WPA
COLUMBIA COUNTY
When Columbia County was created February 4, 1832, it included the present counties of Baker, Bradford, Suwannee and Union. Its area at that time was 2618 square miles. In 1838 Suwannee County was taken from it, and in 1862 Baker and Bradford were created. The present area of Columbia County is about 792 square miles.
Among the first settlements in Columbia County was Alligator located on the old Spanish trail. It was incorporated in 1856 and was designated by the Legislative Council as the county seat. It continued as the seat of justice until 1859 when its name was changed to Lake City.
Tradition has it that this act was passed by the Legislative Council at the insistence of Mrs. William Ross, who feared that her daughter's friends at the school she was to attend would ridicule her if she referred to her home as "Alligator".
The first legislative act outlining the boundaries of Lake City, then Alligator, was passed in 1848, when regular lines were set giving the community an area of 1 1/2 square miles. In 1886 the limits were extended one mile in each direction from the Court House as it then stood, and the present outlines embrace a territory of four sections of land.
The first Court House was erected in the northwest corner of what is now Olustee Park. It was a log building, consisting of two rooms with a porch. An open well and a watering trough for live
stock stood on the north side of the building. In 1882, another Court House was built in the southwest corner of the same park. This was also a log structure, to which later a frame addition was made to house a small waterworks plant. A cypress tank was built at the rear of the building. The water was pumped from Lake DeSoto, about six hundred feet away, the pump being operated usually by colored prisoners.
The present Court House was erected in 1908, the cost being approximately $35,000.
The county government is that prescribed by law, the officers being Clerk of Circuit Court, Sheriff, County Judge, Tax Assessor, Tax Collector, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Supervisor of Registration, and five County Commissioners. A county agricultural agent is also employed. County records are kept in vaults in the Court House. There is a vault in the office of the County Judge and one in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court. When records are removed from these vaults, they are stored in the basement vault of the Court House. Some public records were destroyed by fire Dec. 20th, 1874.
Lake City is the only incorporated town in the county. It has a commission form of government and its records are kept in the City Hall. A new building is almost completed and is modern and convenient.
The first Post Office was established in 1833. The present Post Office building is up-to-date and commodious.
Schools were established during the early years of the county's existence. The Old Florida Agricultural College was located at Lake City, and was the beginning of the University of Florida which was moved to Gainesville in 1905.
Columbia County has churches representing the following denominations: Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Christian Advent, Lutheran, Catholic and Church of Christ.
A United States hospital for veterans is located at Lake City and is staffed by a corps of efficient physicians and surgeons.
DEC 1 1936
SOURCE MATERIAL USED IN WRITING HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
1. Old county records
2. Notes prepared by Geo. F. Colburn, Lake City, for history of county
3. Old newspaper files
4. Information given by Mr. Hugh B. Summers, Lake City
5. Old maps
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