Live Oak, Florida
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Live Oak is a city and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Suwannee County, Florida Suwannee County is a county located in the north central portion of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,474, up from 41,551 in 2010. Its county seat is Live Oak. Suwannee County was a dry county until August 201 ...
, United States. The city is midway between
Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
and
Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. As of 2020, the population recorded by the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
was 6,735.
U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. It generally travels near Int ...
, U.S. Highway 129 and
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
are major highways running through Live Oak. Freight service is provided by the
Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad is a shortline railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle. The line consists of 430 miles (692 km) of track: a main line from Baldwin, Florida (just west of Jacksonville), through Ta ...
, which acquired most of the former
CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
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 Washington County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida, in the Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,318. Its county seat is Chipley. Washington County is included in the Panama City—P ...
.


History


19th century

Built along the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad in or prior to 1861, Live Oak was named for a
southern live oak ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...
tree under which railroad workers rested and ate lunch. When a railroad
depot Depot may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Glacier (disambiguation) * Depot Island (disambiguation) * Depot Nunatak * Depot Peak Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Chicago, United States * Of ...
was built nearby, the small community that sprang up around it was called “Live Oak Station” (first mentioned in records in 1861). The tree was at the site of the present-day Pepe's Mexican Grocery on U.S. 90."Live Oak, Florida"
, See North Florida website
During the Civil War, the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad served as a vital route for parts of
North Florida North Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regi ...
. Defensive 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. To ease supply problems to 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. It was too late to help the Confederacy, but it opened up the interior of the county to settlement in the postwar period. An infamous resident of the town was Lewis Powell, one of
John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the p ...
's co-conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. At the age of 13, he had moved with his family from Alabama to Live Oak. He lived there until the age of 17, when he lied about his age to enlist with the 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment in the Confederate army. In 1868 the legislature designated Live Oak as the county seat of Suwannee County. An election held the following year confirmed Live Oak as the county seat, and it has continued in this role. Live Oak was incorporated as a town in 1878. In 1903, it was incorporated as a city and was the largest community in Suwannee County. It served as a minor railroad hub for the region. During
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
, Live Oak suffered extensive violence by
white supremacists White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine o ...
against Black citizens. They attacked and assaulted Blacks to discourage their voting, to maintain dominance, and to expel Blacks from the community.


