Founding[edit]

Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon (1809–1886) arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his first wife Martha (1813–1867) and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon, purchased 40 acres (160,000 m²) in the New Hope area (now Brandon) and 160 acres (0.65 km²) later on and then named his land Brandon. John and his second wife Victoria's house was located on what would become the corner of Knights and Victoria Street. Four years later, the New Hope Church was built on land donated by Brandon. Besides being the first church in the community, it also served as Brandon's first school.

In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue. Charles S. Noble, a Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad engineer, was asked to plat approximately forty acres of land north of present day State Road 60, South of Lake Meade, east of Kings Avenue, and west to Parsons Avenue. Filed on April 24, 1890, the surveyor named the community in honor of John Brandon and Noble Street for himself.

The main landmark Stowers Funeral Home is a famous landmark in Brandon, built by John Brandon's son James. Source: Wikipedia

Early 20th century[edit]

Since then, Brandon has grown in spurts, beginning with the first general store opened by Dan Galvin on the corner of Moon Avenue and Victoria Street. In 1905, a school was built on Parsons Avenue and Victoria Brandon allowed new teachers to board with her so that the new school would have a teacher.

At the time, Valrico began to develop as Victoria's son Lovic, moved there and opened a general store. Lovic and Victoria's other son, Mark, organized the Valrico Baptist Church in 1915, which later moved to Brandon and became the First Baptist Church in 1930.

By 1914, the community needed a large central school to house all of the area's students, so the Brandon Grade School (now McLane Middle School) was built on Knights Avenue to house grades 1 through 12.

The first Brandon census was taken in 1922 when the population was 100. In 1925, Hopewell Road became a 9-foot (2.7 m) wide, paved road and residents such as Clarence Hampton began building business along it in 1927. Clarence opened the first gas and service station.

During the 1920s, the eastern border of Brandon was Pinewood Avenue. Beyond that, was the Kingsway Poultry Colony, where chickens were raised during the winter to be sold in Ybor City. During the Great Depression, the poultry farms closed, until around 1946, when Bill and Ann Hollash moved to Brandon and started Brandon Egg (which became Hollash Eggs), the largest egg producers in eastern Hillsborough County. Hollash Eggs closed in the late 1990s. The original farm, over 30 acres, was sold to what is now Bell Shoals Baptist Church.

Most local residents worked in the two orange packing houses in Valrico. The center of town remained at Moon Avenue and Victoria Street, where the train depot, post office, school, and grocery store were all located. For entertainment and everything else, the train to Tampa was the way to go, as only a few paved roads existed with most being dirt or shell topped, making the drive to Tampa very difficult.

World War II was an interesting time in Brandon, with little growth, but a definite edge as they had the food they raised on their farms. After the war, new businesses began to open again. A drug store and soda fountain at the corner of Parsons Avenue and Hopewell Road quickly became a popular teenage hangout. In 1950, Scogin's opened their famous variety store on Hopewell Road, and in 1953, Brandon got its first physician, Dr. V. R. Hunter.

The 1950s were the beginning of the real growth period for Brandon. Yates Elementary was built in 1954, followed by Mann Junior High School in 1957. Brandon Grade School, on Knights Avenue, became the first Brandon High School. At the time, there were fewer than 100 graduates a year. In 1956, Hopewell Road was connected to Adamo Drive, which made access to Tampa easier, thus turning Brandon into a bedroom community. With commuters, came subdivisions, the first of which was Hill-Dale Heights on Kingsway Avenue. The Brandon News was established in 1958 as a one-page newsletter and advertisement for Scogin's clothing store, written by Al & Chris Scogin. Brandon's first honorary Mayor's race was held in 1959 and was won by Nat Storms.

Era of rapid growth[edit]

In 1959, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce was formed to help promote business and growth. By the early 1960s, Brandon's population was 8,000, and it was estimated that one new family moved into town every day. Brandon began spreading out into the bordering communities of Limona, Seffner, and Valrico; Hopewell Road became four lanes wide and was designated State Road 60. Soon, the town's first shopping center, Brandon Center, was built, and Brooker Elementary School and the Brandon Swim and Tennis Club both opened in 1965. In the next few years, Kingswood Elementary School, the Brandon Public Library, and many housing developments, shopping centers, and golf courses further fueled or reflected the influx of new residences and businesses.

