Town of Fort White
N 29° 55.452 W 082° 42.838
17R E 334553 N 3311620
Historic Marker for the Town of Fort White, FL located in Deese Memorial Park on NW 1st Street.
Waymark Code: WM3M88
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 04/19/2008
Views: 39
The Town of Fort White, named for a former Second Seminole War fort built near by in 1837, was founded in 1870 and flourished briefly after the arrival of the railroad in 1888. Phosphate mining and the growing of citrus and cotton sparked a boom that before 1900 made Fort White the second largest city in Columbia County with a population of nearly 2000. The boom collapsed when severe freezes in the winter of 1896-97 destroyed the local citrus industry. Phosphate mining ceased by 1910 and the boil weevil ended cotton farming before World War I. A handful of historic buildings, such as the Old Fort White School (1915) remain from the town's era of prosperity.
Fort White is located near Ichetucknee Springs State Park, a popular site for tubing during the summer months. The population of Fort White was 428 in 2003.
Marker Number: F-362
Date: 1995
County: Columbia
Marker Type: City
Sponsored or placed by: FL Department of State
Website: Not listed
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