In the once-elegant dining room of the Historic Ocala Preservation Society house on Fort King Street, Brian Stoothoff talks about his efforts to chronicle our community’s history.
File cabinets line two walls of the room in the Victorian-era Bryant House, filled with news clippings, yellowing photographs and miscellaneous documents that tell of Ocala’s rich past – all filed and organized by Stoothoff.
Stoothoff is the latest among historians who have helped keep our community’s history alive and embedded in the local psyche. His research reaches back to 10,000 B.C. Ocala when the region was inhabited by native tribes.
Before Stoothoff the historian there was David Cook, a former Ocala Star-Banner editor whose weekly “Looking Back” columns about Ocala’s past graced the paper for decades. Or Cynthia Wilson Graham, who reminded us of our racially segregated past with her book “Paradise Park: Tourism and Segregation at Silver Springs.” Or Eloise Robinson Ott and Louis Hickman Chazal in their book “Ocali Country: Kingdom of the Sun.”
As Stoothoff and I talked, I wondered aloud, “Who’s going to do this after you stop?”
“I don’t have an answer,” Stoothoff responded.
It is a worthy question. As American historian and author David McCullough astutely noted, “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”
Florida historian David Colburn wrote in 2012 that Florida’s biggest challenge isn’t climate change or overpopulation – although both are huge concerns – but too little sense of community because so many people here are from other places and don’t know the state’s or community’s past.
Consider: Only one-third of Ocala residents are native-born Floridians, while two-thirds come from other states or countries.
“Is it any wonder that Floridians lack a sense of community, a mythic identity, and a knowledge of the state’s past?” Colburn wrote.
History is important. Therefore, historians are important.
Today’s Ocala residents know about our rich but recent horse history. The World Equestrian Center has brought the bright light of international attention on the Horse Capital of the World, but how many know that the first horse farm here came in 1943 on the grounds of what is today the College of Central Florida and was not a breeding ground for Triple Crown winners.
“They’re attuned to the horses, but I don’t know that they are attuned to the history,” Stoothoff said.
He’s right. How many know who the Timucuans were? How many know that Ocala is called “The Brick City” because an 1883 fire burned down the entire downtown? Or that Hernando de Soto explored what is today Ocala? Fort King, built in 1827, was the hub of U.S. military occupation in pre-statehood Florida and all roads led to Fort King? Or that in the 1890’s there was a movement to move the state capital to Ocala because of its central location? And, of course, that before Disney, Universal and Sea World, Silver Springs was Florida’s No. 1 tourist attraction, drawing a million people a year to see its shimmering clear waters?
There is so much more in Ocala’s past. The steamships that used to bring northern tourists down the St. John, Ocklawaha and Silver rivers to Silver Springs. Affirmed, who won the 1978 Triple Crown. The once-thriving movie and TV industry that brought such stars as Johnny Weissmuller, Lloyd Bridges, Jane Russell, Sean Connery and, of course, Elvis Presley to Ocala. The great Cross Florida Barge Canal boondoggle. The list goes on.
Knowing our community’s history is something we all can share and tells us who we are and how we got here. Blessed are the historians that work to keep that history alive. So next time you see the likes of Brian Stoothoff or Cynthia Wilson Graham, thank them. The work they are doing builds a sense of community.