By the 1970s, growth was causing traffic congestion, as approximately 430 commercial and service businesses, 3 malls and a population of 40,000 were all contained within a six-mile (10 km) radius.

In the mid-1970s, Hillsborough Community College moved to Brandon by holding classes at public schools. More indications of the increasing population were the building of Brandon Community Hospital and the Brandon Cultural Center (now the Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association).

Brandon took off rapidly during the 1980s. Development of the southern area of Brandon brought thousands of new residents. On September 27, 1986, I-75 began to bring traffic through the Brandon area, dramatically changing the community and helping its population reach approximately 100,000 with over 2,500 businesses by 1988.

Description[edit]

Brandon's census boundaries include Interstate 75 to the west, Valrico to the east, Riverview to the south, and Seffner to the north. The ZIP codes that served the area are 33509 (P.O. Station), 33510, and 33511. Source: Wikipedia 

Castor Town

Cosme

Hugh Gallagher, of Dover, came into Ybor City yesterday with a load of truck. Source: Tampa Tribune: 6-23-1909

William More of Dover was in Tampa on business yesterday. He is a farmer and truck grower. Source: Tampa Tribune: 6-23-1909

Fort Lonesome

FishHawk is a community comprising several subdivisions, or "mini communities", located in Lithia.

The subdivisions that make up FishHawk are Starling at FishHawk (CDD2 and CDD3), The Preserve (CDD3), and FishHawk Ranch (CDD1, CDD2 and CDD4). These neighborhoods are located approximately sixteen miles east of Tampa, Florida just south of the Alafia River. FishHawk Trails and Fishhawk Ranch formerly operated as a "ranch"; these two subdivisions were built by two different companies in the 1990s.

Before these subdivisions were constructed Fishhawk Trails was originally a wooded location which a CSX Transportation rail track path passed through. The rail tracks were removed in the late 1980s. There was once a train station in the FishHawk area that was the main import / export area of supplies, mail, and food for Lithia residents. The train station no longer exists.

Starling at FishHawk and The Preserve were previously an undeveloped wildlife habitat. The Florida Green Building Coalition has named FishHawk as a "green" community, the first in Hillsborough County and the largest in the Tampa area. The National Arbor Day Foundation and the State of Florida have also honored the FishHawk community preservation efforts. Source: Wikipedia

Gary

Gulf City

Hopewell

Keystone…J. S. Little and family left Thursday morning for Tarpon Springs to do honor unto the birthday of his sister, the prominent Tarpon drugstore proprietor, Mrs. C. D. Webster. Source: Tampa Tribune: 8-2-1913

Lake Fern

As a northwestern suburb of Tampa, this area of Hillsborough County had welcomed enough residents to receive its first post office in 1888, followed by a scattering of schools and churches—most notably the United Brethren Church (now Lake Magdalene United Methodist) started in 1895 by Reverend Isaac W. Bearss, whose family line still maintains several acres of citrus groves in the region, butted up against the busy east-west, North Tampa corridor that bears the family name . The rustic qualities of Lake Magdalene remained until the 1960s when residential construction in Tampa pushed northward. By 1990 almost 16,000 people lived in Lake Magdalene, and according to the 2000 census, its population had nearly doubled at 28,755 .

Lake Magdalene is surrounded by, and takes its name from, a 206-acre (0.83 km) freshwater lake. One legend has it that Lake Magdalene was named after Mary Magdalene, friend and follower of Jesus, who once appeared to a settler family along the waters of the lake. However, by other more documented accounts, the lake's designation borrows from the moniker of a Native American woman, Magdalena, who interpreted the language for a Spanish expedition into Florida in 1549, or even more likely, the name comes from the 1882 marriage of John Parrish and Mary Magdalene Yates, daughter of Jonah Yates, first mayor of Plant City in the Lake Magdalene section of Hillsborough County. Source: Wikipedia

Limona

Lutz began with the construction of a small train depot on the Tampa Northern Railroad. The area surrounding the depot officially became known as Lutz when the U.S. Postal Service authorized a post office. The community was named for W. P. Lutz, who was credited with bringing the railroad to town.^[3]

As people moved to the rural community from Tampa, the Lutz area continued to grow until it no longer depended on the "Lutz Junction", which was demolished in the late 1960s.

