page_title: Live Oak, Florida
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Live Oak, Florida / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Florida Railway engine #3 at the Seaboard yards - Live Oak, Florida
context_page_description: Live Oak is a city in Suwannee County, Florida, United States. The city is the county seat of Suwannee County and is located east of Tallahassee. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,850.
  U.S. Highway 90, U.S. Highway 129 and Interstate 10 are major highways running through Live Oak.
  Freight service is provided by the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the former CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019.
  It is served by the Suwannee County Airport as well as many private airparks scattered throughout the county.
  There is also a community named Live Oak in Washington County, Florida.
context_section_description: Built along the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad in or prior to 1861, Live Oak was named for a southern live oak tree under which railroad workers rested and ate lunch.  When a railroad depot was built nearby, the small community that sprung up around it was called “Live Oak Station” (first mentioned in records in 1861). The tree was located where the now-present Pepe's Mexican Grocery on U.S. 90 is located.
  During the Civil War, the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad served as a vital route for parts of North Florida, and earthworks were built where it crossed the Suwannee River west of Live Oak, to deter Union attacks; these earthworks still exist as part of the Suwannee River State Park, one of Florida's first State parks.  In order to ease the supply problem into other parts of the Confederacy, the Confederate government decided to create a north–south railroad link into Georgia through Live Oak. The railroad junction was completed in early 1865, too late to help the Confederacy, but it opened up the interior of the county to settlement after the Civil War. 
  Live Oak became the county seat of Suwannee County in 1868. An election held the following year confirmed Live Oak as the county seat, and it has remained such ever since. Live Oak was incorporated as a town in 1878.  In 1903, it became a city and was the largest community in Suwannee County, serving as a minor railroad hub for the region.
caption: Florida Railway engine #3 at the Seaboard yards in Live Oak circa 1915
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