The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1909-10-22
CHANGES IN
FLORIDA MAP
Some Interesting information of
Early Days of the State
HAD ONLY q COUNTIES
Jacksonville and Tampa We're Only Set
Elements Fifty-Seven Years Ago Only
Two Small Railroads in West Florida

A map of Florida that was published
in 1852 was presented recently by i. l..
Clark, of Monticello, to the Tallahassee
True Democrat, which paper, in com
mentng on the receipt of the gift, has
the following to say:
A comparison of the map with one of
the present day affords an interesting
study. Then, there were only 20 cOun-
ties; now, there are AZ.
At that time the cities of Tallahassee,
Pensacola and st. Augustine were the
only places of Importance in the State,
and almost half the map is taken up in
showing the plats of these places.
At that time tn re were only two
town sites in Santa Rosa county, and
those, Florida Town and Anderson.
Almirante, Alaqua and Euceee Anna
were the only settlements in Walton
county, the latter being the county site.
Pea River and Holmes Valley were
the only pOstoffices in Holmes county,
the latter place being the seat of the
county government.
st. Andrews Bay was the only place
in Washington.
Fort Gadsden, Apalachicola and st.
Joseph were the only places in Frank lin
county, a railroad running from the
latter place to point on the Apalach-
cola river. This railroad was after
wards destroyed, but is being rebuilt
Mariana was then, as now, the
county site of Jackson, and Quincy that
of Gadsden, but there seems to have
been only two settlements in both the
counties.
st. Marks and Newport were the
towns of Wakulla, the latter being the
capital.
Tallahassee was the only settlement
shown in Leon county. From here a
railroad ran to st. Marks, and this,
with the one at st. Joseph, were the
only railroads in the State, and they
were among the first in the United
States.
Monticello, Madison and Jasper were
then, as now, the respective sites OF
jefferson, Madison and Hamilton coun-
ties.
The only settlement in the great
county of Columbia was known as ALI
gator. 1t has since given away to the
prosperous town of Lake City.
Newnansvile was the county seat OF
Alachua, and the prosperous city OF
Gainesville did not then exist.
The county seat of Nassau county
was designated as &. H. meaning court
house.
Jacksonville was then, as now, the
county site of Duval, but it had no rail-
road or harbOr.
st. Augustine and Picolata were the
only designated places in st. Johns,
the former being the seat of govern
ment.
Orange seems to have been the most
popuOus county of the State, with
settlements at Volusia, Enterprise,
Monroe, New Smyrna, Honey, Ross,
Jessup, Fort Christmas, Fort McNeel
and Danville; the latter place being
then the county site, but now the great
Celery City of Sanford.
Pilatka, we are not sure whether 1t
was spelled improperly then or now.
was the county seat of Putnam, ,pDd
the only settlement.
Fort King and Fort Armstrong were
the only places in Marion county, the
former the county site, now occupied
by one of the most promising cities in
the State, Ocala.
Benton, to the west of Marion. is the
only county which has disappeared
from the map. 1t now comprises the
counties of Citrus fernando and Pasco.,
The county site of Benton was Melen'
DEE, which has long since gone the way
of all things earthly. The only water
routes in the State were from Pensa-'
cola and st. Augustine.
What are now the two largest cities
in the State, Jacksonville and Tampa,
were then only known as the terminals
of county roads.
The counties of Liberty, Taylor, SUI
wannee, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Volu-
STA, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, fernando,
Pasco Polk, Osceola, Brevard, Mana
tee, DeSoto, Lee, st. Lucie and Palm
Beach, did not exist; neither the hun
dreds of important cities and towns
that now dot them.
What a mighty change has been
wrought in Florida within the COM
paratively brief period Of 81 years.
A Halloween Party