Pasco County Genealogy Project

Pasco County was named after Samuel Pasco when it was created from Hernando County by the State Legislature on June 2, 1887. Situated on the West Central Gulf Coast bordered on the south by Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, the north by Hernando and Sumter and Polk County to the east, Pasco county enjoys a mild climate in a rural atmosphere with metropolitan conveniences a mere 30 mile drive to Tampa or St. Petersburg.

Until the freeze of winter 1894-95 Pasco had an agrarian based economy, but the freeze all but ended the vibrant citrus and farming industry. Facing an uncertian economic future, hard rock phosphate was discovered and a new, highly prosperous phosphate boom was underway. Steam shovels replaced the hand-pick and shovel. Cypress Mills and Turpentine stills sprang up throughout the county to tap into the plentiful giant cypress and southern pine forests for lumber and turprntine.

Miners and loggers were sought from as far away as Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. The population soared and a large percentage of the newcomers were of African-American and Eastern European descent.

By 1920 the area had been cleared of cypress and the sawmills and cypress logging operations had played out. World War I terminated the flow of phosphate to European markets; the mines closed, the population plummeted. The 1929 stock market crsah and the depression of the 1930's further devasted the local economy, and the population dwindled steadily as young people left for places they had a chance of finding work.

1939 brought us news of the War in Europe, soon to be known as WWII, the war to end all wars. With the promise of military assistance to our european allies the United States Military Complex brought a huge economic turn around for Pasco County as it did the rest of the USA, Many young men enlisted as a way out of poverty and depravation.

From the close of WWII to the present, Pasco County has enjoyed an influx of industry, commerce and the required new residents to support them to become one of today's "Gems" of the Nature Coast of Florida.