In 2000, a replica of the depot was rebuilt in the approximate location, which is now at the intersection of Lutz-Lake Fern Rd. and U.S. Highway 41. The post office's structure is still in the same place today, although it is now an art gallery. A public library is located behind the train depot replica. This area is known as "Beautiful Downtown Lutz".

Part of the movie Edward Scissorhands was filmed on Tinsmith Circle in the neighborhood of Carpenter's Run in Lutz. In the credits the town is named in the "Thank you" section.

Lutz has earned the bizarre nickname "Cactus Hat" due to an abundance of Cleistocactus that mysteriously sprouted up in 2003. The strange and sudden cacti growth has never been explained, and the cacti can still be seen around town. Source: Wikipedia

 Picnic

Port Tampa

Rattlesnake

Ruskin is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The area was part of the chiefdom of the Uzita (Florida) at the time of the Hernando de Soto expedition in 1539.

U.S. Route 41 currently runs through the center of Ruskin. The community was founded August 7, 1908 on the shores of the Little Manatee River. It was developed by Dr. George McAnelly Miller, an attorney and professor at Ruskin College in Trenton, Missouri, and Mrs. Adaline D. Miller. It is named after the essayist and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). Miller established the short-lived Ruskin College. To gain a sense of the Zeitgeist of the founding philosophy; note that in the old Ruskin City area there is a Carlyle Blvd named for Thomas Carlyle and there once was a Morris Park named for William Morris.

Ruskin remained largely agricultural, including large tomato crops, until recent decades when it expanded with suburban housing developments. The population was 17,208 at the 2010 census. The town is home to Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve.

Situated on the shores of the Little Manatee River, the town (founded on August 7, 1908) and college were named after the English writer and social reformist John Ruskin (1819–1900). Ruskin, a utopian, founded the guild of St George, a celebration of workmanship that underpinned the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris. Ruskin was a passionate educator.

In 1907, Dr. George McAnelly Miller, a former Chicago prosecuting attorney and professor, and former president of Ruskin College in Trenton, Missouri, relocated his family to the area, and along with his brother-in-law Albert Peter Dickman’s family. They purchased land and started to set up homes, a saw mill, and a school. Mrs. Adaline D. Miller, (Dr. Miller's wife) founded a post office on August 7, 1908. This day is recognized as the official founding day of the town. The Ruskin Commongood Society platted Ruskin on February 19, 1910, and filed the plat on March 9, 1910, in the Hillsborough County Court House with lots for the college, the business district, two parks, and for the founding families, with only Whites allowed to own or lease land in the community. Albert Dickman’s house, finished in 1910, on the banks of the Little Manatee River, is one of the few structures left standing from the founding of Ruskin.

The Millers began Ruskin College in 1910 with Dr. Miller serving as president and Adeline Miller serving as Vice President. Continuing with the college’s former practices, students worked a portion of each day as part of their education and as a way to pay for tuition and board. It offered three years of preparatory classes, students could then attend the college, taking classes in art, drama, language, literature, music, shorthand, social sciences, and speech. In 1913 the school has 160 students.

By 1913, the community had a cooperative general store, a canning factory, a telephone system, an electric plant supplying electricity to both public and private buildings, a weekly paper, and regular boat freight and passenger service to Tampa. Source: Wikipedia

Seffner is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 7,579 at the 2010 census, although its ZIP codes (33584 & 33583), whose boundaries extend beyond the ones given by the census and which include the places of Mango and a portion of Thonotosassa, have a population of around 35,000.

Approximately 15 miles east of downtown Tampa, Seffner serves as a suburban haven for commuters. While still characterized by towering live oak trees, strawberry farms and lakes, this small town has been growing rapidly. Housing subdivisions now dot the once rural landscape.

According to the Seffner Chamber of Commerce, the exact date of Seffner's founding is unknown. Some historians claim that Seffner's streets were originally laid out in 1862, but not recorded as a plat formally until 1885. Seffner's post office was opened in 1884, once a new railroad line in the area had been planned. The community was in fact named for its first postmaster, F.P. Seffner. That same year, Seffner's first school and store were opened. The main thoroughfare leading north and south was Lenna Avenue and leading east and west was Highway Number 23, renamed Buffalo Avenue, because of its erstwhile use as a buffalo trail, and then renamed again in 1989 to its current name, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (Hwy 574). Seffner (and neighboring Mango and Dover) served as the three primary towns along the South Florida Railroad right-of-way between Tampa and Plant City. These towns owe their existence and prosperity to the railroad, each becoming an important shipping center.

