The Greatest Photos - Year by Year - Part 1 (1885 - 1900)

Stories by Robert Martinez

---

Part 1 of our series entitled Our Greatest Photos - Year by Year. This issue covers the greatest photos from 1885 - 1900 as selected by our readers from letters and comments. We hope you enjoy this special series.

---

1885 (tie)

Hernando Hotel (1885)

The new Hernando Hotel (1885) was the best in town. On North Main, it was located where the rear part of Truist Bank is today. Notice the post office on the right. The hotel would burn down in 1899.

1885 (tie)

Main Street (1885)

Tombstone? Dodge City? No, this is Main Street (1885) in Brooksville. Looking south from just north of Jefferson Street. On the right is Marshall Brothers Drug Store, Rosenberg Real Estate. Down the street is Hancock Saloon, candy store, barber, general store, drug store, hardware/grocery.

1886

Hardware/Grocery Store

This combination hardware, grocery and drug store (1886) was about where Browning Insurance is today on Main and Broad. A delivery wagon waits out front.

1887

Family Outing

Family Outing on a spring Sunday afternoon (1887) north of Brooksville

1888

Frank Saxon

The king of the city in 1888 was Frank Saxon. During the 1880s and 1890s he served in the Florida Legislature, Clerk of Circuit Court, Tax Assessor, Mayor and various local civic clubs. He lived in the house on the hill where the Heritage Museum is today from 1866- 1873. It is said his daughter, Jessie Mae, who died in 1872, still haunts the museum.

1889

Hernando High School

This extremely rare photo taken from an old brochure shows the new Hernando High School after it was built in 1889. The school back then allowed grades 1 through 12. By 1910, the frame building began to fall apart and a new brick school was built.

1890

Brooksville mother and child (1890)

Dorothy Ederington Hale and daughter Mary Alice Hale

1891

African American family home (1891) south of Brooksville near Ft. Taylor area

1892

Sam Pyles Riverboat (1892)

The Sam Pyles Riverboat (1892) journeyed on the Withlacoochee River east of Brooksville. It was a popular adventure during the 1890s.

1893

Looking east

Looking east of downtown (1893) toward the Saxon House on the hill. The pastoral beauty of small town Florida. There is a quiet stillness in the air.

1894

Clarence Russell of Brooksville (1894)

Clarence Russell's father, A.M.C. Russell, was a prominent superintendent of schools in Hernando County during the 1880s - 1890s and began a local newspaper in 1902. Clarence's brother, Edwin R. Russell, would later own the Brooksville Journal from 1930 until the 1960s. Clarence would work there as a linotype operator.

1895

February 1895 - After the Freeze

The devastating freeze of 1895 killed the local citrus crop to its roots. $75 million was lost in the state. Temperatures dropped from around 75 degrees to about 18 degrees in just a few hours. Brooksville's John Hale lost over 500 acres of groves and was forced to pull two sons out of college. He didn't begin planting again until 1910.

1896

William S. Jennings and son, Sherman

William S. Jennings and his son, Sherman, at their home on Olive Street. In 1900, Jennings would be elected Governor of Florida.

1897

Hernando High School (1897)

This beautiful photo dated 1897 shows students from Hernando High School from classes 1 through 12.

1898

Brooksville Home Guard

Brooksville Home Guard assembly in front of the courthouse with soldiers in the Spanish-American War (1898). Many of them were stationed in Tampa.

1899

Davant and Davant

The Brooksville law office of Davant and Davant (1899) was one of the major law offices during the early part of the 20th century. It was located on Main Street.

1900

Victory Celebration

It was one of the grandest days ever in Brooksville history in June, 1900, when hundreds celebrated the victory of Brooksville's own William S. Jennings as the new Governor of Florida. There was plenty of food, a band, carriage rides and fun for kids. Firecrackers and guns startled the horses of a carriage carrying dignitaries, causing them to gallop crazily down Broad Street, ultimately dumping the officials onto the dusty street.