Remembering Suwannee: When Live Oak was larger than Miami
Published 11:00 am Monday, July 23, 2018
- Miami in 1905.
Many people who grow up or move into Suwannee County do not realize that in 1905, Live Oak was one of the largest cities in the state. I’ve mentioned it in passing in previous articles, but it’s still hard to believe. Granted, Florida’s population was nowhere near what it is today, and in reality, Live Oak has basically as many people as it did in 1905. Nevertheless, it’s fun to find additional records documenting our brief fame. The following comes from a September, 1906 copy of the Live Oak Daily Democrat, a daily version of the Suwannee Democrat that ran for a few years. It also quotes liberally from the Miami Metropolis:
“Miami and Dade county have their long delayed census at last and the result shows that the Democrat was too generous in conceding precedence to that city over Live Oak in the matter of population. Our 7,200 gives us fifth place in the procession, with only Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa and Key West ahead of us. Speaking of the Dade county census, the Miami Metropolis says:
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“’The showing, however, in population, especially, is not gratifying and falls short of what was expected. The entire county, according to the census, contained in 1905 but a few more than 12,000 persons. Miami has been conceded fifth place among Florida cities, which meant that it had a population of more than 7,200, but now comes the official count placing the total number of persons in the tenth precinct in which it is located at but a little more than 6,000 persons. So it is with all other places, every one falling short of what had been expected. At least one thousand or more of the six thousand persons credited to the precinct reside outside the corporate limits of the city. This reduces Miami’s population to the neighborhood of five thousand. Certainly it has more residents that that. But we will have to make the best of the situation.’”
Funny when you realize the latest population figures for Live Oak and Miami: 6,850 and 463,347 (5.56 million if you include the urban area) respectively!
More history next week.
Eric Musgrove can be reached at ericm@suwgov.org or 386-362-0564.