HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY
Various Articles
County Commission Meeting, Aug. 1, 1887
The following is taken from the Aug. 1, 1887, County Commission minutes.Pursuant to an act to divide the different Counties of the State into County Commissioners Districts each County to be divided into five districts. The County Commissioners proceeded as follows to divide said County of Pasco.
District No. 1 D.T. McLeod Commissioner
Commencing at the North East Corner of Pasco County thence West on Northern boundary of said County to Range line dividing Ranges 20 + 21 thence South on said Range line to Tp. line dividing Tps 24 and 25, thence East on said Tp line to Eastern boundary of County thence North on Eastern boundary of said Co. to the point of beginning.
District No. 2 W.R. Lilburn Commissioner
Commencing on Eastern boundary of said County on Township line dividing Townships 24 and 25 thence West on said Tp to Range line dividing Ranges 20 + 21 thence South, thence South to Southern boundary of Co. thence East on Southern boundary of said Co. to the SE corner of said Co. to Tp line dividing Tps 24 + 25 being the point of beginning.
District No. 3 J.J. Gillet Commissioner
Commencing on Section line dividing Sections 13 + 24 Tp. 25, Range 20 thence West on said Section to Range line dividing Range 17 + 18 thence South on said Range line to the Southern boundary of said County thence East on Section boundary of said County to Range line dividing Ranges 20 + 21, thence North on said Range line to the section line dividing Sections 13 + 24 Tp 25 R20.
District No. 4 E.G. Liles Commissioner
Commencing in the North East Corner of Tp. 24 Range 20 thence West on said Tp line dividing Tps 23 and 24 to Range line dividing Ranges 18 + 19 thence South on said Range line to dividing Ranges 20 + 21 thence North on said Range line to the N.E. Corner of Tp 24 Range 20 E.
District No. 5 J.B. Hudson Commissioner
Commencing at the North East Corner of Tp 24 Range 18, thence West on Northern boundary of said County to the Western boundary of said County thence South on Western boundary of said Co. to the S.W. Corner of said Co, thence East on Southern boundary of said County to Range line dividing Ranges 17 + 18 thence North on said Range line to Section line dividing Sections 18 + 19 Tp 25 R18, thence East on said Section line to Range line dividing Ranges 18 + 19 thence North on Range to the NE Corner of Sp 24 R18.
On motion we adjourned until 2 O'Clock P.M.
At 2 O'Clock Meeting called to order
Moved and seconded that we proceed to receive propersitions as to the temporary location of Court House.
Hon J.S. Thrasher in behalf of Dr. E.A. Hall as follows, We will furnish the County of Pasco the upper story and the lower Right hand Room now occupied by Dr. F.P. McElroy for $20.00 per month for two years.
Mess. Coleman Ferguson and Co. submitted the following propersition in writing.
To the Honorable Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County,
Gentlemen,
Enclosed please find pencil drawing of the buildings we intend offering the County of Pasco for the period of two years free of charge. We will have building complete by Sept. 5 1887. For which we propose to secure you with a Thousand Dollar bond for the guarantee of having the said buildings completed by the time mentioned, when that is done + then we turned over to you then the bond to be null and void. This property is unincumbered and your right to it for two years cannot be disturbed in any respect. The Court Room will be on ground floor + will be very stout + durable the room up stairs are very stout + well built + by far the most comfortable rooms in town + better located. Hope you may see proper to accept our propersition. I so do it in writing and oblige.
Coleman Ferguson and Co.
Dr. E.A. Hall submitted the following in writing
Town of Dade City
State of Florida
Pasco County
To the Hon Board of Aldermen of Pasco County
Gentlemen,
As the County is without a Court House and need one immediately I respectfully lend them the use of the upper portion of my large large building free of rent for the term of two years and in addition to the above I will give them a Clerks Office in the lower portion of said building after Aug 15th 1887 I will remove the incumbrances on the building that would interfere with the Rent of same.
Signed this 1st day of Aug 1887
Signed + sealed in the presence
E.B. Hall
E.A. Hall
D.O. Thrasher
R.B. Jones
Personally appeared before me the above named parties who acknowledge that they executed the foregoing lease for the purpose and uses therein contained and expressed. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 1st day of August AD 1885
D.O. Thrasher, County Judge
Mess Coleman Ferguson and Co submitted the following in addition to first propersition
We Will also give you a room for Clerks Office on ground floor plenty large for all purpose say 20 x 24. signed Coleman Ferguson and Co.
