The Old Country

1846

Ocala

Since its formation in 1844, Marion County had been using Fort King as its county seat but the fort was considered temporary by the War Department so a permanent site for the seat needed to be found. Fortunately, most of the land within Marion county was unsettled so in early 1846 a new site was chosen just west of Fort King where 212 acres of land was obtained from the Government. It was decided to call the town Ocala. The area of Ocala had been known since the early Spanish explorer Pamphilo de Narvaez described  as Province of Ocali, Ocali being the local Indian chief.  Then in 1539 by Hernando de Soto upon landing on the coast of Florida,

“Three days’ journey is a place called Acuera… farther on is town called Ocale. It is so large and they do so extol it that I dare not repeat all that is said. They say there are many trades among the people and an abundance of gold and silver, and may pearls… We may go hence and pass the winter at Ocale where if what be said be true, we shall have nothing to desire.”

De Soto did travel to the Province of Ocali and found a native settlement of six hundred dwellings although he did not find any of the riches he was seeking. What he did find a plentiful supply of food the natives had stored from either growing or harvested from the bountiful land. With the expulsion and migration of the Seminoles westward, it was this same bountiful land in 1846 that was so desirable, bringing settlers, mostly farmers, from South Carolina and Georgia. 

The land for the new town was surveyed, and the streets of the town were laid out with the main East-West street being called Fort King Street which led to Fort King a few miles to the east. The town contained eighty blocks, ten from north to south and eight from east to west. In the center one block was reserved for the public square and for a courthouse. The remaining blocks were divided into four lots, the first of which were sold for five dollars a lot with later lots selling for as much as $27. A temporary courthouse was built of peeled pine logs for $225 and another $80 for a building for judges’ bench, jury boxes and interior furnishings. The Circuit Court was held in the building for the first time in December of 1846. 

At the time the closest post office was at Fort King but a post office was established at Ocala in September of 1847.  Also, in 1847 Ocala’s first newspaper, the Ocala Argus was established. By 1848 there were three general stores in Ocala offering a wide variety of goods. Rather than the arduous overland route, merchandise was brought from Palatka by steamship then by smaller steam powered river boats up the Ocklawaha River to the Silver River to Silver Springs then by oxcarts the final seven miles to downtown Ocala. Although having few residents other than those engaged in business, Ocala replaced Micanopy as the primary trading center for the surrounding area.

More to Come