Editing Waldo, Florida (section)

==History==
William Sparkman, the "father of Waldo", was the first non-indigenous, English-speaking [[settler]] in the early 1800s, who in the 1820s, made it easier for more settlers to reside in Waldo when he built [[Bellamy Road]], which connected [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]] to [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]]. Bellamy Road was the first major U.S. federal highway in early [[Florida Territory|territorial Florida]] and was constructed in the 1820s through the 1830s passing through Waldo from around [[Lake Santa Fe]] to the east and on towards the [[Santa Fe River (Florida)|Santa Fe River]] in the west, where it passed over the river on a natural land bridge at modern [[O'Leno State Park]]. During this time, the community was known as "''Bellamy Station''".<ref name=WaldoSettled/><ref name=WalSet/><ref name=WalSetToo/><ref name=WalEst/>

In 1853, the Florida Legislature chartered the [[Florida Railroad]] to build a line from [[Fernandina Beach, Florida|Fernandina Beach]] to [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], with a branch running to [[Cedar Key, Florida|Cedar Key]]. [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[David Levy Yulee]], president and chief stockholder of the Florida Railroad, made the decision to build the Cedar Key branch first. The section up to [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]] was completed by 1859, with the intersection of Bellamy Road and the Florida Railroad named Waldo Station, after Senator Yulee's friend, [[Benjamin Waldo]], a doctor and politician. And that same year, the Bellamy Station community was renamed "''Waldo''". In 1876, the railroad branch from Waldo to [[Ocala, Florida|Ocala]] was completed.<ref name=WaldoSettled/><ref name=WalSet/><ref name=WalSetToo/><ref name=WalEst/><ref name=WalEstToo/><ref>Turner. 27-31</ref><ref>Watkins. 451-52</ref>

Waldo was incorporated as a municipality in 1907.<ref name=WalInc/><ref name=WaldoInco/>