DISTON, DISSTON, DREXEL of PASCO County, FL Part 2

In search of a PASCO County Ghost Town - Part 2

Florida’s first railroad began service before the Civil War. Called the Sea-to-Sea Railway, the train ran from the Atlantic Coast to Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico. As late as the 1880s though, Coastal areas south of Cedar Key, including Tampa Bay, were not easily accessible. Transportation was critical to further development, and nobody knew that better than Hamilton DISSTON, the Capitalist from Philadelphia who had bailed Florida out of debt. Owner of 4 million acres of central Florida land stretching from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, he needed railroads if his investment was to pay off.

Various plans for railway routes were in the works by 1883, but until ideas transformed into real train service, developers decided to use the old 155 mile train that ran between Jacksonville and Cedar Key. At Cedar Key, passengers and freight then transferred onto a steamship to continue a journey south to the new coastal towns of Port Richey, Tarpon Springs (Part 1) and beyond.

In 1884, steamers ‘Governor SAFFORD’ and ‘California’ began “Plying between Cedar Keys and DISSTON on the West Coast of Florida,” delivering settlers and supplies, then returning north with fresh oranges for markets up north. Railroad builders meanwhile were racing to lay down track in the direction of Tampa Bay on the west coast.

Peninsular Railroad sought approval to extend their existing ‘Waldo to Ocala’ route even further south to Tampa. South Florida Rail Road had extended rail service to Kissimmee, but the Gulf Coast region of the State still eagerly awaiting their planned service to Tampa. A third railroad, Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, planned to lay down track along the western coast. An 1884 brochure, bragging of ‘Florida and the famous Tarpon Springs, the new Health Resort,’ was a DISSTON sales brochure showing all three proposed routes.

The Tarpon Springs Hotel, Source, Library of Congress

Both Peninsular Railroad and Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, as shown in the DISSTON sales brochure, were to cross land in Hillsborough owned by Hamilton Disston. One was to pass alongside present day Lake Magadelene, by the brochure failed to say when that particular service might be available.

Routes of Railroads heading toward 1883 Tampa 

Meanwhile, in far off Headland, Alabama, a historical marker today provides a clue as to what happened next down in Florida’s Hillsborough County. “Headland, founded in 1871 as ‘Head’s Land’ by James Joshua HEAD (1839-1927). He platted the town and built his home.” The plague goes on to explain, “J. J. HEAD moved to Tampa, Florida in 1883, and established Lake Magdalene.”

An Alabama town founder moved to Florida, where on May 28, 1883, he was appointed Postmaster for the DISTON Post Office. A Hillsborough County map of 1888 shows DISTON, spelled incorrectly in both postal archives and on that map, as being located in Section 2 of Township 27 South; 19 East. The entire 640 acre Section 2, where the DISTON Post Office was shown to exist, had been deeded 18 months earlier, October 6, 

1881, to Mr. Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia.

Friday, June 9, 2017, Part Three of DISTON, DISSTON, DREXEL, Our search for a PASCO County Ghost Town, picks back up right here, at Doctor James J. Head’s residence and Post office in Hillsborough County, Florida. 

DISTON, DISSTON, DREXEL of PASCO County, FL - Part 1

PART ONE: In search of a PASCO County Ghost Town. 

DISTON started out as a Post Office in 1883, but was located in Hillsborough County. By 1888, this Post Office had relocated to Pasco County, but the County line in this region had not changed. Then, within only a few months, the name DISTON changed to DREXEL on September 15, 1888. At that time the post office was a stop on the Orange Belt Railway, a train running between Sanford and St. Petersburg. So, what’s the story of Diston, said by early researchers to have been misspelled - meant to be DISSTON, and why the change to Drexel?

To fully appreciate this fascinating story we must begin with a Hernando County farmer named Aaron M. RICHEY. Homesteading in the early 1880s, Aaron RICHEY farmed 80 acres alongside land belonging to the ex-Governor of Arizona, Anson P. K. SAFFORD. 

In late 1884, RICHEY & SAFFORD laid out a new Gulf Coast town they named Port RICHEY. That November year, the Steamboat ‘Governor SAFFORD’, owned by Florida Railway & Navigation Company, made its inaugural run hauling freight and passengers between Port RICHEY and Cedar Key.

Steamer 'Governor Safford' began service November, 1884

In addition to operating a schooner, Aaron RITCHEY planted orange trees, and his were said to be “as large as many of the trees in other parts of the State.” By 1885, the area around Port RICHEY, said Webb's Historical of that year, had "a great many trees from six to ten years old that are loaded with oranges." 

Settlers buying at Port RICHEY were, “almost without exception, raising orange groves.”

Following his stint as Arizona Governor, SAFFORD had occasionally journeyed to New York and Philadelphia on business. While visiting Philadelphia, SAFFORD learned of the four million acre Florida land acquisition by Hamilton Disston, and so SAFFORD came to Florida as one of Disston’s land agents. 

Arizona Governor Anson P. K. SAFFORD

Anson SAFFORD and Aaron RICHEY developed land north of the Pithlachescotee River, the location of their new town, while Disston Land Company owned the acreage on the south side of that river, land fronting as well on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Disston Land Company also owned land further south, also along the coast, where yet another new town was about to be developed, TARPON SPRINGS, which is exactly where Part Two picks up next Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

IN SEARCH OF A PASCO COUNTY GHOST TOWN

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CitrusLAND: Ghost Towns & Phantom Trains

Much, much more to come as this series works its way inland!