Middleburg, Florida

Middleburg is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) within Clay County in the U.S. state of Florida, located southwest of downtown Jacksonville and northwest of Green Cove Springs, the county seat of Clay County. As of the 2020 census, the population of Middleburg was 12,881, down from 13,008 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

It is home to Middleburg High School and to the Middleburg Historic District.

Geography

Middleburg is located northwest of the center of Clay County at (30.050783, -81.902013). Florida State Road Blanding Boulevard leads northeast to the Orange Park area and southwest to Keystone Heights.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Middleburg CDP has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 13,008 people living in 4,891 housing units within the CDP. Between the 2000 and 2010 census, Middleburg realized a population increase of 2,670 individuals. The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.9% White, 3.1% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.9% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 4.1% of the population.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 24.87% under the age of 18, 75.13% age of 18 or over, and 10.36% age of 65 or over. The population was 49.7% female and 50.3% male.

History

Early Settlement

Initially inhabited by Seminole Native Americans, the United States Congress passed a bill in 1824 providing the Florida territory national funding to construct a military route spanning from Colerain, Georgia southwest to Tampa Bay, with long-term goals of expelling and relocating the indigenous Seminole population, encouraging settlement and development by American settlers. Completed by 1827, the "federal road" provided a route through the area between the north and south forks of Black Creek.

Asa Clark operated a ferry service on the north fork of Black Creek in the 1820s, leading the vicinity of his ferry travels to be cololoquially referred to as ''Clark's Ferry''. In February 1828, Isaac Boring founded the Black Creek Methodist Church, and later that year Clark's business was acquired by John Hanson, who traversed the same area through 1833, after which he sold to Samuel and Charlotte Garey, for whom the village was officially named ''Garey's Ferry'', listed as such on state maps from as early as 1836.

By this time, commerce and travel to the area was increasing, and multiple ferry services travelled to and from Garey's Ferry and Whitesville. George Branning and Ozias Budington each operated their own ferry operations in competition with the Gareys; Budington largely focused on the south fork and facilitated the building and expansion of Whitesville, which ultimately grew large enough to warrant its own United States Post Office and a jailhouse (Blakey, 1976).

Forts Heileman and Sanderson

The community expanded rapidly during the Second Seminole War. Fort Heileman, a wooden stockade fortification located between the North and South prongs of Black Creek, was hastily built in 1836 and protected settlers at Garey's Ferry where it was the "principal depot for the east coast of Florida."

During the Seminole Wars, Fort Heileman was used as a quartermaster workshop and storage depot until its armaments were moved to Fort Shannon in Palatka and the fort was largely abandoned after June 18, 1841. The fort was permanently abandoned in 1842 and destroyed by a flood later that year. The only potential remnant of Fort Heileman is the Clark-Chalker House, which was built in 1835 and may have served as Fort Heileman's army hospital.

Fort Sanderson was constructed in July 1840 to be used for storage; both forts were abandoned the following year, and destroyed in a hurricane in 1842.

Consolidation of Middleburgh and Creation of Clay County

Garey's Ferry expanded following the Seminole Wars, growing quickly and trading in timber, citrus fruits, cotton, and farm crops. In 1851, Garey's Ferry and Whitesville were consolidated into the town of Middleburgh, and the post office moved from Whitesville to its current location on Palmetto Street. Clay County (named for Henry Clay) was created from Duval County in December 1858, and Middleburgh became and remained the county seat until 1874.

Throughout the 1850s, as national tensions leading to the American Civil War were increasing, Middleburgh and Clay County remained a stronghold of Whig voters and pro-Union sentiment; in 1859, Whitesville residents renamed their community "Webster" in honor of Whig politician Daniel Webster.

American Civil War

Having seceded in 1861, Florida was a state within the Confederate States of America. On October 23, 1864, during the American Civil War, the 4th Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry engaged local Confederates in a skirmish from their base at the Magnolia Springs hotel. Moving into Middleburg the next day, October 24, 1864, the 4th Massachusetts raided and set fire to downtown Middleburg on Main Street and Thompson (now Wharf) Street, destroying Samuel B. Thompson's cotton warehouses and docks, as well as a hotel. The 2nd Florida Cavalry, under command of Captain J.J. Dickison, retaliated by firing on the Massachusetts regiment, leading the latter to retreat across Black Creek and burn the ferry bridge behind them. As the Massachusetts regiment rushed back to Magnolia Springs, Dickison's regiment detoured four miles through Whitesville and caught the Massachusetts regiment at Jeremiah Halsey's Plantation, engaging in a skirmish that resulted in twelve Union deaths and Confederate victory. This skirmish is known officially as the Battle of Halsey's Plantation, but has also been referred to as the Battle of Big Gum Creek. The exact location of Halsey's Plantation is not known, but it was near the site that is currently Shadowlawn Elementary School on County Road 218.

Among the repeated skirmishes between the 4th Massachusetts and 2nd Florida cavalries was a two-hour engagement in which Dickison's troops rescued cattle that had been seized by Union troops, which local history refers to as the Battle of the Tiger Head.

Decline and expansion

Fewer than 100 residents remained in Middleburg following the end of the Civil War,. and held steady between 700 and 800 residents in the period between 1890 and 1920. The Great Freeze of 1895 in and a reduction of the river trade further contributed to the town's decline.

In the 1890s, African American homesteaders, starting with Grant Forman (1868-1951) in 1895, settled and developed the community of Hill Top in what is Forman Circle." According to "Embedded in Clay," Forman fled to South Carolina after his house was burned by a white mob. Frosard Budington, a leader of Whitesville, covered the cost of Forman's land taxes until such time as it was safe for Forman to return to Hill Top.

The 1989 film ''Brenda Starr'' was partially filmed on Black Creek.

Since the 1990s, Middleburg's population and industry have rapidly expanded along with the surrounding communities of Orange Park, Lakeside, Lake Asbury, Fleming Island, and Jacksonville. Because of this development, construction to extend the First Coast Expressway through the area is underway, including the addition of exit junctions in Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, and Asbury Lake.

Notable people

* Gary Barnidge, NFL tight end
* Lenny Curry, mayor of Jacksonville, Florida
* Roy Geiger, USMC World War II general
* Ashley Greene, actress
* Richard Owens, NFL tight end
* Donnie Van Zant, musician for 38 Special, Van Zant
* Johnny Van Zant musician for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Zant
* Slim Whitman, country singer and songwriter

Bands
*The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, rock band

References

External links

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Census-designated places in Clay County, Florida
Census-designated places in the Jacksonville metropolitan area
Census-designated places in Florida
Former county seats in Florida