20th century

In the 1905 State census, Live Oak was the fifth-largest city in Florida (behind Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa, and Key West, in that order), and the largest inland city. Nearby resorts at Suwannee Springs and Dowling Park (formerly Hudson-upon-the-Suwannee) drew thousands of visitors from around the world to the sulfur springs and related nearby sports, boating, and hunting activities. The health benefits of the springs were touted in magazines and newspapers worldwide, supposedly curing everything from arthritis to “female problems”. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Live Oak saw a construction boom. Notable buildings such as the
Suwannee County Courthouse The Suwannee County Courthouse (constructed in 1904) is a historic government building located at 200 South Ohio Avenue on the southwest corner of Warren Street in Live Oak, Florida. On November 12, 1998, it was added to the U.S. National Regis ...
, Live Oak City Hall, and Suwannee Hotel were completed. Dozens of fine two- and three-story homes were erected along the major streets. By 1913, the main streets were bricked and a sewage system had been built. Live Oak was surpassed as a destination when explosive growth occurred in south Florida. At the same time, people lost belief in the healing power of sulfur waters. Cotton crops were devastated by the
boll weevil The boll weevil (''Anthonomus grandis'') is a species of beetle in the family Curculionidae. The boll weevil feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19 ...
near the end of the First World War, which nearly finished off the economies of the city and county. Business stagnated with the coming of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. But, despite their relatively small populations, Live Oak and Suwannee County remained politically powerful for another four decades. The white and rural-dominated state legislature had resisted the required redistricting that would follow demographic changes throughout the state. Finally, after a
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
ruling in 1964 for "
one person, one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...
", the state legislature redistricted. Southern Florida received its due in the number of state and congressional representatives to reflect its greatly increased population in relation to other areas of the state. Ruby Strickland, former postmistress of the community of Dowling Park, was elected as mayor of Live Oak in 1924. She was the first female elected as mayor south of the
Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, sometimes referred to as Mason and Dixon's Line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. It was Surveying, surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason ...
after
universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
was enacted in 1919. Strickland served two non-consecutive terms and represented the area at the Democratic National Convention of 1936. In 1940, the men of the local National Guard unit, Company E of the 124th Infantry (historically called the Suwannee Rifles), were mustered into service for one year of training at Camp Blanding, Florida. A week after the December 7, 1941 surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the unit was assigned to the 31st Division at
Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...
, Georgia, to serve as a model infantry training unit. The unit was briefly deactivated in 1944, but reactivated the following month after many of the original men had been dispersed to other units; members served in both the European and Pacific theaters of war during World War II.
Florida National Guard The Florida National Guard is the National Guard force of the state of Florida. It comprises the Florida Army National Guard and the Florida Air National Guard. The United States Constitution charges the National Guard with dual federal and st ...
historian Robert Hawk noted that, "In the course of the Second World War, no unit of the Florida National Guard had more men killed, wounded in action, or dead from other causes than Company E, 124th Infantry." The Live Oak unit was reorganized several times over the years as infantry, tank, and engineering companies; as of 2019, it served as the 868th Engineer Company. The unit has purportedly been called up to serve more than any other unit in Florida. In 1944, 15 year-old African American Willie James Howard was
lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of in ...
in Live Oak, ostensibly for having "expressed his affections" to a white girl. He was murdered by a group of white men including the girl's father, former state legislator A.P. "Phil" Goff. They kidnapped Howard, bound him, and forced him to jump off a bridge. A Suwannee County grand jury failed to indict Goff or the other white men. Media attention to Live Oak in the aftermath of the death of Willie James Howard increased awareness of
lynching in the United States Lynching was the widespread occurrence of extrajudicial killings which began in the United States' Antebellum South, pre–Civil War South in the 1830s, slowed during the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and continued until L ...
. In 1948, Live Oak and Suwannee County received their first public hospital. It was completed under the Hill-Burton Act, which provided Federal funding for health care facilities to rural areas. The Suwannee County Hospital was initially segregated, and served only white citizens of the region until after passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s. African Americans went to Brewster Hospital. The Suwanee County facility was replaced in the early 1990s. In 1952, national attention was drawn to Live Oak and the county when Ruby McCollum, a wealthy African American, shot and killed Dr. Clifford Leroy Adams, Jr. He was a prominent, white, recently elected to the state senate. The fatal shooting took place in his medical office, across from the
Suwannee County Courthouse The Suwannee County Courthouse (constructed in 1904) is a historic government building located at 200 South Ohio Avenue on the southwest corner of Warren Street in Live Oak, Florida. On November 12, 1998, it was added to the U.S. National Regis ...
. Investigators at first thought the shooting was related to an unpaid doctor's bill. But it was soon revealed that the married Dr. Adams had fathered a child with McCollum, who was also married. She testified that he forced her into a sexual relationship. (Adams knew that her husband Sam oversaw an illegal "
bolita Bolita ( Spanish for ''Little Ball'') is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numb ...
" gaming operation and was said to benefit by it as well). Author
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...
was covering the trial for the ''
Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...
'' and characterized this abuse of an African-American woman by a powerful white man as an assertion of ''paramour rights'', which had also existed in the South under slavery. McCollum's murder conviction and death sentence were overturned on a technicality in 1954. Before a second trial, her defense attorney gained a certification that she was mentally unfit to stand trial. She was held for the next twenty years in the Florida State Mental Hospital in
Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...
. She was released to her family after being assessed as no danger to herself or anyone else. The murder and events surrounding it have been the subject of numerous books and documentaries in the 21st century. In the 1950s, the rest of Suwannee County received electricity and telephone service, something the City of Live Oak had since the late 1800s. In 1957, the
Florida Sheriffs Association The Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) is a non-profit professional association of Florida's 66 elected Sheriffs, along with approximately 3,500 business leaders and 70,000 citizens throughout the state. The FSA's mission is to enhance law enfor ...
received property north of Live Oak for use as a Boys’ Ranch. Opening in 1958, this facility has continued to be used to help troubled boys from all of Florida; later, a Girls' Ranch and Youth Villa were constructed in other parts of the state for girls and sibling groups. In September 1964, Hurricane Dora dumped massive amounts of water on Live Oak, flooding major intersections and leaving the downtown area partially submerged. The damage led to the abandonment or tearing down of several historic buildings and the relocation of other businesses to higher ground. In 1983, the Suwannee County Development Authority opened a park north of Live Oak along the banks of the Suwannee River. This park was little developed until being sold to private individuals in the 1990s. Renamed and developed as the
Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is a park located in North Central Florida, in Suwannee County, United States. Overview Situated on the banks of the historic Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River or Swanee ...
, it hosts music festivals for all types of music, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area annually.


