne.
Ft. Crane, named for Lt. Colonel Ichabod Crane, Commander of the U.S. Army District of Northeast Florida, was built in January 1837 during the Second Seminole War. It was lo- cated just south of Rochelle and was commanded by Lt. John H. Winder, later commander of Confederate prisons. By the 1840s settlers had moved into the area from South Carolina and Georgia. The Perry, Rochelle, Tillman and Zetrouer families were among the earliest arrivals. Early roads in the area were heavily traveled by settlers and the military. One im- portant route linked St. Augustine with Newnansville, located about 16 miles northwest of this marker. Union troops passed near this site in August 1864 en route to Gainesville where they were defeated by Confederate cavalry led by Capt. J.J. Dickison.
Side 2: The community of Rochelle, located about one mile south of this marker, was first called Perry Junction and grew up around the site of the plantation of Madison Starke Perry, Governor of Florida 1857-61. In 1854, Perry donated land for Oak Ridge Ceme- tery, located between Rochelle and Micanopy. Perry and many pioneer families from the area are buried there. The town was renamed Gruelle in 1881 and changed to Rochelle in 1884 in honor of the parents of Gov. Perry's wife, Martha Perry. Rochelle became a hub of the Florida Southern Railway in 1882 and later lay on the main line of the Plant Railway System, being a daily stopover between Jacksonville and St. Petersburg. By 1888 twenty- four trains a day passed through the community of about 100 residents. Rochelle became a citrus center, but the Great Freeze of 1894-95 destroyed the citrus crop, causing many of the inhabitants to leave. Today only a few buildings remain as reminders of the once thriv- ing settlement. One of these is the Rochelle School (Martha Perry Institute), constructed in 1885, which served the community until 1935. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
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16. HAILE PLANTATION (c.1850) AT KANAPAHA PLANTATION Marker: Intersection of SW Archer Rd. and SW 85th St. southwest of Gainesville
Located eight miles southwest of Gainesville, this frame vernacular plantation home with its classical propor- tions is one of the few extant homes from the pre-Civil War era. Built on four-foot-high flintstone pillars, it contains pine beams over one hundred feet long. Thom- as Evans Haile moved to Florida from South Carolina in the 1850s and built this house as part of a cotton and rice plantation.
Ten children were born here and it functioned as the family home until 1897. Since then used as a weekend retreat and mainly unchanged, the house functioned as a background site for Victor Nunez's Earn, "Gal Young Un'," based on a story by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The house has since been stabilized, but still needs extensive restoration.
17. FORT CLARKE Location: W. of city on S.R. 26 (Newberry Road), on grounds of Ft. Clarke Church
Near this site was located Fort Clarke, originally a U.S. Army post during the Seminole War, and afterwards a settlement. The name is preserved in nearby Fort Clarke Church. At this site crossed the early settlement and military road connecting the old county seats at Newnansville (near present-day Alachua) and Spring Grove with Micanopy. Fort Clarke was named for a U.S. Army officer.
18. CITY OF GAINESVILLE Marker Location: between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg
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Designated the County Seat in 1854, and incorporated as a City in 1869, Gainesville takes its name from General Edmund Gaines, captor of Aaron Burr and commander of U.S. Ar- my troops in Florida during the Second Seminole War. The town was the fourth Alachua County Seat of government. The University of Florida and its educational predecessors have been located in Gainesville since the 1850's.
19. Evergreen Cemetery Location: Marker can be reached from the intersection of Southeast 21st Avenue and Southeast 4th Street, on the right when traveling west
Evergreen Cemetery, known locally as "This Wondrous Place," began with the burial of a baby girl in 1856. The infant, Elizabeth Thomas, was the daughter of wealthy cotton mer- chant James T. Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Hall Thomas. The baby was laid to rest by a young cedar tree on family land. Eight months later, her mother was buried along- side her. Their double grave is marked with a simple headstone carved by a noted stonema- son from Charleston, W.A. White. In 1866, Thomas sold his 720-acre parcel, reserving roughly one acre around the burial for a graveyard.
