Editing Odessa, Florida (section)

== History ==
The Odessa area was first settled in the middle 1800s by the W.M. Mobley Family who migrated from Savannah, Georgia. Odessa was named in the 1880s by [[Peter Demens]],<ref>[http://www.fivay.org/odessa.html History of Odessa, Florida (Fivay.org)] {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902618205 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/879074807 cite #4 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref> a Russian immigrant who developed the community through the [[Orange Belt Railway]].<ref>[http://www.fivay.org/railroads.html History of Railroads in Pasco County Florida (Fivay.org)] {{verify source |date=September 2019 |reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/902618205 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/879074807 cite #5 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref>   Later, the railroad came through, running parallel with S.R. 54.<ref>[http://www.fivay.org/railroads.html History of Railroads in Pasco County Florida (Fivay.org)]</ref> Demens also founded [[St. Petersburg, Florida]] and named both communities after places he used to go to in Russia (St. Petersburg) and Ukraine (Odesa).

There was once a large [[sawmill]] in the area providing employment. This sawmill replaced some smaller ones and was burned in a fire in 1922.<ref name="fivay.org">[http://www.fivay.org/odessa.html History of Odessa, Florida (Fivay.org)]</ref>

The area is rapidly being developed as [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] expands.
[[File:Wildflowers on a Rural path (Unsplash).jpg|thumb|Rural path in Odessa, Florida. The morning dew lifting in Odessa, a typical country scene to be enjoyed in this "Old Florida" community.]]
Odessa was home to [[Tampa Bay Executive Airport]] until 2004.<ref>[https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/FL/Airfields_FL_TampaN.htm#tampabayexec Tampa Bay Executive Airport (Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields)]</ref>