P.O. Box 100, Sumterville, FL 33585-0100
102 North Highway 470, Lake Panasoffkee, FL 33538
tel (352) 793-3099 - fax (352) 793-2120
102 North Highway 470, Lake Panasoffkee, FL 33538
tel (352) 793-3099 - fax (352) 793-2120
Bushnell was established in 1885 and incorporated in 1911. The City of Bushnell was named after John W. Bushnell, who was responsible for bringing the railroad to the community. Bushnell is the Seat of Sumter County and is located within easy driving distance to both Tampa and Orlando. Our rural atmosphere is inviting to those who like to enjoy a more relaxed life style than that which is found in our neighboring metropolitan areas.
Bushnell is a full service City, providing Electric, Water, Wastewater, and Sanitation to our customers. Located in close proximity to other smaller communities, Bushnell is the central market area to a much larger region. The City also has a large commercial base that is rapidly expanding, especially at the interchange of SR 48 and I-75, which is within the municipal boundaries.
Bushnell's motto is Committed to the Quality of Life and it is the guiding principal by which all municipal decisions are made. Capturing Bushnell's historical flavor and hometown atmosphere is important to city officials who are busy balancing Bushnell's past with their future. We hope you enjoy our website and come visit our community soon.
City of Bushnell Government Website
Center Hill's history dates as far back as 1842, but the city was not incorporated until 1905. It's unclear whether naming rights for the community belong to Mrs. Carrie Lovell or Postmaster Thomas W. Spicer. Wherever the name originated, it is clear that this little town was named Center Hill because it was in the center of the County and on top of a hill.
Originally incorporated as the Town of Center Hill, it was re-incorporated as the City of Center Hill in 1925. The city quickly took advantage of its proximity to area rail services, shipping nearly 400 railroad cars of green beans in 1925. Commerce grew rapidly and Center Hill became known as "the green bean capital of the world".
Eventually the produce industry in South Florida took business away from Central Florida, and drainage of the canals cause the land to become less suitable for farming. Citrus farming remained as a part of local industry until winter freezes in the 1980s destroyed most of the groves.
Today Center Hill is a beautiful, clean friendly community offering life at a slower pace with easy access to nearby urban areas.
The historic City of Coleman officially incorporated in 1908 and was founded as an agricultural community; it once boasted of being the Cabbage Capital of the world. Strategically located in central Florida and nestled adjacent to Lake Panasoffkee and conservation lands, Coleman has the advantage of easy access to both beaches and larger metropolitan areas.
Modern-day Coleman emphasizes its position as a family-oriented community and as a true American small town featuring newly-renovated parks as neighborhood focal points. It has homes dating from the late 1800s with a high number of parks per capita. The picture is of Dunklin-Riser Park.
Croom-A-Coochee is an unincorporated community in Sumter County, located adjacent to the Croom Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near the Withlacoochee River. In addition to the Croom WMA, Sumter County offers hunting in the Green Swamp, Richloam, and Half Moon Wildlife Management Areas. Additionally, a new area has opened at the northeast end of Lake Panasoffkee.
Originally settled around 1880 as simply "Panasoffkee", it soon became known as one of the largest fruit-shipping centers in the world. In addition to citrus groves, sugar cane mills speckled the countryside. There were many lovely old colonial homes along the groves and plantations where Sea Island cotton, sugar cane, corn and sweet potatoes were also grown. The rivers and woods were teeming with fish and game, and social life centered on these activities.
Winter tourists continue to flock to the area today in order to enjoy the excellent hunting and fishing. Lake Panasoffkee was recently the site of a 28 million dollar restoration project that resulted in restoring the lakes fisheries and shoreline habitats, and preserving the natural beauty of the lake to ensure that future generations will continue to enjoy this marvelous natural resource for years to come.
Royal was established in 1865 by freed slaves from the old Green Plantation located near the Withlacoochee River.
With freedom, slaves were granted 40 acres and a mule to homestead. The first name given this community was Picketsville because of the white picket fences used to designate each slave's 40 acres parcel. The first industries were farming, logging and turpentine dipping.
In 1875 Reverend Alfred Brown built the first church, Ebenezer A. M. E. Church and also the first school, Royal Elementary & Middle School, a one-room schoolhouse. Mr. Perman E. Williams was the first officially appointed principal. Mr. Alonzo A. Young, Sr. served as the last Principal from 1947-69. Young men from the federal government Works Project Administration (WPA) and community volunteers built the last and largest school.
Today this is the site of the Royal Volunteer Fire Department, Royal Community Center and the last building used as the Royal school cafeteria, which was built in 1945. This historic building was donated for use by the community as the A. A. Young, Sr. Historical and Enrichment Center of Royal.
The County Seat in 1881, Sumterville was an integral part of Sumter County history. Sumterville proper is a cozy old village of about 100 inhabitants and has been twice elected the county seat.
In the early days, a stage line operated from Tampa to Sumterville. The stage line continued operations when the railroad was built nearby, providing transportation for both passengers and freight.
Residents soon discovered that the local limestone, which covers a large portion of this section of Sumter County, was a plentiful and valuable resource. Sumter County furnished crushed limestone rock for road construction, shipping it to projects throughout the south. The area around modern-day Sumterville is still home to a number of aggregate-mining operations.
Sometime around 1870, pioneers began to settle in Oxford. On the road south of town, there was a pond that caused problems during the rainy seasons. Travelers were forced to get the help of teams of oxen to cross this section of the road, and this could have led to the name Ox-ford.