The Evergreen Cemetery Association operated the cemetery, beginning in 1890, until it was purchased by the City of Gainesville in 1944. The cemetery now includes 53 acres, and is the final resting place of more than 10,000 people. Some the persons in- terred here are Gainesville founder James B. Bailey, anthropologist William R. Maples, ecologists Archie and Marjorie Carr, Florida's first female physician Sarah L. Robb, Major General Albert H. Blanding, U.S. Commissioner of Education John J. Tigert, and Gatorade inventor Robert Cade.
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20. BOULWARE SPRINGS (1895-1908) Marker: 3400 Southeast 15th Street
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A natural spring that had been a local swimming and picnic area, Boulware Springs gained historic significance in the summer of 1853. The citizens of Alachua County met there and voted to move the county seat from Newnansville to a new, yet-unnamed town, the future Gainesville. In 1892 the city purchased the springs and built Gainesville's first central wa- ter works, functioning as the sole source of Gainesville's drinking water from 1898 to 1913. The pump house, built in 1902, is an excellent example of Florida industrial architecture with its white brick walls, standing seam metal hip roof and segmented arches located above several windows.
21. EAST FLORIDA SEMINARY Marker Location: 200 East University Avenue, between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE, at the Gainesville City Hall
Founded as the Gainesville Academy before the Civil War and later renamed, the East Florida Seminary served Gainesville's need for higher education until the University of Florida was created by the Florida Legislature in 1905. The Seminary school building, erected after an earlier structure burned in 1833, was converted to use as a fellowship hall by the First Methodist Church, at 419 N.E. 1st Avenue.
22. ROPER PARK Marker Location: between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg.
Roper Park is the original site of the parade grounds and barracks for the East Florida Sem- inary, a non- sectarian educational institution and forerunner to the University of Florida, which was located in Gainesville in part due to the presence of the Seminary. James H. Roper (1835-1883) moved to Gainesville in 1856 after he received his degree from Trinity College in North Carolina. He started the first school in 1857. It was the only school in the county that operated during the Civil War. The East Florida Seminary in Ocala closed when the war began, and Roper, a member of the State Senate in 1865-`66 and the Board of Education engineered its relocation to Gainesville by donating his school's building and site in 1866. The Seminary accepted students who lived east of the Suwannee River. Roper was president for the first two years and remained on the Board of Education through 1883. Af-
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ter his resignation as president, Roper pursued his interests in rental property, orange groves, and his livery stable, among other activities. He was a Gainesville city councilman 1876. He died at age 48 in Mt. Gilead, NC.
The barracks for the East Florida Seminary were built on this site in 1866, behind this marker and directly east of the academic hall. The two-story frame building had a double veranda along the south side, and a two story porch surrounded an open courtyard in its center. Male teachers occupied 14 rooms. The kitchen, bathrooms and infirmary were lo- cated in separate buildings north of the barracks, and the two story dining hall was located on the east side of the lower floor. Parade grounds where male students were required to do daily military drills occupied the south half of the block (in front of this marker). The Fri- day dress parade was attended by many of the locals, particularly the young ladies. When Gainesville was awarded the University of Florida, a torchlight parade wound its way through the streets, and around the drill field. The City of Gainesville purchased the block in 1906. In 1907, Mayor William Thomas bought the barracks and added them to the near- by White House Hotel.
23. THE BATTLE OF GAINESVILLE Marker Location: between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg.
The first Civil War gunfire in Gainesville's streets came on February 15, 1864, when a raid- ing party of 50 men from the 40th Massachusetts Cavalry entered the City to attempt the capture of two trains. The raid was unproductive, for the Federal troops were met and re- pulsed by the Second Florida Cavalry at what is now Main Street at University Avenue. Five days later, the main Federal force was defeated at the battle of Olustee, 50 miles to the north.
Six months later, a Civil War battle was fought in Gainesville on August 17, 1864, when about 300 occupying Federal Troops were attacked by Florida Cavalry under Captain J.J. Dickison, called "Florida's most conspicuous soldier." The Federals were driven from the City after a brisk fight and suffered severe casualties during hard pursuit, which ended in victory for the Confederate force. John Jackson Dickison (1816-1902), Florida's famous Civil War guerrilla leader, bivouacked at Camp Baker, south of Waldo, during the closing weeks of the conflict. Dickison and his men became legendary figures. As Company H, Second Florida Cavalry, they engaged in skirmishes, raids, battles, scouting expeditions, and forced marches from the time of organization at Flotard's Pond, Marion County, in 1862, until the force was mustered out at Waldo on May 20, 1865.
