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This rare view, originally photographed on a tintype and copied several times since, shows downtown Gainesville as it originally appeared. The town was established in 1854, as Gainesville, incorporating an earlier settlement called Hogtown. It became the county seat in 1854. This view is said to date from 1883, but it may be earlier. It shows the north side of Alachua Avenue, now called University Avenue, north of courthouse square, the block just east of Main Street. The four buildings shown are (from left): The Chris Matheson Store, the office of Dr. James F. McKinstry, the U.S. Post Office and Vidal Drug store. Within a few years, this block was torn down, and new, brick buildings erected.