Gainesville (Florida)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gainesville
Alachua County Courthouse
Alachua County Courthouse
County and state location
Alachua County Florida Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Gainesville Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1853
State : United States
State : Florida
County : Alachua County
Coordinates : 29 ° 40 ′  N , 82 ° 20 ′  W Coordinates: 29 ° 40 ′  N , 82 ° 20 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 131,591 (as of July 1, 2016)
280,708 (as of July 1, 2016)
Population density : 1,054.4 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 127.2 km 2  (approx. 49 mi 2 ) of
which 124.8 km 2  (approx. 48 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 54 m
Postcodes : 32601-32614, 32627, 32635, 32641, 32653
Area code : +1 352
FIPS : 12-25175
GNIS ID : 0282874
Website : www.cityofgainesville.org
Mayor : Lauren Poe

Gainesville is a city and also the county seat of Alachua County in the US state of Florida with 131,591 inhabitants (as of 2016). The city is the center of the Metropolitan Statistical Area of the same name with a total of 280,708 inhabitants (as of 2016).

Gainesville is home to Florida's largest and oldest university, a center for education, medicine, cultural events, and sports. The University of Florida and Shands Hospital are major employers in the city and provide many different jobs for the city and the surrounding area. The city is known for its myriad of parks, historical buildings, museums, natural surroundings and lakes. Gainesville was named the city with the highest quality of life in the United States in Money Magazine in September 1995.

geography

Gainesville is the center of the Gainesville metropolitan area of the same name . The city is located around 100 km southwest of Jacksonville in northern Florida. Orlando is 100 miles, Tampa 190 km, Tallahassee 230 km and Miami 520 km away.

history

Long before the Spaniards landed in this area, the area was an excellent place for the Indians who lived here. The Spaniards had major problems controlling the vast area and were unable to stop the huge influx of American settlers. So they finally ceded the area to the United States in 1824. The second Seminole War slowed down the development of Florida, but after the construction of the railroad, the development increased steadily.

Statue in honor of the Confederate soldiers

The railroad age in Gainesville began in 1859 with the construction of the Florida Railroad from Fernandina here. In 1861 the route was extended to Cedar Key . In 1881, the Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff Railroad opened another railway line from Live Oak via High Springs to Gainesville, which was incorporated into the Plant System in 1884.

In 1860 Gainesville had 232 residents. During the American Civil War , Gainesville was home to a Confederate Army commissioner base and the town was the site of two major battles. After the Civil War ended, Gainesville became a trading center for cotton and agricultural goods. In the next 25 years, more citrus fruits were grown. After two major fires around 1880, the wooden houses were replaced by massive brick buildings. Another railway line ensured that the population rose to 3,000.

At the time, Gainesville was the largest city in Florida. The city already had an opera house, cobbled streets, an underground city water supply, telephones and electric lights. The further expansion of the railway brought a further boom in the trade in citrus fruits and phosphate . The area also became interesting for tourists, investors and speculators. Despite some bad harvests and severe winters around 1890, the population grew prosperous and the economy continued to focus on phosphate, cotton, and agricultural products and their industrial marketing.

The first 20 years of the 20th century were a tough test of patience for agriculture, as a new species of beetle regularly destroyed the new grain harvest and the First World War brought the phosphate industry to a standstill. The University of Florida opened its doors in 1906 and had 102 freshman students. 20 years later the number of students had already risen to 2,000. From 1920 to 1938 the university was the most important employer and the greatest help in surviving the prevailing depression. During the Second World War , the number of residents rose to around 14,000.

The time after the Second World War brought Gainesville an enormous population growth and economic boom. The influx of thousands of veterans in search of training and work has completely transformed the city. The university, which had grown to over 9,000 students in 1947, established a medical school. In 1970 the university had around 23,000 students and in 2000 over 44,000. Thus it became the most important research institution in the whole of the southern United States. Between August 24 and 27, 1990, Gainesville was the site of a series of murders. Danny Rolling raped, murdered and maimed several students. Panic broke out among Gainesville's students, hundreds of them left town and never returned.