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24. CAPTURE OF THE JEF- FERSON DAVIS' BAGGAGE TRAIN Marker Location: S.R. 24. in Waldo in front of the caboose in the City Park S.W. 5th Blvd.(east bound SR24) at S.W. 2nd Way
On June 15, 1865, a detachment of Union soldiers under Captain O.E. Bryant seized personal baggage belonging to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and some of the Confederate government's records in a house near this site. The trunks and papers were hidden first at Sen- ator David Levy Yulee's plantation, "Cottonwood" be- tween Archer and Gainesville. The baggage was moved to Waldo and placed in care of the railroad agent.
25. MATHESON HOUSE Location: Matheson House grounds, 528 S.W. First Street
The Matheson homestead dates from 1857, when Alexander Matheson brought his family from Camden, South Carolina to establish a home on the Sweetwater Branch at the eastern edge of the new town of Gainesville. The present one and a half story Matheson House is believed to incorporate much of the original one story home. Alexander moved his family back to South Carolina in the early years of the Civil War. After the war and settlement of a mortgage foreclosure, the property was acquired by his younger brother, James D. Matheson, who had served as an officer in the Seventh South Carolina Cavalry and surren- dered at Appomatox.
He moved into the home in 1867 with his new bride, Augusta Florida Steele, daughter of Judge Augustus Steele, founder of Cedar Key, and an influential Florida pioneer during the territorial and early statehood period. James, a prominent businessman and merchant, ran a successful dry goods store and engaged in other commercial enterprises. He was also a trustee of the East Florida Seminary and served on the Alachua County Commission from 1895 to 1899. Elected County Treasurer in 1909, he held that office until his death in 1911.
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By 1907, James and Augusta had enlarged their home, adding the second floor bedrooms, the distinctive gambrel roof and gabled dormers, a first floor sitting room, and enclosing part of the back porch. Their son, Christopher, born in 1874, continued to live here after completing his education at the East Florida Seminary and the Citadel. He established a law practice in 1900, and served as mayor of Gainesville from 1910 to 1917 and in the Florida Legislature in 1917 and 1919. Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1919, he left his law practice to serve the ministry in Oklahoma for the next 26 years. During this time the house was rented to various tenants. On his retirement in 1946, he returned home with his wife, Sarah Hamilton Matheson. She maintained her residence here after his death in 1952, and in 1989 donated the property to the Matheson Historical Center, Inc. The evolution of the Matheson House from a modest, mid-19th century farm house to its early 20th century ap- pearance reflects the increasing prosperity of its owners in a growing community. It is pre- served today as a reminder of their accomplishments and of those other early residents of Gainesville.
26. JOSIAH T. WALLS Marker Location: University Avenue, between NW 1st Street and NW 2nd
Born in 1842 to slave parents in Winchester, Va., little is known of Josiah T. Walls' early life. After a short term of Confederate service, he enlisted in the Third Regiment, U.S. Col- ored Troops in 1863. Transferred to Picolata on the St. Johns River in 1864, he married Helen Ferguson of Newnansville and in 1865 moved to Alachua County after he was mus- tered out. After passage of the U.S. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, Walls entered in- to Florida politics; as a delegate to the 1868 State constitutional convention, followed by election as a State representative and later senator from Alachua County.
The 1870 nominee of the Republican Party for Florida's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Walls defeated Silas Niblack after a bitter contest, riddled with charges of fraud and intimidation. Josiah T. Walls thus became the State's first black congressman. Although unseated by the House near the end of his term, Walls was re-elected in 1872. In another contested election in 1874, Walls defeated J.J. Finley, a former Confederate Gen- eral, but, in 1876, was again removed from office. Walls was elected to the Florida Senate that year. After 1879, Josiah Walls concentrated on his farming activities. He had first ac- quired land near Newnansville in 1868 but in 1870 had moved to Gainesville.