Dr. E.A. Hall added the following.
I further agree to tightly seal the first two or last two rooms in the hall and petitions dividing same. signed E.B. Hall by E.A. Hall agt.
Moved and seconded that we accept propersition of Dr. E.A. Hall as submitted in writing lost by a vote of two for and 3 against accepted. On motion the propersition of Coleman Ferguson and Co. was accepted and Clerk ordered to make acceptance in writing.
A communication from the School Board of Instruction of Pasco County was read and ordered layed over for future action. Moved and Seconded that the application of Jacob H. Delcher as student to the East Florida Seminary be layed over for action until the Sept term of meeting.
Motioned + Seconded that we tender Dr. E.A. Hall a vote of thanks for the use of hall.
On motion the Board adjourned to meet 1st Monday Sept 1887
H.H. Henley Clerk E.G. Liles Chairman"
It appears that there was some issue as to whether or not the property approved by Coleman Ferguson Co. was actually in Dade City. They heard testimony from several residents and decided that it was in Dade City and voted to "vote on receiving the building offered by Coleman Ferguson and Co. as temporary location of Court House and offices for two year."
Transcribed by Jeff Cannon from Pasco County Board of County Commission Records.
County Commission Meeting, Sept. 5, 1887
Dade City Fla. Sept 5" 1887Meeting of the Board called to order Members present E.G. Liles, W.R. Lilburn, D.T. McLeod, J.B. Hudson, J.J. Gillet. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved
Petition from citizens asking for an Election on Article XIX was received and layed over for future action.
Moved and seconded that we proceed in in a body to inspect the building offered by Coleman Ferguson and Co as Court House and offices for the use of Co and to meet at 1 O'clock.
At 1 O'clock the meeting called to order
Moved and seconded that we call in three citizens of Dade City to prove whether the place being the SE4 of Sec. 27 Tp 24 R 21 E where the new Court House now stands was in Dade City at the time the act was created making the County of Pasco.
Dr. F.P. McElroy testified as follows, the land where the Depot of the F.R and N.R.R. was a part of Dade City on the second day of June 1887 and I considered part of Dade City being the SE4 of SE4 Sec 27 Tp 24 R 21.
Dr. G.M. Roberts testified as follows according to my best recollection an election was held here over two years ago, electing Mayor, Aldermen and other officers and the incorporation extended 1/2 a mile each way from the SE corner of SE4 of NE4 of Sec 27 Tp 24 R 21 was included in Dade City.
R.B. Jones testified as follows the land included in SE4 of SE4 of Sec 24 Tp 24 R 21 was not considered Dade City at the time the act passed creating the Co of Pasco. M.G. Rowe testified I was P.M. [Post Master] at Dade City and considered the SE4 of SE4 of Sec 27 Tp 24 R 21 a part of Dade City.
Moved and seconded that we proceed to vote on receiving the buildings offered by Coleman Ferguson and Co as temporary location of Court House and offices for two years. The vote being called resulting unanimously accepting buildings as offered by Coleman Ferguson + Co
Moved and seconded that we adjourn to the new Court House
Meeting called to order
Moved and Seconded that pension certificates be granted to M.W. Page, Thos. J. Holton, Robert. J. Bradley
Applications were presented from Albert Tucker Mr Platt as Students to East Florida Seminary
Moved and seconded the cost bills in the case of the State Vs. Horace Anderson as presented be endorsed and ordered paid as follows,
The first and only known incorporation of Dade City occurred in January of 1889, Dade City may have been unofficial incorporated prior. These minutes show the date of when the first court house in Dade City was occupied. Transcribed by Jeff Cannon from Board of County Commission minutes from Sept. 5, 1887
By BOB JENSEN and FRANCES LEE GARRISON
For most of Pasco's 19th-century pioneers, the trip to their new
home was hardly first class.
They came on horses and in ox carts from their homes in Georgia
and Alabama, Missouri and the Carolinas, these rural people who would
become known as Crackers.
