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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

FIRES AND FIRE DEPARTMENT... The second Columbia Courthouse burned the night

of December 19,1874 ... George O. Adicks organized the first Lake City Fire Department in 1883
and served as its chief more than 40 years. Afterwards, George’s son Richard Adicks also served
as chief. (Richard’s son, Dr. Richard R. Adicks, is presently a professor at the University of Central

Florida and is the author of the critically acclaimed book, “A Court for Owls.”)

EDUCATION... Lake City was selected as the site for Florida Agricultural College in 1883.
The college was later moved to Gainesville and became the University of Florida... The Lake City
Institute, later know as Lake Side College, was established in 1888, near where the Blood Bank is

now located on East Duval Street. This site overlooked Lake DeSoto and later became the residence
of C. C. Codrington, former publisher of the Lake City Reporter.

THE ARTS ... Lake City’s first opera house, know as Cleveland Hall, opened in the early
1880s. It was located on the second floor of a frame building on the comer now occupied by the

Community National Bank.
BANKING AND BUSINESS ... Lake City’s first bank, The Collins Bank, was established

in 1884 ... The Lake City Cotton Ginning Company was the largest business in Lake City in 1885.
The manager was Alex G. Bigelow but the company was actually owned by J. P. Coats, a leading

thread manufacturer.
TOBACCO INDUSTRY... Francis B. Moodie of Lake City (a native of Virginia and father

of Mrs. Edgar Johnson) grew the first tobacco in Florida after the Civil War, probably sometime in
the 1800s ... Tobacco grown in Columbia County won first prize at the Subtropical Exposition in
Jacksonville in 1888 and another first prize at the Cincinnati Exposition in 1889.

SPORTS AND RECREATION — In 1870, baseball was our town’s leading sport ... In
1884, our first skating rink was opened. The rink was located over Shephard’s Stable on the comer

of North Marion and DeSoto Streets, the comer formerly occupied by the State Exchange Bank and
now occupied by Harland Markham’s abstract and title office.

One writer described Lake City of the 1880s as, “A tranquil community of contented neighbors,
free from envy - and money!”
The last part — freedom from money — still applies to some of us in 1994!

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