In
1882, Reverend John F. Richmond wrote a booklet about Sumter County and said
this: "Sumterville - This precinct is about 12 miles square. It
is an old farming district and has a population of 350 or more. Its
lands are well adopted to ordinary farm crops; also to the keeping of
cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and horses. Groves of orange trees are
being planted in every direction; here are some of the oldest trees in the
country".
Sumterville
proper is a cozy old village of about 100 inhabitants and has been twice
elected the county seat. In the early days a stage line had operated
from Tampa to Sumterville. They even continued operations even after
the railroad was built nearby; stage coaches took care of all transportation
of passengers and freight items.
Residents
soon learned that the limestone rock covering a large portion of this
section was another source of income. Better roads would be built with
this limestone and this material was fairly cheap. Sumter County
furnished crushed limestone rock for road construction shipping it to far
distant places.
Sumter
Electric Cooperative Inc. was established in 1937. In March of 1972,
nearly 12,000 persons came to this small community to attend the Sumter
Electric Co-op's annual meeting, the main speaker at the meeting was Spiro
T. Agnew.
Sumterville
was declared the legal county seat on October 15, 1881. The courthouse
was finally completed on March 17, 1884 at a cost of $2,088. On
January 1, 1909, the courthouse burned. A building was then rented
from F. L. Rutland at a cost of $150 per year and served as a temporary
courthouse.
The
Sumter County Times was first published in Sumterville in 1881 and has been
published continuously for 118 years.