In these days before the Florida land boom, they weren't looking
for instant riches, just a new place to build and plant and harvest.
What they found was a land of lush green vegetation and vast pine
forests. Scattered inland to the east were palmetto palms, cypress and
oak trees. Swampy marshes laced with mangroves stretched from the Gulf
of Mexico west to what is now U.S. 19.
Today, U.S. 19 is Pasco's main street, crowded with people in
air-conditioned cars on their way to the subdivisions, shopping centers
and fast-food restaurants that have sprung up near the highway.
The landscape is not all that has changed. Although many of the
people on the road are recent arrivals, their motive is different. They
do not come to Pasco to strike out anew; they come to enjoy retirement
after their working years are over.
In the 100 years since Pasco was carved out of Hernando as a
separate county, residents have lived and worked through booms and
busts, fair weather and freezes, as the county has developed from an
out-of-the-way agricultural land.
The centennial story includes:
The pioneers who settled the land that became Pasco County in 1887
were met by hardship.
But they also found a virtually untouched land where fish and game
were for the taking, building materials were at hand and crops could be
grown year-round.
In 1887 there were about 5,000 of them, scattered among small
communities throughout the county. Many of the towns had just three or
four families in them, and now no longer exist.
The fertile land sold for between $25 and $50 an acre, and
produced tobacco, rice, sugar cane, cotton, potatoes, tomatoes and
oranges.
One of the pioneers was James Washington Clark, who came to what
is now Port Richey in 1872 because of his cows.
Livestock roamed unfenced in those days, and the Clark cattle
developed a penchant for travel, said Frances Clark Mallett, a local
historian and Clark's granddaughter.
They repeatedly sauntered down Old Salt Road to the coastal area
where Port Richey is now, "and Grandpa Clark would go and bring them
back."
Finally he decided he liked the coastal area and moved there,
marrying Frances Louise Hope of Brooksville the same year. They had
five children.
Typical of many of the settlers, Clark had a deep sense of
community responsibility. There were only three families living in the
area at first. They were Clark, Aaron McLaughlin Richey - who was
called "captain" because he had a schooner - and the Malcolm Hill
family. When a school was needed, Clark built one on his land and
served as a trustee with Richey and Hill.
Carving out a new county
The area that was to become Pasco County was originally a part of
Hernando County, with the county seat in Brooksville. People in the
southern part of the county disliked having to travel such a long
distance for court and other legal business. It was a long, tiresome
journey by horseback or ox cart.
Those complaints sparked a drive to divide Hernando. Two Pasco
leaders, Dr. Richard Bankston and Judge J.A. Handley, led the way.
The name "Banner County" was proposed for the southerly section.
Although the legislators favored the division, they didn't like the
name because each one thought his county was a "banner" county.
As a compromise, the name Pasco was chosen in honor of the newly
elected and popular U.S. Sen. Samuel Pasco of Monticello.
The bill, which also carved out Citrus County from northern
Hernando, passed both houses unanimously.
On June 2, 1887, Pasco's 738 square miles officially became a
separate county.
Dade City was selected as the county seat. The new board of
commissioners for Pasco County held its first meeting in Dade City on
July 18, 1887. The chairman was E.G. Liles.
The first census of Pasco County, according to a history compiled
by the West Pasco Historical Society Inc., was taken in 1890 by the
U.S. Department of Commerce. The population count was 3,249. In the
1960 U.S. Census, 36,785 people were counted. By 1970 the census was
75,955. Today, county planners estimate the population at 253,500, and
Pasco is one of the fastest growing counties in the state.
In the same year the Pasco became a county, the railroad came to
Pasco.
The first train of the South Florida Railway owned by the Henry B.
Plant system steamed into the new depot on Dade City's Main Street near
the Dade City Cemetery.
Construction of the railway actually began in 1885. But for about
a year, said William Dayton, a Dade City lawyer and local historian,
the railroad kept one elderly man working a few hours a day on the
railroad bed so the company could say the rail line was under
construction. This gave Plant time to interest investors, and by 1887
the run from Wildwood to Dade City was established, Dayton said.
About 1885, it was rumored a second railway line was coming into
Dade City. Due to some quiet lobbying by Coleman & Ferguson General
Store owners, the railway station was built on Meridian Avenue,
conveniently close to their store, Dayton said.
