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OCALA
(oh-KAL-uh)
City
of north-central Florida
Common
clues: Florida citrus center; City near Gainesville; Florida
horse-breeding city; Seat of Marion County, Florida
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year
Video:
Flying
around Ocala
Ocala
is a city located in Marion County, Florida. As of the 2000
census, the city had a total population of 45,943. It is the
county seat of Marion County.
Ocala
was established in 1846 near the site of Fort King, a military
outpost of the Seminole Wars. Ocala is a Timucua word of unknown
meaning. Hernando de Soto (explorer) passed through a Timucua
village or province named Ocali near the present site of Ocala
during his famous expedition through what is today the
southeastern United States in 1539. Greater Ocala and Marion
County are known as the "Kingdom of the Sun."
John
Travolta’s home in Ocala
In
1853, the State of Florida chose Ocala as the site of the East
Florida Seminary, the first state educational institution in
Florida and the earliest predecessor institution of the
University of Florida. The University of Florida traces its
origin to the establishment of the East Florida Seminary. The
Seminary closed during the American Civil War and reopened after
the war in Gainesville, Florida. State compensation for the loss
of the Seminary was used to build the first public schools in
Ocala.
Rail
service reached Ocala in June 1881, encouraging economic
development. Several years later, much of the Ocala downtown area
was destroyed by fire on Thanksgiving Day, 1883. Buildings were
rebuilt with brick, granite, and steel rather than lumber. By
1888, Ocala was known state-wide as "The Brick City."
Ocala
was an important center of citrus production until the "Big
Freeze" of 1894-1895.
Famous
Ocalans have included: C. Farris Bryant, 34th governor of
Florida; Kenneth H. "Buddy" MacKay, Jr., 42nd governor
of Florida; actor Patrick O'Neal; Tony Award-winning actress
Elizabeth Ashley; and pro football quarterback Daunte Culpepper.
Noteworthy residents have included: George Steinbrenner, Arthur
Jones, John Travolta, and Kelly Preston.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Ocala, Florida".
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