In 1871 Walls bought for their home the western half of the block now bounded by Uni- versity Avenue on the south and N.W. 2nd Street on the west. In 1873 he purchased a 1175
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acre plantation on the west edge of Paynes Prairie. In that year he acquired the weekly newspaper, THE NEW ERA, and was admitted to the Florida Bar. Remaining active in lo- cal politics, Walls served at various times as mayor of Gainesville, a member of the Board of Public Instruction, and County Commissioner. A highly successful and prosperous farmer through the 1880's, he suffered financial ruin as a result of the severe freeze of the winter of 1894-95. Walls moved to Tallahassee to become the farm director at the school that is now Florida A. and M. University. He died in Tallahassee in 1905.
27. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HISTORIC CAMPUS Marker Location: University Ave., near corner of University & 13th
The University of Florida Campus Historic District and two individual campus buildings were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and 1990 in recognition of their architectural and cultural significance and the coherence of the campus plan. The buildings were designed by architects William A. Edwards from 1905 to 1924 and Rudolph Weaver from 1925 to 1939 in the Collegiate Gothic style. The landscape plan was de- veloped in 1926 by Olmsted Brothers, the firm that designed New York's Central Park. The historic campus reflects the university's rich heritage and the significant place it holds in Florida's educational history.
28. Gainesville Railroads Marker: Corner NW 3rd Ave. & 6th St.
The coming of the Florida Railroad opened up the interior of Florida for both settlement and trading and helped establish Gainesville. On February 1, 1859 the Florida Railroad en- tered town and connected Fernandina Beach with Cedar Key by 1861. Built from the northeast along what is now Waldo Road, the rails crossed 13th Street at Archer Road, and continued southwest along Archer Road to Cedar Key. The 19th century Florida roads were sandy, swampy and nearly impassible, so early rail access to two ports dramatically in- creased Gainesville\'s prosperity. Railroads provided transportation for outgoing agricultur-
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al products and brought in the region\'s first tourists, creating a demand for hotels, restau- rants and other services.
As the demand for North Central Florida agriculture grew at the turn of the 20th century, more railroads crisscrossed the region. The last railroad passenger service in Gainesville ended in 1971. The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) Railroad built a modern depot in 1948 re- routing its trains from Main Street downtown to tracks on Northwest 6th Street. The ACL depot is presently part of the downtown campus of Santa Fe Community College. Gaines- ville's first railroad, the Florida Railroad, was started in 1859. In 1881, the Florida Southern Railroad reached town from Palatka, Hawthorne and Rochelle, entering at South Main Street from Hawthorne Road and running the length of Main Street to 8th Avenue. A route from Rochelle provided service to Ocala.
Three years later, the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad linked to these tracks, provid- ing service through Alachua to Waycross, Georgia. The two lines merged in 1902, becom- ing the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, providing service from Tampa Bay to New York. ACL trains ran in the middle of Main Street stopping for passengers to use the city's hotels. In 1895, the Gainesville and Gulf Railroad built a line to Micanopy along NW 6th Street. In 1900, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) was established and acquired the old Flori- da Railroad right-of-way through Gainesville. When the SAL bought the T&J in 1926, it was renamed the Jacksonville, Gainesville & Gulf. This line was abandoned in 1943.
29. Jesse Johnson Finley Location. Marker can be reached from the intersection of Southeast 21st Avenue and Southeast 4th Street, on the left when traveling west. Marker is located in the rear of the cemetery.
Jesse Johnson Finley was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, November 18, 1812 and edu- cated in Lebanon, Tennessee. After service as a captain in the Seminole War of 1836, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. During a ten year period he served in the Florida and Mississippi legislatures and as mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. He was elevated to the Florida bench in 1853 and was appointed Confederate district judge for the state in 1861. But soon he was promoted to colonel of the 6th Florida Infantry, where he participated in the Kentucky campaign under General Kirby-Smith and at Chickamauga.