This railroad was the forerunner of Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
Co., which still operates in Dade City and Land O’ Lakes. Service to
Elfers and Tarpon Springs was discontinued Dec. 30, 1986.
Trilby, north of Dade City, was expected in those early days to
grow into a big railroad center. But it never happened; Trilby remains
a small town.
The arrival of the railroad meant that orange growers and farmers
could get their produce to markets with more speed and far less risk of
spoilage than ox carts offered.
According to Dayton, oranges were a good money crop. He said a
grower with a 100-acre grove could "retire on one crop." A five-acre
grove could support a family, he said.
The big freeze of 1894-95 spelled disaster for some growers, but
others made a comeback.
The railroad also opened the door for the timber boom.
The lumber community of 5-A, near Hudson, laid its own spur lines
into the pine woods to make it easier to tap the growth of virgin
timber and later ship it north.
Peter A. Demens, who came from Russia and became a naturalized
American citizen, was instrumental in financing the Orange Belt
Railway, which ran from Sanford to Trilby to St. Petersburg. The narrow
gauge railroad was another branch of the Atlantic Coast Line, part of
the Plant railway system, and was acquired by Demens in payment for a
debt.
The Orange Belt line cut across the county from the east
diagonally to the southwest, proceeding to Tarpon Springs and St.
Petersburg. The Orange Belt provided access to the timber in the
county's forests.
5-A, named after five men who owned the huge sawmill and had last
names beginning with the same letter, had a booming operation from the
turn of the century until the 1920s, said Dayton.
Possibly thousands of folks ventured into the area, counting on
the wealth of West Pasco's pine trees.
"You could travel for days and see nothing but pine. The
lumbermen couldn't conceive of it ever running out," Dayton said.
So confident were these pioneers that they sold only the best
pine, destroying the lesser-grade knotty pine and sending the clean
heartwood all over the country instead, Dayton said.
The boom ended when the lumbermen had depleted the virgin timber
supply and found themselves out of work. After ravaging the forests,
they moved on, leaving mainly a ghost town and sawdust-spewing fires
that burned for years afterward.
The big pines also produced turpentine, and small "turpentine
towns" appeared near the railroad routes but not close to other towns.
The communities of Loyce and Sagano northeast of Hudson grew up around
the production of turpentine.
Harvesting turpentine was a rough business that operated with what
was virtually slave labor, Dayton said. Violence was a fact of life in
the labor camps run by white men who brought in former slaves to do the
work.
The turpentine industry also helped wipe out many of the pine
trees in West Pasco. The crude methods of extracting the pine gum that
later was distilled into turpentine would kill the trees after three or
four years. The towns would then fold.
Though the lumber and turpentine camps shared the common bond of
pine trees, they had nothing in common otherwise, Dayton said. In fact,
the lumber crews looked down on turpentine types, as did the general
population.
"'Those godless folks without souls' is a phrase I've often
heard was spoken about members the turpentine community," Dayton said.
The 1900s brought Florida's boom, built on land speculation. Pasco
had its share, too. According to Ralph Bellwood, author of Tales of
West Pasco, a frame house close to the railroad station in New Port
Richey sold three times, first for $3,500 and the third time for
$6,500.
The railroad, the advent of the automobile, electricity and the
telephone all played a part in expanding tourism.
Hotels opened, such as New Port Richey's Hacienda Hotel. Two of
its investors were film stars Thomas Meighan, who had built a large
home in New Port Richey, and Gloria Swanson. Comedian Ed Wynn was
master of ceremonies on opening night. [Information in this
paragraph may be incorrect — jm]
According to West Pasco's Heritage, a history compiled by
the West Pasco Historical Society Inc., lots were sold to Meighan,
Wynn, Swanson, composer Irving Berlin and professional golfer Gene
Sarazen.
Meighan built a large, formal estate home overlooking the
Pithlachascotee River at what now is Meighan Court off S Boulevard.
Most of the estate has been subdivided into housing, but servants'
quarters and the quarters of Meighan's chauffeurs still stand.
The Meighan Theatre, now the Richey Suncoast Theatre, a hearty
structure built in 1926.
Meighan met up with land developer George Sims and launched an
ambitious plan to make New Port Richey the moving picture capital of
the South.
