Editing Cedar Key, Florida (section)

=== Decline and restoration of wildlife ===
When [[Henry Plant]]'s railroad to [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] began service in 1886, Tampa took shipping away from Cedar Key, causing an economic decline in the area. Earlier, growth in population had led to the Cedar Key town limits being expanded in 1881 and again in 1884. But with the decline in the local economy, the town limits were contracted in 1890.{{sfn|Fishburne|1993|pp=138, 150}} Also in 1890, the island town was affected by the reign of terror of Cedar Keys mayor William Cottrell, who took advantage of his Florida state legislature connections and the restricted one-way road access to impose his will and conduct acts of violence. He was deposed from power only after the island was invaded by a naval ([[U.S. Coast Guard]]) boat manned with a squad of [[U.S. Marshals]], who were sent there after Custom House officers and other [[federal government]] workers requested [[federal aid]] due to being unable to discharge their duties on the islands.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="wells2002" />

[[File:Florida - Brandenton through Clearwater - NARA - 23936569 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Cedar Key in 1939]]
The [[1896 Cedar Keys hurricane]] was the final blow. Around 4 am on September 29, 1896, a {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=on}} storm surge swept over the town, killing more than 100 people. Winds north of town were estimated at {{convert|125|mph}}, which would classify it as a [[Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale#Category 3|category 3]].<ref name="hurricanecity" /> The hurricane wiped out the [[juniper|juniper trees]] still standing and destroyed all the mills. A fire on December 2, 1896, further damaged the town. In following years, structures were rebuilt on Way Key, a more protected island inland, but the damage was done. Today, only a few reminders of the original town on Atsena Otie Key remain, including stone water [[cistern]]s, and a graveyard whose headstones conspicuously date prior to 1896. Also, many of the eastern red cedar trees that originally attracted the pencil company, and for which the community was named, are gone.

[[File:Cedar Key Faber Pencil Mill.jpg|thumb|Workers gathered outside E. Faber's Cedar Mill in Cedar Key, Florida, circa 1890]]
At the start of the 20th century, fishing, sponge hooking, and oystering had become the major industries, but around 1909, the oyster beds were exhausted. President [[Herbert Hoover]] established the [[Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge]] in 1929 by naming three of the islands as a breeding ground for colonial birds. The lighthouse was abandoned in 1952, just as the tourism industry began to grow as a result of interest in the historic community, but it remains in use as a [[marine biology]] [[research center]] by the [[University of Florida]] in [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]].<ref name="bansemer" />