Traxler is a ghost town located in Alachua County, Florida, just north of the city of Alachua.
Traxler is a ghost town located in Alachua County, Florida, just north of the city of Alachua.
William H. Traxler, son of settlers from South Carolina, was born near the natural bridge in Columbia County in 1854. In the 1880s he acquired property in Alachua County on the Bellamy Road, opened a general store, and began farming. He married the daughter of Simeon Dell, Mary Lelia, in 1889. Prospering, he increased his holdings and enlarged the commissary. The post office, established in 1891 with Mr. Traxler as postmaster, was discontinued in 1906. [1] At one time the community had a one-room school, a number of tenant farm homes, a cotton gin, grist mill, and church. [2]
As of 2010 [update] , the Spring Hill United Methodist Church, which was founded in 1860, continued to meet in Traxler. [3]
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.
Levy County is a county located on the Gulf coast in the central, northern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson.
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. The city is part of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in 2020.
LaCrosse is a town in Alachua County, Florida, 15 miles (24 km) north of Gainesville. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 360, up from 143 in 2000. The area around LaCrosse is devoted to agriculture, especially potatoes; the area is known as the "Potato District." Other products of the area include tobacco, vegetables, and cattle.
Jonesville is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is located roughly at the intersection of County Road 241 and State Road 26. Jonesville has no city government but is an informal name for a region on Newberry Road between Gainesville and Newberry.
Cross Creek is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is located on Cross Creek, a short stream connecting Orange and Lochloosa lakes.
Evinston is an unincorporated community in Alachua and Marion counties, Florida, United States.
Rochelle is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It was found in the 1830s on a former native settlement and mission site. and was built around the Plantation of Madison Starke Perry.
Windsor is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 256.
Hague is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is located on Alachua County Road 237 between U.S. Route 441 and the Deerhaven Subdivision line of the CSX Railroad, between the cities of Alachua and Gainesville.
Bland is an unincorporated community in northwestern Alachua County, Florida, United States. Cotton planters from Georgia and South Carolina settled in the area in the 1840s. The community briefly had a post office, from 1903 to 1906. The Alachua County School Board operated the Ogden School for African-American students of the Bland community from the early 1900s until 1951. William Washington, who successfully homesteaded 102 acres (41 ha) in the Bland area, has been identified as an ancestor of Whoopi Goldberg.
Campville is a community in eastern Alachua County, Florida, north of Hawthorne. The community grew up along the route of the Florida Transit and Peninsular Railroad, with a sawmill, a store, a church, a school and a score of homes in the area when a post office was established in 1881. It was named for three brothers by the name of Camp who ran a large sawmill in the area. The population was about 300 in 1928, when a brick factory, several tree nurseries, and four stores were located in the community. The brick factory was also founded by the Camp brothers and bricks produced there can be seen in Gainesville's old downtown buildings. The bricks are a tan buff color. The post office was closed in 1966.
Orange Heights is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 301 and Florida State Road 26.
Wacahoota, Florida is an unincorporated community in Alachua, Levy, and Marion counties, Florida, United States.
Fairbanks is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is located along Florida State Road 24 between Gainesville and Waldo.
Grove Park is an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States, on Florida State Road 20 west of Hawthorne.
Paradise was an unincorporated community in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It has been annexed into the city of Gainesville, and is located approximately where Alachua County Road 232 crosses U.S. Route 441.
Rutledge, Florida is an unincorporated community in central Alachua County, Florida. The community was established for formerly enslaved persons during Reconstruction by the Freedmen's Bureau. The First Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church and the Greater Liberty Hill United Methodist Church, both founded in the 19th century, continue to serve the community. The Greater Liberty Hill church is the site of the Liberty Hill Schoolhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Rutledge Community Cemetery, formerly called Union Cemetery of Rutledge, is under the stewardship of the Second Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. The center of the community was located about five miles west of Gainesville, Florida in the 19th century. As of 2021 it extends from just west of the Gainesville city limits to I-75. A post office was established in 1886, and closed in 1905. In 1888 the community had three stores and a boarding house. It was on the planned route of the Gainesville, Tallahassee and Western Railroad, which was never built.
Fort Clarke was an unincorporated community in central Alachua County. The fort established was by the US Army during the Second Seminole War. A historical marker commemorates the fort, which was abandoned by the US Army in 1840. In 1841, 16 citizens voted at Fort Clarke on adopting a proposed constitution for Florida. In May 1845, the community was a precinct at which seven residents voted in the election of the state governor and legislators, and the representative to the US House of Representatives, after Florida was admitted to the union as a state. A post office was established in 1846 and closed in 1858. In 1883, John Bevill, who was described as the model farmer of Alachua County, had over 1,000 acres (400 ha) in cultivation at Fort Clarke. Two churches, the Fort Clarke United Methodist Church and the Greater Fort Clarke Missionary Baptist Church, are currently located in the vicinity of the former site of the fort. The site is now part of the urbanized area west of Gainesville.
The historic communities of Alachua County were populated places and/or places with a post office that were established in the 19th century or early 20th century in what is now Alachua County, Florida, but which were abandoned, annexed into an incorporated municipality, or had a much reduced population by the later part of the 20th century.
Municipalities and communities of Alachua County, Florida, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
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Coordinates: 29°52′N82°32′W / 29.867°N 82.533°W