21st century

Tropical Storm Debby (2012) surpassed the amount of rain brought by Hurricane Dora, and despite vastly improved drainage, much of Live Oak once again flooded. Interstates were shut down as portions were underwater, and much of the surrounding area was cut off from the outside world. In addition, dozens of sinkholes, some quite large, opened up all over the city and county, causing further damage. Several downtown buildings that were more than 100 years old were impacted and later torn down, replaced by public parks for community events. Live Oak remains the largest community and only full-fledged city in Suwannee County. Eco-tourism in and around Live Oak brings thousands of people from all over the country to places such as the nearby Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, the Suwannee River State Park, and numerous springs along the famed Suwannee River. In addition, agriculture-related business (including timber, pine straw, and watermelons) is still the dominant industry in Suwannee County, with international companies like Klausner Lumber making their home in and around Live Oak.


Geography

Geographically, Suwannee County is situated on a limestone bed riddled with underground freshwater streams, which surface in dozens of beautiful springs. This phenomenon of "
Karst topography Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
" gives the area a local supply of renewable fresh water and abundant sources of fishing. The county is known as a world-class
cave diving Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the underwater search and recovery, search for and recovery of divers or, as in th ...
site for SCUBA enthusiasts, and underwater cave explorer Sheck Exley chose to live here in order to have close access to many of the springs. Fishing sites include a number of small lakes about 5 miles east of the town. Suwannee Lake is the most well stocked and notable, but there is also Workman Lake, Dexter Lake, Campground Lake, Little Lake Hull, White Lake, Tiger Lake, Bachelor Lake, and Peacock Lake. The Twin Rivers State Forest is a Florida State forest located in North Central Florida, near Live Oak.


Climate

Live Oak has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(''Cfa'').


Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,735 people, 2,450 households, and 1,401 families residing in the city. The population density in 2020 was . There were 2.60 persons per household. By age, the population in 2020 was split with 3.8% under 5 years old, 20.1% under 18 years old, and 17.3% 65 years and older. 49.6% of the population were female born persons. In 2020, there was an owner-occupied housing unit rate of 48.2%. The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $104,400. The median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage was $1,121 and -without a mortgage was $374. The median gross rent was $773. 58.0% of households had a computer and 64.7% of households had a broadband internet subscription. The median household income was $45,417. There was a per capita income of $21,402. 26.2% of the population lived below the
poverty threshold The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. In 2020, 88.8% of the population 25 years and older were high school graduates or higher and 15.5% of that same population had a Bachelor's degree or higher. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 6,850 people, 2,345 households, and 1,620 families residing in the city.