Religions

Gainesville currently has 96 different churches from 20 different denominations . The Baptist congregation with 33 churches is most strongly represented. In addition, there are seven churches that do not belong to any denomination (as of 2004). In 2010, a small religious community wanted to burn Koran books on September 11th, which provoked protests around the world (see controversy over the planned burning of the Koran in 2010 ). On March 21, 2011 the action took place anyway.

Demographic data

According to the 2010 census, the then 124,354 inhabitants were distributed over 57,576 households. The population density was 127.2 inh / km². 64.9% of the population identified themselves as whites, 23.0% as African-Americans , 0.3% as Indians and 6.9% as Asian Americans . 2.0% said they belonged to another ethnic group and 2.9% to several ethnic groups. 10.0% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos .

In 2010 children under the age of 18 lived in 18.5% of all households and persons aged 65 or over lived in 15.0% of all households. 40.0% of the households were family households (consisting of married couples with or without offspring or one parent with offspring). The average household size was 2.19 people and the average family size was 2.83 people.

23.3% of the population were younger than 20 years, 48.2% were 20 to 39 years old, 16.7% were 40 to 59 years old, and 11.9% were at least 60 years old. The mean age was 25 years. 48.4% of the population were male and 51.6% were female.

The median annual income was $ 30,952, with 35.0% of the population living below the poverty line.

In 2000, English was the first language of 87.10% of the population, 6.31% spoke Spanish and 6.59% had another mother tongue.

Town twinning

Sights and cultural attractions

Downtown Gainesville
Hippodrome State Theater

The following properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places :

Other attractions:

Clinics

  • Shands at AGH
  • Shands at the University of Florida
  • Shands Children's Hospital
  • North Florida Regional Medical Center
  • Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center

traffic

The urban area is from the Interstate 75 , from US Highway 441 ( SR 25 ) and the Florida State Roads 20 , 24 , 26 , 121 and 222 traversed. With the remote bus system Thruway Motorcoach the railway company Amtrak cities are Jacksonville , Lakeland and Palatka approached. There you can get a connection to the Silver Star and Silver Meteor trains . To the east of the city is Gainesville Regional Airport .

education

schools

  • Anchor School Elementary School
  • Charles W. Duval Elem School
  • CW Norton Elementary School
  • Glen Springs Elementary School
  • Hidden Oak Elementary School
  • Idylwild Elementary School
  • Abraham Lincoln Middle School
  • Fort Clarke Middle School
  • Howard W. Bishop Middle School
  • Kanapaha Middle School
  • Westwood Middle School
  • Eastside High School
  • FW Buchholz High School
  • Gainesville High School
  • W. Travis Loften High School

Further educational institutions

University of Florida , statue of Albert A Murphee
  • Gainesville High School
  • Eastside High School
  • Buchholz High School
  • Santa Fe Community College
  • University of Florida
  • University of Florida Laborato

crime

The crime rate in 2010 was 420 points (US average: 266 points) in the above-average range. There were four murders, 86 rapes, 199 robberies, 617 personal injuries, 1213 break-ins, 3859 thefts, 332 car thefts and 22 arson attacks.

Personalities

such as:

Web links

Commons : Gainesville, Florida  - Album containing pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ USA: States and Major Cities - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather, and Web Information. Retrieved February 7, 2018 .
  2. ^ Gregg Turner: A Short History of Florida Railroads. Arcadia Publishing , Mount Pleasant 2014, ISBN 978-1-439642-54-2 .
  3. ↑ The Gainesville Ripper, by Mary S. Ryzuk. Dutton Books, 1994. ISBN 0-312-95324-0 .
  4. ^ Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 . United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  5. ↑ Language distribution 2000 . Modern Language Association . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  6. ^ FLORIDA - COUNTY County. National Register of Historic Places , accessed July 26, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Gainesville, FL (GNF) - Bus Stop ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , amtrak.com.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / deutsch.amtrak.com
  8. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Gainesville-Florida.html