Editing Fort White, Florida (section)

==History==
[[Image:FTWhiteSW.png|thumb|left|Excerpt from A Map of the Seat of War in Florida showing the fort location of Ft. White in 1839.]]
Fort White was originally constructed as a military fort during the [[Second Seminole War]] in 1836 to protect the Cow Creek settlement.<ref name=FWhSet/> Supplies were brought in by steamboat on the [[Santa Fe River (Florida)|Santa Fe River]] and distributed to other area forts. Due to sickness, flooding along the river and rumors of the railroad coming to the area, the settlement was moved {{convert|4|mi|0}} east to its present location.<ref name=FWhSet/>

A prominent [[Second Seminole War]] leader, ''[[Halpatter Tustenuggee]]'' (Alligator Warrior) or "Chief Alligator", of Alligator Town (known as ''Alpata Telophka'' or ''Halapata Telofa'' in its indigenous language), now known as [[Lake City, Florida|Lake City]], is buried at Tustenuggee Methodist Cemetery near Fort White. Before it was incorporated as Lake City, the white settlers called the community "''Alligator''", which was the partial English translation of the Native American community.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Alligator Town Marker|journal=George Lansing Taylor Collection Main Gallery|date=February 21, 2009|url=http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/historical_architecture_main/3320/|access-date=April 14, 2025|last1=Taylor|first1=George}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahon |first=John K. |title=History of the Second Seminole War 1835-1842 |publisher=University of Florida Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-8130-1097-7 |edition=Revised (paperback) |location=Gainesville, Florida |orig-year=1967 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Halpatter Tustenuggee|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11503266/halpatter-tustenuggee|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref>

Named after the military fort, in 1884, the '''Town of Fort White''' was officially incorporated and grew steadily, following the arrival of the railroad in 1888.<ref name=FWhSet/><ref name=FtWInc>{{Cite web|title=FLORIDA CITIES BY INCORPORATION YEAR WITH INCORPORATION & DISSOLUTION INFO|url=https://www.flcities.com/docs/default-source/research-institute-reports/2020citiesbyincorporationwithinfo.pdf?sfvrsn=5009d6d5_0|website=www.flcities.com}}</ref><ref name=FWInc/> [[Phosphate]] mining, turpentine and agriculture (cotton and oranges) were the foundation of the economy, and the population grew to nearly 2,000. The boom turned to bust as severe freezes in the winters of 1896 and 1897 destroyed the local citrus industry.<ref name=FWhSet/> By 1910, the largest phosphate deposits were depleted and mining ceased. The [[boll weevil]] ended cotton farming before [[World War I]], and the population shrank to a few hundred people, primarily farmers, ranchers and foresters.<ref name=FWhSet/> The town's population in 1979 was 365.