Library


History

The City of Live Oak is the headquarters for the Suwannee River Regional Library System. Live Oak had a small town library up until the 1940s, which was financed by the County with $25 a month. This first library was a small wooden structure located on the corner of Pine and Wilbur, originally used as the public restrooms for white women. In 1948, a library annex was included in the building expansion program by the Board of County Commissioners. This building was made of brick and housed the public restroom for white women, a draft board office, and the library. The draft board office and library shared space and personnel until the Fall of 1954. In October 1954, half a million dollars was budgeted by the County Commissioners, and the City Council approved $500 annually for the operation of the Suwannee County Free Library. The library opened on February 28, 1955, and had a collection of 3,100 books, some of which they borrowed from the State Library. Mrs. Sara Rogers became the first librarian after resigning her position as Chairman of the Woman’s Club Library Project Committee. Rogers resigned on April 6, 1956, to become postmistress, and was succeeded by Mrs. W.D. Richardson on March 15, 1957. In an effort to receive federal funds, the Suwannee Board convinced Lafayette County to join in a regional library cooperative in 1957. In 1958, the first regional library system was established in Florida, servicing Lafayette and Suwannee counties. By 1958, the library's collection had grown from 3,100 books to 10,000, and a bookmobile was established. In 1959, the regional library system grew to include seven different counties. On July 20, 1959, the Suwannee River Regional Library Board hosted the five incoming counties who all officially joined October 1, 1959. In 1960, the main library was located in Live Oak, with eight local units, consisting of over 23,500 books. The Miami Public Library gave 3,000 of those as a gift. The start of construction on the new Suwannee River Regional Library on Ohio Avenue South began on January 4, 1996, and the new building was dedicated on November 24, 1996. At that time, students included a time capsule to be opened on December 16, 2045, during Florida’s Bicentennial.


Awards

In April 1960, the Book-of the-Month Club awarded the Suwannee River Regional Library with the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award. In the U.S., there were only eight rural libraries to qualify and receive the award, and the Suwannee River Regional Library was the only one from the south to be nominated and win the $1,000 prize. On April 7, 1992, the Suwannee County Commission signed a resolution honoring the people responsible for the library’s thirty-five years of operation. In 2009, the Suwannee River Regional Library was one of two-hundred and eight nationwide institutions to win a Big Read grant and The Maltese Falcon was chosen as the book to highlight. The library hosted a 1930s themed kick-off party on February 5, 2009 that turned into a monthlong "whodunit" when the model display Maltese Falcon was disappeared during festivities. The library used the grant to start a tween book club and created programs for middle and high school students including podcasts, art projects, and a film noir marathon. The library distributed three-hundred copies of The Maltese Falcon to the community with additional copies going to the high school and eleven life-size cut-outs of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade were distributed throughout town to garner interest.


Notable people

* Andra Davis, former NFL player * Cary A. Hardee, 23rd governor of
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
* Trysten Hill, NFL player * Kelly Jennings, former NFL player * J. B. Johnson, 23rd
Florida Attorney General The Florida attorney general is an elected Florida Cabinet, cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state, and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. The office is ...
, 28th
President of the Florida Senate This is a list of presidents of the Florida Senate. In Florida, the president of the Senate is elected by the Senate membership to a two-year term. They appoint committees and their chairs and route bills to the committees. They also co-ordina ...
and former
Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
. * Bruce Johnson, former NFL player * Joe Lang Kershaw, first
African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
legislator in the state of
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
since the
reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...
. * Ruby McCollum, was a wealthy married African-American woman and known for being charged in 1952 for first-degree murder for killing Dr. C. Leroy Adams, a prominent white doctor and state senator–elect. * Dale McCullers, former NFL player * Jimmy Nelson, former NFL player *
Titus O'Neil Thaddeus Michael Bullard (born April 29, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and former arena football player. He is signed to WWE as a Global Ambassador. Described by the company as "one of the most philanthropic superstars in WWE hist ...
,
professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
and former
arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...
player. Recipient of the
WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...
2020 Warrior Award. * Vernon E. Peeples, politician and state legislator. * Fain Skinner, former
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
driver * Del Williams, former NFL player


References


External links


''Live Oak Daily Democrat''
– historical newspaper for Live Oak, Florida, fully and openly available in th
Florida Digital Newspaper Library

City of Live Oak
– city website
''Suwannee Democrat''
– current newspaper of record for Live Oak {{authority control County seats in Florida Cities in Suwannee County, Florida Cities in Florida