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.  

DE SOTO COUNTY 

De Soto county, the second largest in area in Florida, contains 3,754 square miles. Its population in 1890 was 4,944, in 
1900 it was 8,047, and 14,200 in 1910. 

In climate it would be difficult to find on the mainland of the United States any more enjoyable; its extremes of summer 
temperature rarely reach ninety-five degrees, and the occurrence of frost is rare. Its lands are classed as hammock, 
high pine and flat woods. No section of like extent is capable of a wider variety of soil productions. Oranges and 
vegetables are among its largest products. Immense areas of yellow pine and cypress in addition to hickory, live 
oak, ash, palmetto, magnolia and some mahogany, make this one of the most valuable timber counties in the state. 

Livestock has been the principal industry and thousands of cattle have been shipped to Cuba in years past. Bananas, 
pineapples, guavas, mangoes, avocados and cocoanuts, besides a number of fruits unknown outside of Florida, are 
raised successfully here. 

Immense deposits of pebble phosphates have been discovered in De Soto county, and this industry has brought 
enormous investments and large returns to this section. The principal cities are Arcadia, the county seat, which, 
incidentally, has for several years been the largest shipping point of citrus fruits in the world; Punta Gorda, on 
Charlotte Harbor, a great shipping point for fish; and Wauchula, famous for citrus fruits and vegetables. No county in 
Florida is developing more rapidly than is De Soto.   


Chapin, George M., Florida, 1513 - 1913, Past, Present and Future, Four Hundred Years of War and Peace and
Industrial Development, (c) 1914, Vol 1, 594-595