Although George McGuire, the historian for the Richey Suncoast
Theatre, says Meighan and his Hollywood buddies chipped in to build the
500-seat theatre that opened July 1, 1926, other historians say a
corporation called the Richey Amusement Co. started the theatre.
The first silent movie shown, entitled The New Klondike,
was about the Florida land boom years. Starring in the movie was
"naturally, Thomas Meighan," McGuire said.
A golf course was built at Jasmine Point. Champion golfer Gene
Sarazen became the golf pro. According to West Pasco's Heritage,
Sarazen influenced many wealthy and prominent people to come to the
area. He built a Spanish-style two-story home in Jasmine Point across
from the Meighan estate. Sarazen now lives on Marco Island, near
Naples.
Pasco attracted other celebrities in the early 1900s as well. In
Aripeka there is a little time-weathered wooden cabin where a large
board sign in the yard proclaims that in 1919 Babe Ruth fished here and
that Jack Dempsey trained here in 1921. They also played poker
together, according to the sign.
According to Lizzie Bell Jackson, former postmistress who has
lived in Aripeka since 1911, the real Babe Ruth cabin was originally
near the Os-O-Waw Hotel, which burned in 1960.
That little cabin is now on the Robbins property across from the
parsonage of the Aripeka Baptist Church. Mrs. Jackson confirms that
Babe Ruth came to Aripeka for fishing and stayed in that cabin.
Ed Haley, promoter and builder of Clearwater's Fort Harrison
Hotel, bought 6,000 acres at Moon Lake east of Port Richey and
transformed it into a palatial playground for the rich and famous.
According to Bellwood, 400 meals a day were served in its dining halls.
Five-thousand acres were enclosed for a hunting preserve stocked with
game, and there were 15 miles of bridle paths. It is said that
Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. and many political business leaders were
entertained there.
Transportation was further advanced with the construction of U.S.
19 parallel to the Gulf coastline. The state Department of
Transportation headquarters in Bartow has records only back to 1927,
according to spokeswoman Kathy Palmer. She said that at that time U.S.
19 was a state highway and was paved.
The gas shortage during World War II caused a decline in the Moon
Lake Dude Ranch and Gardens, as it was called, and in 1962 the property
was divided into homesites.
The big change in Pasco came after World War II, when retirees
began to come from colder lands to the north.
"Quality of life" - translated as affordable housing and warm
weather - changed the face of Pasco.
The "$5,990" helped spur the post-war Pasco boom. That was the
typical cost of Pasco's standard two-bedroom house, a price that made
Florida retirement affordable.
Northern tourists who were enamored of the state after vacationing
on the more pricey beaches to the south found themselves wondering how
they could afford to make their home in the Florida sun.
As they drove back north on what was then a lonely two-lane
highway called U.S. 19, the "$5,990" signs jumped out.
"People saw the signs, and they stopped in and bought homes like
they were buying a loaf of bread," Pasco Property Appraiser Ted
Williams said in a 1982 interview.
Although Pasco can't brag about the most scenic beaches in
Florida, the magnetism of the coast also played a part in the growth on
the west side.
"I don't know why exactly, but people seem to be interested in
living near the water, even if they don't own a boat and don't fish,"
Williams said.
Post-war development was concentrated mainly on the west side,
where property owners also were more willing than their East Pasco
counterparts to sell to developers because the land was not as
productive for either citrus or cattle.
Building on that land was especially attractive because of the
freedom with which developers could subdivide and build; it was not
until the mid-1970s that Pasco passed comprehensive zoning laws. In the
years before that, developers built with pretty much a free hand.
In the 1960s, retirees flocked to West Pasco to snatch up the
bargain homes in subdivisions such as Colonial Hills, Orangewood
Village, Tahitian Gardens and Holiday Lake Estates. Pasco's population
more than doubled, and the median age in the county leaped from 38.5 to
53.4.
An example of how an area changed can be seen in Elfers, an
unincorporated hamlet nestled just south of New Port Richey along State
Road 595, once was home to just citrus groves and cattle.
Sans Souci, a 250-acre grove owned by the Knight family and
situated 1/4 mile south of what is now the intersection of County Roads
54 and 595, continued to flourish until "the '62 freeze that knocked
everybody back," Joe Knight Jr. said.