Commissioned as brigadier general in November 1863, he was assigned to command Flori- da infantry regiments in the Army of Tennessee, where he led his brigade with great credit
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in the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns. Twice severely wounded, he was incapacitated for further field duty after the battle of Jonesboro. After the war, he served parts of three contested terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1887 was appointed by the governor to serve in the U.S. Senate in anticipation of a resignation which did not occur. He had served in all three branches of government, with service at the local, state, and na- tional level with service rendered in three states. He die in Lake City on November 6, 1904 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. His son, Samuel Y. Finley, elected as Gainesville's first mayor in 1869, is also buried here.
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30. Chestnut Funeral Home Marker Address: 18 NW 8th Avenue
The Chestnut family in Gainesville has served the mortuary needs of the African-American community in Alachua County since 1914. Charles S. Chestnut, Sr. was a founding mem- ber of the Florida Morticians Association in the early 1900s. The business was founded in the early 1920s by Matthew E. Hughes and Charles S. Chestnut, Sr. as the Hughes and Chestnut Funeral Home. This Mission-style building was built for the business in 1928. Following Hughes’s death in 1947, the business was re-named the Chestnut Funeral Home.
Four generations of the Chestnut family have managed the business, and provided training for undertakers, some of whom went on to establish their own funeral homes. In addition to providing professional service to the community, the Chestnuts have followed the tradi- tion of civic duty set by Johnson Chestnut. He was the first member of the Chestnut family to settle in Gainesville, and served on the city commission from 1868-1869. Many of Johnson Chestnut’s descendants have been community leaders and have held a variety of elected offices. During the Civil Rights era, they worked to integrate schools and business- es and provided a meeting place at the Chestnut Funeral Home for the local chapter of the NAACP.
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31. Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church Location. Marker is on NW 2nd Street near NW 7th Avenue, on the left when traveling north.. Marker is at 630 NW 2nd Street, Gainesville FL 32601
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Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church was founded on July 16, 1867, with the Rev- erend Isaac Davis serving as the first pastor. The Board of Trustees of the oldest black congregation in Gainesville purchased the lot on which the present church still stands for $160 from Charles W. Brush. He sold lots after the Civil War mainly to African Ameri- can individuals and institutions in what is now the Pleasant Street Historic District. The founding trustees were Lojurn Davis, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Daniels, Henry Roberts, William Anderson, Adam Dancy, Shadrach Abendnego, Robert McDuffie and Dr. McDowell.
Mount Pleasant soon became a social and religious center for the neighborhood. The first Florida Annual Conference that brought together Methodist churches with black con- gregations was held at Mount Pleasant in 1874, while the Reverend Alexander DeBose was pastor. The original wood frame building was replaced in 1887 with a brick structure, which was destroyed by fire in 1903. The present church, built of red brick in the stately Romanesque revival style, was completed in 1906 and is noted for its beautiful stained glass windows.
32. "The Great Endurance Run" Location. Marker is on North Main Street (State Road 20) north of NE 4th Avenue, on the right when traveling north, near 411 N Main Street, 32601
On November 23, 1909, the "Autoists" participating in "The Great Endurance Run" were treated to a gala banquet and overnight stay at "The White House Ho- tel" which was located at this exact site. This event ended the first day of driving for the "Drivers and Observers" of the eighteen automobiles that took part in the grueling, four day "Endurance Run" from Tampa to Jacksonville to Tampa to pro- mote good roads for Florida. The event did, indeed, foster bond issues and high- way construction throughout Florida. The original "Run" was sponsored by The Tampa Daily Times under the auspices of the Tampa Automobile Club with Coca- Cola being advertising sponsors.
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33. The Newberry Lynchings of 1916 Location. Marker is in Newberry, at the intersection of Northwest 166th Street and Northwest 20th Avenue, on the left when traveling north on Northwest 166th St., in front of the cemetery located next to Pleasant Plain UMC, near 1910 Northwest 166th St. Newberry FL 32669
Side 1 - On August 19, 1916, African Americans living in the Jonesville and Newberry communities were lynched. At 2:00 a.m., Constable George Wynne, Dr. L.G. Harris, and G.H. Blount drove to the home of a black man, Boisey Long, in Jonesville to serve a war- rant and question him about stolen hogs. Gunfire was exchanged with Long after Wynne and Harris entered the home, and all three men were wounded. Long escaped while the other men were taken for medical help. Wynne's wounds were serious, and he died on the train to a Jacksonville hospital. Wynne was related to the Dudleys, a large local family, and a mob formed at their home.
