Editing Seffner, Florida (section)

==History==
Some historians claim that Seffner's streets were originally laid out in 1862, but not recorded as a [[plat]] formally until 1885. Seffner's post office opened in 1884, when a new railroad line in the area had been planned. The community was named for its first postmaster, Frederick P. Seffner. That same year, Seffner's first school and store were opened. Seffner quickly became a prosperous small community with citrus groves, a hotel, one drug store, several [[dry goods]] stores, and a [[Livery yard|livery stable]]. When an epidemic of [[yellow fever]] hit Tampa in the fall of 1887 and in 1888, many Tampa refugees fled to Seffner for temporary shelter in the hotel. However, as refugees and mail arrived in Seffner, they were [[fumigation|fumigated]] as protection from the epidemic. Among the refugees was T.C. Taliaferro of the First National Bank of Tampa, who operated a branch banking business from Seffner during the epidemic.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Ernest Lauren |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=regional_ebooks |title=History of Hillsborough County, Florida: narrative and biographical |publisher=The Record Company |year=1928 |isbn= |pages=79}}</ref>

The main thoroughfare leading north and south was Lenna Avenue, and leading east and west was Highway Number 23, renamed Buffalo Avenue, because of its erstwhile use as a buffalo trail, and then renamed again in 1989 to its current name, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard ([[Florida State Road 574|Hwy 574]]). Seffner and neighboring [[Mango, Florida|Mango]] and [[Dover, Florida|Dover]] served as the three primary towns along the [[South Florida Railroad]] right-of-way between [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] and [[Plant City, Florida|Plant City]]. These towns owe their existence and prosperity to the railroad, each becoming an important shipping center.

The cold in the winter of 1894–1895 brought disaster to Seffner. Many citizens left, while others remained to recoup their losses. Seffner survived and eventually regained its affluence. Attractive residential neighborhoods were built to accommodate the influx of desirable residents.<ref name=":1" /> By 1925, Seffner was the fourth-largest town in [[Hillsborough County, Florida|Hillsborough County]].