The Knights replanted and were back in full production by the late
1960s, but "subdivisions began to encroach, and about all we could do
was sell" Sans Souci, Knight said.
Today, Elfers is home to more than 12,000 people and many
subdivisions and small businesses.
The development trends were clear by the 1970 census, which showed
that for the first time more people lived in the west than the east.
That tilted the balance of power from county seat Dade City to the new
residents clustered around the increasingly congested U.S. 19.
In 1950, 81 percent of Pasco's population lived on the east side.
By 1980, only 21 percent lived there, and 70 percent of Pasco residents
were living in a 3-mile swath along U.S. 19.
The economic activity in the county today can is reflected in
Pasco's largest employers, a list dominated by service businesses.
Number one is the Pasco County schools, with 3,500 workers. Next
are Lykes Pasco Packing Co., the Dade City juice processor, and the
Pasco County government with 1,400 employees each.
Rounding out the top 11 are three hospitals, Saddlebrook resort,
Publix grocery, Oakley Brothers Inc., Saint Leo College and the
Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative.
The influx of the elderly has shaped Pasco's economy.
"It is important to recognize the economic role of retirees as a
domestic industry, and not just a component of the population," says a
growth management study commissioned by county officials last year.
Instead of the normal process of people following economic
activity, in Pasco the people - retirees - moved here first, creating
the jobs that have expanded the economy and attracted more young
people.
As the study put it: "Growth itself has been the growth industry
of Pasco County."
Hendley was elected to the legislature Tuesday over James A.
Henderson, a much younger man, by a vote of 1705 to 1628.
Now 86 years old, and mellowed with the years,
Representative-elect Hendley will carry with him to Tallahassee such a
wealth of Florida history and Florida tradition as may be found in the
mind and heart of but one other man.
He knew Whitfield
That one other man, James B. Whitfield, retired justice of the
state supreme court, Hendley will find waiting on a doorstep where he
lives across the way from the state capitol.
They will walk, perhaps, arm in arm to a bench under the tree
to talk of the day when Jeff Hendley fought to keep the new state from
ever burdening its people with debt and Jim Whitfield covered the
deliberations as a newspaper reporter.
Born in Farmington, Ky., the son of a surgeon in the
Confederate army, Hendley had to earn his own way because money was
scarce in the impoverished land.
Had Horror of Debt
He had a horror of debt and was largely responsible for the
provision in the Florida constitution which prohibits the state from
issuing bonds.
The years before the convention Hendley was elected surveyor
of Hernando County, before it was cut into three pieces, and he was one
of the men sent to Tallahassee later to the county divided by an act of
the legislature. One of the sections was named Pasco and Dade City was
made the county seat.
Tells What He Did
"I surveyed Dade City and I gave one church a lot on which to
build a parsonage," he said, reviewing the years. The Negroes had
nothing, and I gave them a lot and helped them to build their first
church in Dade City.
"I helped get the right-of-way for the two railroads, and I
gave away several lots to help a hotel in Dade City. Later I helped to
get the Seaboard railroad to donate land for high school.
"I advocated the building of two hard surface roads running
east and west and north and south through the county and proposed a
levy of 40 mills to build 20 miles of road a year until they were
completed.
"It would then be an easy matter to build laterals into each
neighborhood so all could enjoy the benefits of good roads, but the
people said 'No,' they could not stand 40 mills, but they would sell
bonds and build the roads and be done with it.
"My last words at the meeting were, 'When you sell bonds to
build roads you will double the cost and put a lien on you homes, and
your grandchildren will come and go before these bonds are paid' which
is so."
Works Way Through School
After working his way through several schools, Hendley was
graduated with the class of 1878 of Washington and Lee University,
where he received a diamond pin for oratory, and two years later went
to Texas, where he lived in a dugout and commenced the practice of law.
He made a name there, helped to found a city or two in that
frontier land and was the first prosecuting attorney of Mitchell
County.
But he went after a few years there to see his parents, who
were growing old, and he found that some of the neighboring boys were
preparing to drive through to Florida.
He Had Pioneer Fever
Florida was another frontier, and young Jeff Hendley had the
pioneer fever in his bones. He had a brother hastily harnessed up a
team and joined the party.