During the search for Long, the mob terrorized other African Americans living in the area, many related to Long. James Dennis, suspected of hid- ing Long, was shot to death by the mob. Local law enforcement helped the mob round up five African Americans and hold them in the Newberry jail. They were Dennis' brother, Gilbert, and sis- ter, Mary, a pregnant mother of four; Stella Young, Long's partner and mother of his son; An- drew McHenry, Stella's brother; and the Rev. Joshua Baskin, a farmer and pastor. The mob took them from the jail to the Newberry pic- nic grounds (W. Newberry Road and County Road 235) and hanged them.
Side 2 - The lynching was national news, and created a spectacle. Men, women, and chil- dren came from miles around to view the bodies. On August 21, 1916, Boisey Long sur- rendered to the Rev. Squire Long, and was turned over to Alachua County Sheriff P.G. Ramsey in Gainesville. Afraid of additional mob violence, Ramsey transferred Long to a jail in Jacksonville. An Alachua County grand jury took up the case on September 6th and investigated the actions of the lynch mob. The grand jury did not find anyone guilty for the lynchings and nobody was ever punished.
Long was indicted for the murder of George Wynne. The trial was swift, and after seven minutes of deliberation, the jury issued a guilty verdict: Long was sentenced to death. The headstones of three victims of the Newberry Lynching of 1916, Andrew McHenry, James 24
Dennis, and the Rev. Joshua Baskin, are in the cemetery of the Pleasant Plain United Methodist Church. Descendants of many victims still live in the Jonesville community and attend the church, which traces its founding to 1860.
34. Alachua General Hospital Location. Marker is at the intersection of Southwest 3rd Ave. and Southwest 9th St., on the left when traveling west on Southwest 3rd Ave. Marker is located in the Florida Innovation Square at the University of Florida.
Historic Alachua General Hospital (AGH) stood on this site for nearly 82 years. A county or community-supported venture for much of its history, the hospital served the needs of Alachua County citizens for generations as a respected health care resource. Public at- tempts to raise funds and establish a community hospital began in 1904. In 1906, the Ala- chua County Hospital Association leased the Odd Fellows Home, built in 1883 as a sanato- rium, and in 1928, the 58-bed Alachua County Hospital opened.
As community needs grew, the hospital added an annex in 1943 and a staff and nurses' residence in 1944. The Hospital Auxiliary, formed in 1953 as a volunteer organ- ization, provided valuable services to support hospital activities. By its 50th anniversary in 1978, AGH had become a private, not-for-profit hospital. In 1983, AGH became part of SantaFe Health Care; then, in 1996, it was purchased by Shands Healthcare. For 13 years, Shands AGH further developed its outstanding reputation. The hospital closed in 2009 and in 2010 became the site for the Florida Innovation Square at the University of Florida.
35. Thelma Boltin Center Location. Marker is at the intersection of Northeast 2nd Avenue and Northeast 5th Street, on the right when traveling west on Northeast 2nd Ave. , near 516 Northeast 2nd Ave.
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The City of Gainesville purchased the Servicemen’s Center lot on December 7th 1942. The Federal Works Agency constructed a $37,000 building with a ballroom, stage, dressing rooms, second floor reading room, three showers, three telephone booths for long distance calls, a coat check room, a 20-foot-long snack bar, and a kitchen with a ten-burner stove. The FWA provided sofas and easy chairs, a baby grand piano, a fiddle, trombone, radio, juke box, and a Victrola.
The city paid for kitchen equipment, flowered drapes, the mantle mirror, ping pong and snooker tables. They also paved NE 2nd Avenue and laid sidewalks. The Garden Club supplied and installed plants. Senator Claude Pepper dedicated the building on July 23rd 1943. Servicemen from Camp Blanding, the Alachua Army Air Base, the Officer Candi- date School and the 62nd College Training Detachment attended events organized by pro- gram director Thelma Boltin (1904-1992) seven days a week from 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM that included dances, plays, variety shows, sing-alongs, chess, pinochle and bingo. Outdoor activities included badminton, barbeque and shuffleboard. Civic clubs provided funds and hostesses for meals including 400 dinners on Thanksgiving.
