History
A Brief History of Desoto County Florida...
Desoto County was first
conceived on May 15, 1887 and confirmed a county in April 1887. It was named
after the Spanish explorer, Hernando DeSoto. It was cut out of Manatee Co with
the county seat in Pine Level. The first meeting held in the new county was on
July 1887, to vote on a new county seat. On August 25, 1887, 13 voting
precincts were approved and the survey can be found in the first Record
of Deeds at the county court house. An election was held in December of the same
year, but it failed to bring a majority vote.
The forerunners for the new
county seat were Fort
Ogden, Brownville,
Nocatee, Punta Gorda, Pine
Level, and Arcadia
with Nocatee as the favorite. Sources reveal there was a yellow fever outbreak
that quarantined many communities, so a second vote was postponed. On August 4,
1888 a second vote was taken and again failed to produce a majority vote.
Finally, on November 6, 1888, a third vote was taken and Arcadia won the county
seat by 21 votes.
At the time, Arcadia wasn't
much of town at all. Residents of the county soon started moving closer to the
new county seat which caused Arcadia to grow, but drove many communities to
extinction such as Pine Level and Fort Winder to name a few.
In the late 1870's, the
railroads were completed through Desoto Co and it changed the growth of the
county and brought wealth for many. In 1881, phosphate was discovered on the
banks of Peace River that flows through the county. Mining of this mineral
brought much prosperity for many years. In 1921, Desoto Co was divided into
present day Desoto, Charlotte, Hardee, Glades and Highlands counties.
Today, Arcadia is the
"Heart" of the county and a very visible pride in their history can be
found virtually everywhere in the city. Most of the historical building you find
today were built after 1905 when on Thanksgiving
day a fire destroyed a major portion of the town. Much like it was over
a hundred years ago, Desoto Counties main source of economy relies on
agriculture, citrus groves, phosphate and cattle.