According to Ernest Robinson, County Historian, Seffner quickly became a prosperous small community with citrus groves, a hotel (later destroyed by fire), one drug store, several dry goods stores and a livery stable. Early pioneer families included Hooker, Weeks (after whom Lake Weeks was named), Simmons, Mitchell (the son became Governor of Florida in the early 1900s), Pemberton, Henderson, Wheeler, Tomberlin, Morris, Derenthal, Little, O'Brien, Beaty, Baucom, Gray and Spencer.

When an epidemic of yellow fever hit Tampa in the fall of 1887 and in 1888, many Tampa refugees fled in panic to Seffner for temporary shelter in the hotel there (non-extant). However, as refugees and mail arrived in Seffner, they were fumigated as protection from the epidemic. Among the refugees was T.C. Taliaferro of the First National Bank of Tampa, who operated a branch banking business from Seffner during the epidemic.

First Baptist Church of Seffner was founded in 1888.

The freeze in the winter of 1894–1895 brought disaster to Seffner. Many citizens left, while others remained to recoup their losses. Seffner survived and regained its affluence. Attractive residential neighborhoods were built to accommodate the influx of desirable residents. The beauty and popularity of the area, including Lakes Hooker, Locarno and Weeks, prompted others to relocate to the area. By 1925, Seffner was the fourth-largest town in Hillsborough County.

After World War II, Seffner became a sleepy Florida town with many residents relocating to Tampa. Today, visitors can still see vestiges of older buildings and farms along the back roads of Seffner. As Tampa and neighboring Brandon expand eastward, Seffner is expected to benefit from a boom in commerce and further residential development.

In early 2013 the town made headlines when one of its residents was swallowed up by a sinkhole that grew under his bedroom. Later in August 2015, the same sinkhole opened up again following heavy rains in the area. Source: Wikipedia

Sun City

The name Thonotosassa comes from the Seminole-Creek words thlonto and sasse, meaning the place was a source of valuable flint. Following the establishment of Fort Brooke in 1824 in what is now Tampa, a road that ran northwest of Lake Thonotosassa was built between Fort Brooke and Fort King in Ocala. This road became known as the Fort King Road, which today is crossed in several locations by US Route 301.Nevertheless, the presence of a Seminole village largely discouraged whites from moving into the area. After the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, whites began to settle.

In 1893, the Tampa and Thonotosassa Railroad opened a 13-mile route between the two growing communities. This line today no longer extends into Thonotosassa, its northern tracks having been removed along with the town depot by the 1980s;but its southern portion remains a busy industrial spur, joining with the CSX main line at Neve Wye.

Among other areas for recreation for the youth is the Morris Bridge Road area and its Nature's Classroom.

Town 'n' Country is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 78,442 at the 2010 census.^[3]

Within Town 'n' Country are located Bay Crest Park, Countryway, Rocky Creek, Sweetwater Creek.

Valrico began as a region of cotton plantations known as Long Pond. It was renamed to Valrico, meaning "rich valley" in Spanish, in the 1880's when a philosophy professor from Tufts college, William G. Tousey, purchased property in the area. In 1890, an influx of new immigrants arrived following the construction of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroads through the area.

When the railroad was completed, Tousey began building up the community with retail stores, streets, and a bank. In 1895, a major freeze halted these developments, and the population began to dwindle. Nonetheless, the town continued to press on, with a schoolhouse being completed in 1896. The population continued to fall drastically, from 100 people in 1893 to only 50 in 1911.

This setback did not deter local landowners from pushing forward with the town's development. Between 1910-1914 Judge Hamner, Governor Van Sant, D. Humbird, W.H., S.C. Phipps and W.F. Miller started an improvement project along Hopewell Rd, later designated SR 60. W.F. Miller, serving as president of the Valrico Improvement Association, raised $3500 to erect the Valrico Civic Center, now known as the James McCabe Theatre. The area's first general store was opened by Lovett Brandon in 1912.

Valrico once again suffered a major blow during the stock market crash of 1929, which saw nearly every business in the town shut down. Not until the mid-1950's did the town begin to see growth again, primarily due to the connection of SR 60 to Tampa's Adamo Dr, placing Valrico right along a major Florida thoroughfare.   Source: Wikipedia