Fort Meade’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Fort Meade. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Fort Meade is the oldest city in Polk County, dating its origins to 1849, when it was established along a new military road from Tampa (Fort Brooke) to Fort Pierce following the Second Seminole War. The town and road were originally sited by then-lieutenant George Meade of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, whose commander named it for him. Around the start of the American Civil War a mounted volunteer company nicknamed the "Hickory Boys" was formed at the fort. The 1880s business district was located on old Wire Street (now Broadway), which was a casualty of four devastating fires. There are over 150 buildings which are designated as landmarks. In the 1890s, the Fort Meade Street Railway operated a horse-drawn service in the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Fort Meade’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fort Meade’s history is told.
3 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewHorse-drawn streetcar in front of…, 1910: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Fort Meade, decade by decade
![Florida [Hamilton County - Sarasota County (part)]](https://images.towntapestry.org/story/2318/861b47d85cb5b36a150a-s.jpg)
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Horse-drawn streetcar in front of J.W. Stephens' store in (1910) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.