JASPER

A short history of Jasper

Jasper is believed to rest on land originally thought to be the site of the Miccosukee (Mikasuki) people, a subtribe of the Seminole nation. The 1823 Treaty of Moultrie bought the Native American lands, and the population was required to move southeast of the Suwannee River. This allowed white settlers to move into the area. A suspected Native burial mound is located at Baisden Swamp, (named after Josiah Baisden,) just on the outskirts of Jasper. Six miles north of Jasper along the Alapaha River an established Native village called Micco Town, or more accurately, Halata-Micco (Hala-at-a-Micco), and named for Chief Billy Bowlegs of the Seminoles, (who may have resided there,) once stood. Chief Bowlegs signed the 1832 Treaty of Paynes Landing at Hola-at-a-Micco, his "X" mark (aka Billy Bowlegs) establishing the type of Native inhabiting the area where artifacts of pottery, fishing spear points, and arrowheads are often found.

Soon after the Treaty of Moultrie in 1823 was delivered, Hamilton County was established as part of the original 15 counties in Florida. White settlers mostly from Georgia and South Carolina moved into the area in earnest between 1827 through the 1840s during the Florida Territory era. In 1840, the inhabitants were calling the settlement "Pulaski"; others called it "Wall". Daniel Bell, living just outside the settlement in 1824, was county judge in 1828, appointed under the authority of the Acting Territorial Governor McCarty in Tallahassee. In 1839, he was a member of the Territorial Legislative Council. Legend has it that Bell, also considered to be the first settler of the county, disagreed with the names that were coming into use for places in the area. He met with locals (one of them named Simon Whitehurst, one of the few Revolutionary War veterans in Florida, buried in Jasper) and other friends, and decided to submit the name of "Jasper", in honor of Revolutionary War veteran William Jasper, to the territorial capitol in Tallahassee. There the name was registered and incorporated as documented in the Territorial Legislative Journal. In 1841, the Jasper Post Office was established, ending any discussion on names for the community. Florida became a U.S. state in 1845, incorporated as the Town of Jasper in 1850, and thirteen years later, on March 2, 1858, the City of Jasper was officially incorporated as a municipality.

The early history and specific makeup of Jasper is rather vague except for scant records that survived several courthouse fires in the late 1800s. What we do know is that the original community was built about a mile south of its current location, near the site of the present day Hamilton Correctional Institution. The original courthouse and a stockade stood where Evergreen Cemetery is located. The citizens fought Seminole raiding parties throughout the early periods, the last Seminole War ending in 1858. In 1861, the Civil War came to Jasper. The Jasper Blues ("I" Company 2nd Infantry CSA) was created from Jasper and county citizens. The unit rendezvoused west of Jacksonville and were shipped by train to Virginia, arriving on the day of the First Battle of Manassas. They were eventually made a part of the First Corps (Stonewall Jackson's) of the Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee. A school in Jasper was named in Lee's honor and is occupied today by the County School Board Offices.

In 1865, the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway was completed, and a depot was built about a mile north of the city center. Businesses and homes migrated toward the railroad, and eventually the current city was established along that line. The city grew in earnest between 1890 and 1930, with a rich trade in turpentine, tobacco, cotton, and pine lumber. Jasper reached its pinnacle in the 1920s, with a booming population of over 2,000. Most of Jasper's present buildings were built during this 40-year period.

Since the 1920s, Jasper has seen many economic changes. The leading cotton industry gave way to the turpentine industry, turpentine to lumber, lumber to tobacco, and finally tobacco to phosphate mining. The completion of Interstate 75 in the late 1950s caused further decline as tourists and shipping bypassed the city.

In 2002, city officials extended the city limits and infrastructure to the intersection of US 129 and Interstate 75, and built infrastructure (water and sewer) with the help of county officials to the Hamilton County Industrial Park along US 41 in order to encourage economic growth and development. Since that time several new businesses have moved into the area, and the new high school has been built along the route.

The large jump in population between 2000 (1,780) and 2010 (4,546) was due to the incorporation of land containing the Hamilton County Correctional Facility into the city limits.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Jasper, Florida, revision 1379776452 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.