Editing Pasco County, Florida (section)

==History==
[[File:SamuelPasco.jpg|thumb|US Senator [[Samuel Pasco]]]]
Pasco County was created on June 2, 1887, from the southern third of [[Hernando County, Florida|Hernando County]]. The legislation was passed by former Governor [[Edward A. Perry]] to divide Hernando County into three counties.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2012-07-23 |title=How Dade City Became our County Seat |url=https://patch.com/florida/newportrichey/how-dade-city-became-our-county-seat |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=New Port Richey, FL Patch |language=en}}</ref> The legislation also created [[Citrus County, Florida|Citrus County]] from the northern third of Hernando County. The county was named after [[Samuel Pasco]], who had just been elected to the [[United States Senate]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Publications of the Florida Historical Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZQ-AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA33|year=1908|publisher=Florida Historical Society|page=33}}</ref>

Dade City was named the temporary county seat with the same legislation to make Pasco County. It stayed temporary until March 14, 1889, when W.B. Lynch got a petition with 320 signatures to hold an election for the county seat. The board accepted the petition with the election for April 11, 1889. On April 16, 1889, Dade city won with 432 votes of the 765.<ref name=":1" /> 

As early as 1914, residents of the western part of the county proposed forming a separate county or merging with Pinellas County, as Dade City was not centrally located in the county.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-09-07 |title=How Pasco's East-West Battle Almost Led to a Split |url=https://patch.com/florida/landolakes/how-pascos-east-west-battle-almost-led-to-a-split |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Land O' Lakes, FL Patch |language=en}}</ref> The issue was finally resolved in 1979 with the construction of identical government centers in both Dade City and New Port Richey, now called West Pasco Government Center and East Pasco Government Center.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Pasco County, Florida |url=https://www.fivay.org/pasco1.html |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=www.fivay.org}}</ref>

The earliest towns were Anclote, Blanton, [[Dade City, Florida|Dade City]], [[Earnestville, FL|Earnestville]], Fort Dade (not to be confused with [[Fort Dade]] on [[Egmont Key]]), Macon ([[Trilby, Florida|Trilby]]), [[Lacoochee, Florida|Lacoochee]], [[St. Leo, Florida|St. Leo]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.townofstleo-fl.gov/Pages/index|title=Welcome to St. Leo, FL|last=FL|first=Town of St. Leo|website=www.townofstleo-fl.gov|access-date=August 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803003435/http://www.townofstleo-fl.gov/Pages/index|archive-date=August 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[San Antonio, Florida|San Antonio]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early Residents of Pasco County - L |url=https://westpascomuseum.org/pascohistory/historicalinformation/early-residents/pasco2l/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=West Pasco Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-02-07 |title=Freedtown: The town that vanished in Pasco County |url=https://www.wfla.com/news/freedtown-the-town-that-vanished-in-pasco-county/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230331225613/https://www.wfla.com/news/freedtown-the-town-that-vanished-in-pasco-county/ |archive-date=2023-03-31 |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=WFLA |language=es-MX}}</ref> Citrus was an important industry when the county was formed, although a decline followed a freeze in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-02 |title=Our History - Florida Citrus |url=https://www.floridacitrus.org/about/our-history/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> Several large sawmills operated in the county in the early part of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ehren sawmill was a central Pasco hub in 1900 |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/06/23/ehren-sawmill-was-a-central-pasco-hub-in-1900/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=In the early 1900s, Fivay rose and fell with its sawmills |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/08/04/in-the-early-1900s-fivay-rose-and-fell-with-its-sawmills/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref> 

During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, New Port Richey became the winter home of silent screen star [[Thomas Meighan]] and golfer [[Gene Sarazen]]; Meighan attempted to bring other Hollywood figures to the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hollywood of the East |url=https://westpascomuseum.org/explore/hollywood-of-the-east/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=West Pasco Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> The county has experienced significant population growth since the 1970s, growing by over 600%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Pasco County |url=https://pasco2050.com/who-is-pasco-county |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Pasco 2050 |language=en-US}}</ref> The growth began along the Gulf coast but is now occurring most rapidly in areas north of Tampa.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2025/04/14/tampa-bay-fastest-growing-cities-2023-storage-cafe.html |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}</ref>