History of Cedar Key, Florida
Founded in 1842 as a resort for wealthy planters, Cedar Key became a center for pencil manufacturing when the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company bought huge tracts of land, for 50 cents per acre ($124/km²), in 1855. The town was originally located on an outer island locally known as Atsena Otie Key, but was rebuilt on a more protected island after a terrible hurricane struck at approximately 4 a.m. September 29, 1896. Today there are a few remnants of the original town on Atsena Otie Key, including stone water cisterns, and a graveyard whose headstones conspicuously date from only before 1896. There are also many of the juniper (Juniperus virginiana subsp. silicicola) trees that originally drew the pencil company. These were misidentified as cedars by early settlers, hence the name 'Cedar Key'.
The old-fashioned fishing village is now a tourist center with several regionally famous seafood restaurants. The village holds two festivals a year, the Spring Sidewalk Art Festival and the Fall Seafood Festival, that each attract thousands of visitors to the area. Also Cedar Key is the biggest clam producer in the south.
In 1950, Hurricane Easy looped around Cedar Key 3 times before finally making landfall, causing severe damage to the small community.
After a statewide ban on large scale net fishing went into effect July 1, 1995 a government retraining program helped many local fishermen begin farming clams in the muddy waters. Today Cedar Key's clam-based aquaculture is a multi-million dollar industry. A local museum exhibit displays a reproduction of one of the first air conditioning installations. The system, with compressor and fans, was used in Cedar Key to ease the lot of malaria patients. It is certainly hot and humid in the summer.
Cedar Key's importance in Florida's history, which began as far back as 1000 BC with pre-Columbian habitation of the region, was recognized on October 3, 1989 by the federal government. At that time, 80,000 acres in and around the town were added to the National Register of Historic Places under the title of the Cedar Keys Historic and Archaeological District.
1542 - First map of islands published in Spain.
1790 - Pirates utilize the Cedar Key area as a sanctuary and hideaway from
other scoundrels and the law. Anchor located at the front of the Cedar Key Cemetery depicting bygone years.
1812-1816 - British agents secure the Indians in the area as allies.
1816-1818 - First Seminole War, British agents occupy Atsena Otie Key.
1835-1842 - U.S. Army establishes a military depot on Atsena Otie Key (then known as Depot Key). A detention camp for Indians is established on Seahorse Key.
1839 - Congress authorizes construction of the Cedar Key Lighthouse in hopes to bring settlers to the area and help drive the Indians away. This is a portrait of the Cedar Key Lighthouse painted by R. L. Bansemer of Clearwater Florida.
1842 - First permanent settlement established on Atsena Otie Key.
1853 - Island of Cedar Key deeded to Judge Augustus Steele.
1854 - The Cedar Key Lighthouse is finally built on Seahorse Key.
1855-1859 - The Faber Pencil Mill is established on Atsena Otie Key. This is followed by additional lumber-dependent factories and mills. Commercial fishing is started in the Cedar Key area. Construction begins on Railroad from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key. Present site of the Town of Cedar Key is laid out. Historical 1884 map shown here.
1859-1860 - The Island Hotel is built and still stands today as a 13-room hotel, restaurant and bar. Islanders say that if you're quiet enough you can sometimes see apparitions of guests from the past walking the hallways or visiting one of the suites.
1861 - David Yulee's Florida Railroad (from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key) is completed on March 1st. War Between the States begins and Florida secedes from the Union.
1862 - Union blockade of Cedar Key begins January 16th.
1865 - War Between the States ends.
1867 - John Muir, the naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, walks a thousand-miles from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico and Cedar Key. Monument (shown to the right) placed on the island of Cedar Key honoring his great accomplishment.
1869 - 1879 - Prosperity returns to Cedar Key. Fishing Industry expands. New and bigger sawmills and pencil factories are located on Atsena Otie Key and Cedar Key. Shipbuilding becomes a major industry (located at Piney Point). Land sells for 50 cents an acre. Tourism becomes a major industry.
1880 - Henry Plant organized the Plant Investment Company and purchased the Florida Transit & Peninsular Railroad, one of the railroad lines, which had absorbed David Yulee's (better known as the "Father of Florida's railroads") original line the Florida Railroad. The Florida Railroad now becomes known as the Atlantic Gulf and Western Indian Transit Company. Yellow Fever breaks out--Snake Key Quarantined.
1881 - Ice plant moves from Tampa to Cedar Key but is forced to close down due to insufficient fresh water.
1884 - Only Customs House in Florida, besides Key West, locates
in Cedar Key.
1886 - Mr. Henry Plant completes a railroad from the Atlantic Coast to Tampa and invests three million dollars to build and furnish The Tampa Bay Hotel.
1890 - Timber and seafood resources in the Cedar Key area are depleted.
1896 - On December 2nd, a hurricane preceded by a "tidal surge" hits the Cedar Key area and Atsena Otie Key. This is followed by a fire that destroys half of the Cedar Key business district. Within the next 10 to 15 years, the island of Atsena Otie Key is largely abandoned.
1900 - The existing railroad becomes known as the Seaboard Airline Railway.
1909 - Oyster beds are exhausted. Fiber plant begins operations.
1923 -1924 - A paved road is constructed to Cedar Key.
1932 - The railroad is removed from Cedar Key to Archer. Bridge numbers 2, 3, and 4 are built.
1935 - Fire destroys the wooden dock (the Big Dock). A hurricane hits Cedar Key.
1939 - The George T. Lewis airstrip is constructed for military use.
1962 - The St. Claire Whitman Museum opens. Tourism becomes major industry.
1965 - New concrete dock (the Big Dock) is built.
1966 - A new water system for the city is completed.
1974 - A new bridge is completed over the Number Four Channel.
1990 - City adopts Growth Management Plan.