Putnam County is a county located in the northern part of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 73,321. Its county seat is Palatka.
Jacksonville is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonville consolidated in 1968. It is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020.
Alachua County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus opened with 106 students.
Baker County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,259. Its county seat is Macclenny. The county was founded in 1861 and is named for James McNair Baker, a judge and Confederate Senator.
Columbia County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 69,698, up from 67,531 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Lake City.
Leon County is a county in the Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 census, the population was 292,198.
Alachua is the second-largest city in Alachua County, Florida and the third-largest in North Central Florida. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 10,574. Alachua has one of the largest bio and life sciences sectors in Florida and is the site for the Santa Fe College Perry Center for Emerging Technologies.
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,214 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.
Hawthorne is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States, incorporated in 1881. Indigenous peoples of the Americas had been living in the area since around 100 CE; Hawthorne grew around their trading trails. Throughout its history, Hawthorne has been known for its agriculture, railroad, and rural lifestyle. Hawthorne's population was 1,478 at the 2020 census, with an area of 7.38 sq mi (19.1 km2).
Gainesville Regional Airport is a public airport three miles northeast of Gainesville, in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is owned by Gainesville-Alachua Co. Auth. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is the independent agency responsible for public transit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and roadway infrastructure that connects northeast Florida. However, they do not maintain any roadways. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 6,687,200, or about 22,300 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Melrose is an unincorporated community in Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Putnam counties in the U.S. state of Florida. It lies on State Road 26, approximately 17 mi (27 km) east of Gainesville and approximately 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Jacksonville. The town lies on Lake Santa Fe.
The Hippodrome Theatre is a regional professional theatre in downtown Gainesville, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1973 by local actors and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1979.
Alachua County Public Schools is a public school district serving Alachua County in North Central Florida. It serves approximately 29,845 students in 64 schools and centers.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mission to advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.” In fiscal year 2023, IMLS had a budget of $313.58 million. As of 2023, IMLS currently has 70 full-time employees, many of whom still work remotely. In 2022, the employees voted to unionize, joining hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have joined the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to “build power and have a voice at work.”
The Alachua County Library District (ALCD) is an independent special taxing district and the sole provider of public library service to approximately 280,000 citizens of Alachua County, Florida. This includes all of the incorporated municipalities in the county. It maintains a Headquarters Library and four other branches in Gainesville. There are branch locations in seven of the eight other incorporated municipalities in the county. ACLD also operates a branch at the county jail, and two bookmobiles.
Steve Oelrich is an American law enforcement officer and former Republican member of the Florida Senate from 2006 to 2012, where he represented the 14th District, which included Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion, Putnam, and Union counties.
Northern Lights Library Network (NLLN) is the largest (geographically) of seven multi-county, multitype library cooperative systems in the state of Minnesota. NLLN serves all types of libraries found in the 23 counties of Northwest and West Central Minnesota. The organization has over 300 member libraries including public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, and special libraries. Northern Lights Library Network is established in Minnesota statute and receives funding from the Minnesota legislature via the Office of State Library Services within the Minnesota Department of Education. NLLN offices are located in Moorhead, Minnesota.
The Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service (CCRLS) is a library cooperative serving residents of the Chemeketa Community College district, which includes most of Polk, Yamhill, and Marion Counties, and a small portion of Linn County in Oregon. The CCRLS offices are located on the campus of the Chemeketa Community College in Hayesville, an unincorporated suburb northeast of Salem, Oregon. The Cooperative works in tandem with member libraries to determine services, policies, and procedures. The organization is governed by the College Board of Education, with input from the CCRLS Advisory Council, which is made up of one "lay member" from each county and representing the rural areas, five library directors, and one city manager. Although considered a public library by the State of Oregon, CCRLS has no holdings of its own, instead operating as a service overlay to coordinate 16 independent and locally owned libraries into a cohesive system able to provide service to all citizens of the district.
The East Florida Seminary was an institution of higher learning established by the State of Florida in 1853, and absorbed into the newly established University of Florida in 1905. The school operated in Ocala from 1853 until 1861. After being closed during the Civil War, the school re-opened in Gainesville, Florida in 1866.