After the 1894-1895 freeze ruined most of the area's citrus farmers, a few families remained in Oxford where they turned to truck farming for a living. Cantaloupes and melons developed as a quality crop, and now tomatoes are raised in and around Oxford. Oxford today is still a small rural community located in the north portion of the County. The residents of Oxford strive to maintain their small town heritage while welcoming the influx of new neighbors in The Villages.
Widely heralded as the world's premier retirement community, The Villages is a master planned community located in the northeast corner of Sumter County that began development in the 1960s under the guidance of the Schwartz family. The entire community straddles several adjacent counties and is the largest residential development in Central Florida. According to a 2008 Census Bureau report, The Villages is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States.
The Villages' neighborhoods, downtown areas, shopping centers and medical facilities are connected with convenient golf cart trails and tunnels that allow residents to travel almost anywhere within the development without getting into a car. With over 75,000 residents enjoying a lifestyle that features 441 holes of golf, 48 swimming pools, 49 recreation centers, two old fashioned "downtowns," 2 libraries, 3 fitness centers, and over 1400 clubs and organizations, "Florida's Friendliest Hometown" is truly the community where the dreams one has for retirement come true.
The Villages Government Website
Webster was first settled in 1855 under the name of Orange City. The town was renamed Webster by Postmaster George Franklin Hays after it was discovered that another community in Florida was using the name.
Webster was based on the citrus industry until the great freeze of 1894-95 when the great freeze destroyed large portions of the orange groves. Naval store industry replaced the citrus industry for a time. After the naval stores industry failed, Webster became one of the largest vegetable producers in the state and in the early 1900s was known as the Cucumber Capital. In 1937 the Sumter County Farmers Market was established to provide a market where farmers in the surrounding area could sell their produce. The current Farmers Market now consists of a large flea market on Monday and a livestock auction (one of the few remaining in the state) on Tuesday.
Webster continues to grow. It has recently added a sewer system, a forty-seven acre recreation park, an eighty home subdivision and new retailers. The community is made up of good schools, churches and friendly people that make the Webster area a good place to call home.
I.E. Barwick is credited with founding the City of Wildwood in 1877 when he called a group of citizens together to organize a committee to form a town and preserve law and order. The first official record of the incorporation of the City of Wildwood is contained in the Acts of the Legislature, Chapter 3968, which indicates that the State Legislature validated the city's incorporation on May 16, 1889. There are no official city records prior to 1915 because any records that might have been filed in the county courthouse concerning Wildwood's early days were destroyed in the fire that leveled the county courthouse in Sumterville on January 30, 1909.
Mr. Barwick purchased 80-acres of land from a former black slave by the name of Malinda Thompson, who had inherited the land from her son, Isaac Flagister. Mr. Barwick sold some of the land to people in the area, donated lots to the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist congregations to build their churches on, and donated about one acre to the railroad for the purpose of building a depot. The remaining 40 to 50 acres Barwick mortgaged to build a hotel, livery stable and other improvements as the foundation of the city. The Sumter Presbyterian Church (now the First Presbyterian Church of Wildwood) was the first Church to be constructed (1884 -1885). The Methodist and Baptist congregations used the Presbyterian Church building until they were able to build their own churches (Baptist in 1885 and Methodist in 1892).
Wildwoods first business district was established sometime between 1877 and 1879 and consisted of five buildings and a hotel. In 1889 all but the hotel were destroyed by fire. The second business district was constructed in 1892 on the site of the first business district, but in 1904 it was also destroyed by fire. The hotel remained until 1966 when it was dismantled for the four-laning of US 301. A third business district was established and several of those buildings (across US 301 from City Hall) are still standing and occupied by businesses today.
Wildwood has had three City Halls over the years. The first one was known as the Big Wigwam because of its octagonal shape. Besides being used for political meetings and public gatherings, it was also used as a theater, a skating rink, and a recreation hall. It was torn down in 1925. It was two years before the next City Hall was built (1927) at a cost of $11,500. It had some additions and renovations over the years and the police department, jail and fire department were added to it. It served the city until August of 2000 when the current City Hall was opened.
Wildwood's early economy was primarily built around the lumber industry. Barwick also built and owned a timber mill near town. Then the railroad came to Wildwood in 1882, and Wildwood became the hub for the railroad until the 1960s when Seaboard Coastline began laying off employees. By the mid 1970s the Wildwood hub operation was shut down.
When the railroad industry declined in the 60s, a few farsighted leaders were able to successfully redirect the town. A shopping center was built and when Florida's Turnpike was completed in 1964 (soon followed by I-75), it was the efforts of J.W. Peebles and E.C. Rowell that got the Wildwood-301 interchange constructed on the extension connecting the turnpike with I-75. This connection made Wildwood the only city in the state which has immediate access to both the Florida Turnpike and I-75 and to both US 301 and SR 44. Today, these transportation connections make Wildwood attractive to industries for the purpose of transporting their supplies and products, and make Wildwood a transportation hub once again.
When The Villages retirement community started to grow towards Sumter County and Wildwood in the 1990s and early 2000s, future looking city officials saw opportunity knocking on the door and started to work on planning for controlled future growth by implementing business and residential design standards, a new tree ordinance, expansion of wastewater facilities, drilling new wells in locations where growth is expected to occur, and putting the pipes in the ground so developers could hook up to services. Developers from around the country began buying up land around the area to build affordable single and multi-family housing, commercial stores, shopping centers and business parks. Developers are annexing their properties into the city because they need city water, sewer and refuse services in order to be approved for development and construction to begin. The city benefits because it adds to the ad valorem tax base, which the city needs in order to keep providing services to its residents and businesses.
Wildwood is again looking to the future for the benefit of the residents and business owners who are the city's number one priority.
This project made possible through funding provided by VISIT FLORIDA and the Florida Commission on Tourism