The city bought the building for $12,500 in 1946 and retained Miss Boltin as Director. A 1928 graduate of Emerson College, she returned to Gainesville after teaching in Polk County 1930-32 and taught English, Speech and directed plays at Gainesville High School. The School Board employed her until 1956 when she moved to White Springs to direct the Florida Folk Festival.
She was a founder, actor and director at the Gainesville Little Theater (Community Play- house), chair of the Florida and National Federation of Music Clubs, received an award from the American Assoc. for State and Local History, was WGGG Radio's “Story Hour Lady,” artist in residence at schools, and assisted folklife programs in Dade City, Apopka, Cocoa, and Fernandina. She was known as “Cousin Thelma,” and “Queen of Florida Folk- lore.” In 1946 she organized the teen club at the “Rec Center” which continued through the 1960s. Local bands with Stephen Stills, Don Felder and Bernie Leadon played Friday night dances which Tom Petty attended. All four are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The building became a senior center in the 1970s and is also used for dances, wed- ding receptions and civic events. A $420,000 renovation took place in 2000.
36. Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Marker Address: 429 NW 4th Street
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The congregation of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church first met on May 4, 1896. The church’s original members worshipped in the St. Paul CME Church, and together the congregations bought a parcel of land in 1900 to build a new church. Its construction continued piecemeal until the church was completed in 1943.
Led by NAACP leader, the Rev. Thomas A. Wright, high school and college students, and church elders met at Mt. Carmel to organize for school integration and the appointment of black city officials from 1962 until Wright’s retirement in 2006. They were aided by the strategy and power of University of Florida professors Ruth McQuown and Marshall Jones.
In 1963, a Civil Rights march for desegregated public facilities and businesses began here. Students from the all-black Lincoln High School, including Joel Buchanan, Sandra Ezell, and LaVon Wright, met at Mt. Carmel to catch rides to Gainesville High School during the school’s integration from 1964-1970. Wright advocated for the role of community youth in moving equality forward, and his nonviolent protests in St. Augustine and Gainesville mo- bilized other black communities across the state to work toward desegregation in the sec- ond half of the 20th century.
37. The Home of A. Quinn Jones Marker Address: 1013 N.W. 7th Ave.
A. Quinn Jones, Sr. (1893-1997), teacher, educational leader, and prominent African- American advocate, lived here from 1925 to 1997. The home, built ca. 1920, is a one-story frame bungalow set on brick piers. Jones' career, spanning the segregation era, was marked by his determination to provide quality education to all African-American children. Jones served as teacher and principal at two of Alachua County's most important African- American schools, Union Academy (1921-1923) and Lincoln High School (1923-1957).
He taught English, Latin, math, and science, and held fundraisers to ensure materials and salaries to his students and staff. In 1924-25, Jones extended Lincoln's grades to the 12th so that students could earn a full high school diploma. The Florida Department of Educa- tion noted Jones' leadership and in 1926, Lincoln High School became Florida's second ac- credited African-American High School. In 1956, Lincoln High School moved to the southeast area of Gainesville and the original building became an elementary school bear- ing Jones' name. The A. Quinn Jones Center stands as a memorial to his extraordinary con- tributions to the African-American community, the people of Alachua County, and the State of Florida.
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38. Gatorade's Birthplace Location: Marker is on Gale Lemenard Drive, 0.1 miles south of West University Ave, (State Road 26), on the right when traveling south, located between the O'Connell Center and Florida Field
Gatorade, the sports drink that started an industry, was invented at the UF College of Medicine by a team of researchers led by Dr. Robert Cade. Gatorade was first field tested in a football scrimmage near this site and was first used in an October 1965 Gator victory. The invention was prompted by concern about the effects of heat on the human body. After collecting fluid samples from UF football players, Cade and his colleagues real- ized the players' electrolytes were out of balance and their blood sugar and total blood volume was low. They developed a drink containing salts and sugars that quickly replaced lost nutrients and improved performance. The product soon attracted interna- tional attention and is now used by athletes worldwide.
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