"I have seen Florida prosper, and I have seen it in
adversity," he said. "I have seen land dark as a funeral pall as frost
swept over it and every fruit tree was killed.
"I stood on the bank of a lake and watched the wagons
departing, filled with broken and disconsolate men and women and
children who and lost everything, and they were on their way north.
"They had built their houses and planted their groves, and
they saw them all swept away in a night. Those were dark days."
But Some Remained
But some remained, and Jeff Hendley remained with them. They
said they could grow corn and cotton if they had a grist mill and a gin
and he got up the meeting and told them to go home and get to work,
because he would build the mill and the gin, and he did.
Hendley married Miss Dolly Maynard, of Perryville, Ind. in
1886. She became one of the leading women of Florida in club
activities, and because of her Red Cross work during the first World
War was listed in London's Who' Who among famous women of America. She
died in 1935.
Hendley practiced law for 40 years until his retirement. He
was one of the organizers of the Bank of Pasco County, second oldest
state bank and has long been active in Democratic and church affairs.
"When I look around and see my fellow citizens happy and
growing prosperous," he said, "I feel that perhaps I have contributed a
little toward their contentment and their wealth. If I have done that
then I shall be content."
J.A. Grady for attending Court and guard for prisoners $55.70
R.M. Ray Writing testimony 3 days $9.00
Pioneers Sowed County's Growth
This article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on June 24, 1987.
Pasco Elects Pioneer Florida Legislator, 86
This article appeared in the Tampa Sunday Tribune on May 7,
1944. Courtesy of the Pioneer Florida Museum, transcription by Jeff
Cannon.
DADE CITY, May 6 -
(Special) — Jefferson Alexander Hendley, the only surviving signer of
the Florida constitution which in 1885 wrested the state from the
carpetbaggers, will be back in the state legislative halls next year,
God willing, from Pasco County.
Pasco County Post Offices
Abbott 1888/1910
Amelia 1893-1910
Argo 1886-1892
Aripeka 1895-Date
Ashley 1884-1886
Bee Tree 1886-1888
Blanton 1884-1955
Bramlett 1900-1902
Carmel 1885-1886
Cedar 1887-1887
Cedar Tree 1853-1872
Chipco 1883-1900
Crystal Springs 1911-Date
Dade City 1884-Date
Diston 1883-1888
Drexel 1888/1902
Earnestville 1885-1899
Ehren 1890-1950
Elba Heights 1892-1900
Elfers 1909-Date
Ellerslie 1884/1907
Fivay 1904-1912
Flatford 1892-1896
Fort Dade 1845/1889
Godwin 1888-1915
Greenfield 1923-1933
Greer 1900-1922
Gulf Key 1883/1896
Hatton 1882-1884
Hegman 1890-1892
Herndon 1886/1917
Holiday ? - Date
Hopeville 1878-1881
Hudson 1882/1953
Jessamine 1888-1909
Kenney 1902-1912
Lacoochee 1888-Date
Lake Jovita 1926-1931
Land O Lakes 1950-Date
Lenard 1883-1900
Loyce 1885/1920
Lumberton 1898-1905
Macon 1885-1901
Mayflower 1892-1898
McLeod 1885-1885
Myrtle 1893-1914
Needmore 1909-1910
New Port Richey 1915-Date
Odessa 1900-Date
Owensboro 1886/1906
Pasadena 1889-1911
Pedrick 1891-1892
Pinan 1880-1881 or 1887
Pleasant Plains 1879-1879
Port Richey 1884-Date
Richland 1886-1948
Sagano 1902-1913
Saint Joseph 1893-1918
Saint Leo 1890-Date
Saint Thomas 1885-1907
San Antonio 1882-1926
Security 1900-1908
Shingleton 1898-1901
Sumner 1882-1882
Trilby 1901-Date
Tucker 1908-1923
Tuckertown 1876-1886
Twin Lakes 1884-1895
Wesley 1897-1902
Wheeler 1898-1902
Zephyrhills 1910-Date
Pasco County Census Figures
1890
4249
1895
4607
1900
6054
1905
6100
1910
7502
1915
9634
1920
8802
1925
11,599
1960
36,785
1970
75,955
1980
193,643
1990
281,131
2000
344,765