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Florida Counties

In 1821, there were only two Counties in Florida: Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. From these two Counties were formed 67 today.In 1968, the electors of Florida granted local voters the power to adopt charters to govern their counties. Charters are formal written documents that confer powers, duties, or privileges on the county. To date, there are 19 charter Counties in Florida. Collectively these Counties are home to more than 75 percent of Florida's residents.

DeSoto County, Florida

DeSoto County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Arcadia
Year Organized: 1887
Square Miles: 637

Court House:

201 E. Oak Street, Suite 201
County Administration
Arcadia, FL 34266-4451

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

DeSoto County is named for the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto. It was created from Manatee County in 1887. Until 1921 DeSoto was one of the largest counties in the state, but residents complained of the vast distances between home and courthouse and it was subdivided to create Hardee, Charlotte, Highlands, and Glades Counties, q.v.

The original DeSoto County seat, which had also served Manatee County since 1866, was located at Pine Level. Although apparently built of brick, the Pine Level courthouse, or at least its jail, was derided as "flimsy," allowing the escape of prisoners to such an extent that vigilantism was rampant in the large and undeveloped county. Ghost town researcher James Warnke has located the site of this structure, but reports that only a few bricks remain beneath the shade of an oak hammock. Eventually a new county seat was created at "Tater Hill Bluff," renamed Arcadia, in 1888. Arcadia Albritton was the pretty daughter of local settlers.

The first courthouse in Arcadia was constructed by Peyton Read at a cost of $6,000, half of which had been donated to the county by four local citizens. It is probable that this structure was destroyed in a 1905 fire, since historian Louise Frisbie reports only three brick buildings survived that conflagration. The current DeSoto County Courthouse was built by the Read-Parker Construction Company in 1912-3. It was designed by the Tampa architectural firm of Bonfoey and Elliot.

In the late 1870's, the railroads were completed through Desoto County 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. Ruins of the old phosphate docks can be found today near Liverpool on Hunter Creek, just a few hundred yards from the Peace River in South DeSoto County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 640 square miles (1,656 km²), of which, 637 square miles (1,651 km²) of it is land and 2 square miles (6 km²) of it (0.35%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Hardee County
Northeast: Highlands County
Southeast: Glades County
Southwest: Charlotte County
West: Sarasota County
Northwest: Manatee County

Cities and Towns:

- Arcadia (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."