Lykes Bros. Inc. is a private company founded by the Lykes Family of Tampa, Florida, in 1910. Today the Florida-based agribusiness is a diverse enterprise that includes cattle, citrus, farming, forestry, hunting, land and water resource management.
In the 1870s Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes abandoned a medical career in Columbia, South Carolina and took over a 500-acre (2.0 km2) family cattle ranch in rural Hernando County north of Tampa. The Lykes Family started the first school in this county in Spring Hill, Florida and the library at the county seat, Brooksville, Florida also bears the Lykes name. Spring Hill refers to the community that grew up around the Lykes Family home called Spring Hill, which is distinct and separate from the later development by the Deltona Corporation by the same name. [1] The family cemetery is located outside of Brooksville.
In 1895, Dr. Lykes moved to Ballast Point in Tampa, Florida where he began shipping cattle to Cuba. Gradually, his seven sons joined the family operations which incorporated in 1910 as Lykes Brothers. This corporation would come to comprise interests in land, citrus, phosphate mining, timber (eucalyptus, pine), sugarcane, a major shipping line (Lykes Brothers Steamship Company), cattle and meat processing, banking (First Florida Bank) and Lykes Insurance Company.
In the 1930s, Lykes Bros. purchased the 265,000-acre (1,070 km2) Lykes Ranch in West Texas, south of Alpine. By the 1950s, Lykes Bros. Steamships was the largest U.S. shipping line, with 54 cargo ships operating out of Gulf ports. [2] A Lykes Bros. ship would be the first to sail into Shanghai harbor after the U.S. established relations with mainland China. A leader in citrus concentrate, the $15 million Lykes Pasco citrus-processing plant was the biggest in Florida. The corporation took a blow when La Candelaria, the 15,000-acre (61 km2) Lykes estate 250 miles (400 km) east of Havana, was nationalized during the Cuban Revolution. It is now a cooperative farm.
Hernando County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 194,515. Its county seat is Brooksville, and its largest community is Spring Hill.
Scouting in Florida is composed of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) local councils in Florida. Scouting in Florida has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Spring Hill is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hernando County, Florida, United States. The population was 113,568 at the 2020 census, up from 98,621 at the 2010 census. Spring Hill belongs to Florida's Nature Coast region and is in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area. It is east of Hernando Beach, southwest of Brooksville, and north of Tampa.
Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, as well as the fourth largest in the Tampa Bay area. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 82,485, up from 77,648 in 2010.
Port Tampa Bay, known as the Port of Tampa until January 2014, is the largest port in the state of Florida and is overseen by the Tampa Port Authority, a Hillsborough County agency. The port is located in Tampa, Florida near downtown Tampa's Channel District. The port directly accesses Tampa Bay on the western coast of the Florida Suncoast, and is approximately 25 sea miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The port district includes parts of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough River. The port serves container ships, tank ships, and cruise lines.
Brooksville is a city and the county seat of Hernando County, Florida, in the United States. At the 2010 census it had a population of 7,719, up from 7,264 at the 2000 census. Brooksville is home to historic buildings and residences, including the homes of former Florida governor William Sherman Jennings and football player Jerome Brown.
Florida's 12th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress and was assigned along the Gulf coast of central Florida. The district includes Citrus County and Hernando County, as well as most of Pasco County, including the places of New Port Richey, Dade City, Spring Hill, and Homosassa Springs.
The Chinsegut Hill Manor House is an historic site about five miles northeast of Brooksville, Florida, on Chinsegut Hill. Chinsegut Hill, at an elevation of 269 feet (82 m), is one of the highest points in peninsular Florida. It is in Hernando County north of the city of Brooksville.
Stella F. Thayer is a vice-chair and former president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) in the state of Florida is a north–south United States Highway. It runs 479 miles (771 km) from Miami in South Florida northwest to the Georgia state line north of the Lake City area. Within the state, US 41 is paralleled by Interstate 75 (I-75) all the way from Miami to Georgia, and I-75 has largely supplanted US 41 as a major highway.
Hernando High School is a public high school located in Brooksville, Florida. It is part of the Hernando County School District. It has been in operation since 1889, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating public high schools in the United States.
Brooksville–Tampa Bay Regional Airport, formerly known as Hernando County Airport, is a joint civil-military public airport located 6 nautical miles (11 km) southwest of the central business district of Brooksville, a city in Hernando County, Florida, United States. It is owned by Hernando County and is 45 miles (72 km) north of Tampa. While having consistent growth in its traffic rate, it does not yet serve the public through commercial airlines, but it does have charter and executive service.
Alfred Augustus McKethan was a prominent American banker, citrus grower, businessman and political appointee who was a native and resident of Florida.
Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., also called Lykes Lines, was a cargo shipping company acting from the beginning of the 20th century to 2005 having its main business in the trade to and from the United States.
James McKay Sr. was a cattleman, ship captain, and the sixth mayor of Tampa, Florida. McKay is memorialized with a bronze bust on the Tampa Riverwalk, along with other historical figures prominent in the History of Tampa.
The Hernando County Public LibrarySystem has 4 branches located in Hernando County, Florida on the west central coast of the state and serves approximately 192,186 residents. The main branch is located in downtown Brooksville and was dedicated as the Frederick Eugene Lykes Jr. Memorial Library in 1950. There are additional branches in East Brooksville, West Brooksville, and Spring Hill. The Florida Library Association chose the Hernando system as its 2013 Library of the Year. While Hernando County established one of the first bookmobiles in the state, it is no longer operational. As of 2020, the staff totaled 32 people, including 7 librarians and 25 other staff members. The library had about 92,940 cardholders and had 454,112 circulation transactions in 2020. The library is a member of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.
The Brooksville 1885 Train Depot is one of three museums operated by the Hernando Historical Museum Association. The museum is located just south of downtown Brooksville, Florida, on Russell Street. It was originally built by the Florida Southern Railway. The museum is dedicated to the railroad, and local history of Brooksville, Hernando County, and Florida.
TGH Brooksville is a non-profit hospital in Brooksville, Florida, United States owned by Tampa General Hospital. It was purchased from Community Health Systems in July 2023.
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