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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 182/340

A History of Cohmibia County, Florida

Flagler to obtain a divorce and remarry. The wife Flagler wanted
to divorce had a mental condition and the act, called the “Flagler
Divorce Law,” allowed divorce on the grounds of insanity. It was
repealed in 1905. Although grumbling was heard about the ethics
of the legislature in this matter, it was not something that the
county was directly involved in. Besides, the gymnasium was
much needed by the college in Lake City.2
The college received another boost in 1903 when the legis­
lature changed its name to the “University of Florida.” The glory
was short-lived, however, for in 1904 events were unfolding which
would result in the transfer of the school to Gainesville.

The individual most responsible was state superintendent of
public instruction William M. Holloway. He won the post in the
November election of 1904 after having served twelve years as
school superintendent of Alachua County. Holloway was also an
effective politician and a member of the Democratic executive
committee of the Second Congressional District. After his election
Holloway launched a vigorous campaign to persuade the state
legislature and the cabinet that Gainesville should be the site of the
University of Florida. Holloway also pushed for a budget of
$700,000 for higher education in the state, a request which was
some one-half million dollars more than any previous budget.3
One of the problems facing higher education in Florida was the
multiplicity of schools. At that time the state funded the Uni­
versity of Florida at Lake City, the West Florida Seminary at
Tallahassee, the East Florida Seminary at Gainesville, the South
Florida Military Institute at Bartow, the State Normal at Talla­
hassee (for blacks), the State Normal at De Funiak Springs (for
whites), the Osceola County Agricultural Institute, and the St.

‘Florida Times-Union, April 12, 1901; Tebeau, History of Florida, p. 329.
3Samuel Proctor, “The University of Florida: Its Early Years 1835-1906,”
(unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville, 1958), pp.
465-513.
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