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HISTORY OF DOWNTOWN OCALA
Downtown Ocala has a lively and exciting past. It has offered a variety of stores in an ever-changing variety of building styles. It has been built, burnt to the ground, rebuilt, fixed up, remodeled and restored. It has thrived in the “boom times” and survived the“bust times.” Through all the years and all the changes, Downtown Ocala has been and always will be “the center of activity” for our community.
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SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Ocala’s first development in the commercial center was in the 1840’s. As in most towns in America, the downtown district was more than just a collection of buildings where people could go to buy goods and services. It was during those necessary visits to the downtown business district that people could buy supplies while catching up on the latest news and gossip. It served as the center for special events, informal socializing, and it was a symbol of a community’s achievements and potential.
Downtown Ocala housed a vast array of businesses from general stores, bakeries, blacksmith shops and stables, barbershops, clothing stores, a bike shop, hotels, and many more. The downtown area has also been home to the courthouse, jail, post office, library, railroad station, newspaper office, banks, and the county’s first hospital. Several factories, including a cigar factory and a plant that processed Spanish moss for use as furniture and bedding stuffing, have called downtown Ocala home. The religious center of the county was also in the downtown area, with houses of worship built for the Baptists, Catholics Episcopalians, Jews, Methodists, Presbyterians, and more.
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FIRE DESTROYS DOWNTOWN IN 1883
On Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1883, while Ocala’s residents were enjoying a special all-day outing in Lake Weir, fire broke out in downtown Ocala. The fire started on the southeast corner of Main Street and soon spread throughout the entire district. Bucket brigades could not slow down the fire that quickly spread with the help of shifting winds. Businesses, homes, and all of their contents were engulfed in the devastating flames. The arduous task of rebuilding Downtown Ocala was next on the agenda.
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REBUILDING “THE BRICK CITY”
It took five years, but Ocalans worked hard to replace the frame buildings with new ones constructed with brick, granite and metal. Many of the businesses that had been destroyed rose up out of the ashes to begin again, including Ocala’s first two bank buildings, several hotels, and several prominent businesses. Because of the new “look” downtown, Ocala soon became identified throughout the state as “The Brick City.”
UPS AND DOWNS
Through the years, Ocala’s downtown area expanded and shifted with the changing times. Major freezes in 1894 and 1895 negatively impacted the community’s banking industry and the city faced bankruptcy. When phosphate was discovered in Marion County in 1889, Ocala’s population tripled and the city made the transition from a market town to a financial and business center. By 1893, downtown Ocala boasted 28 business blocks with every kind of business including hardware stores, builders, grocers, hotels, jewelers, tailors, saloons, law offices, physician and dental services, a gun store, banks, and much more.
Ocala failed to get swept up in the Florida Land Boom during the 1920’s, although the area’s population continued to blossom and the downtown area continued to thrive. However, after the stock market crash of 1929, Ocala experienced severe financial troubles. Businesses and banks closed and many people were unemployed. Luckily for the community, Silver Springs, one of Florida’s most exceptional natural tourist attractions, continued to bring visitors to Ocala.
After a slow recovery from the Great Depression, Ocala’s business district experienced the addition of new buildings, as well as the updating and streamlining of existing buildings. In 1941, construction began on a new theater for the city, the Marion Theater. During the 1960’s several historic buildings were demolished to make way for more “modern” structures. In more recent times, several groups have worked diligently with the City of Ocala to preserve the beauty and history of our downtown.
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DOWNTOWN IS THE PLACE TO BE
“A Tourist’s and Settler’s Guide to Florida 1885-1886” by H.K. Ingram promoted Ocala to businessmen as “second to none in the State” as a place to “engage in lucrative business”. Now as then, we heartily agree with H.K. Ingram that Downtown Ocala is the place to be!
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