Brandon, Florida
| Brandon, Florida | |
|---|---|
| CDP | |
 |
|
 Location in Hillsborough County and the state of Florida |
|
| Coordinates: 27°56′N 82°17′W / 27.933°N 82.283°WCoordinates: 27°56′N 82°17′W / 27.933°N 82.283°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| County | Hillsborough |
| Founded | 1857 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 29.3 sq mi (75.9 km2) |
| • Land | 28.7 sq mi (74.4 km2) |
| • Water | 0.6 sq mi (1.5 km2) |
| Elevation | 46 ft (14 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 103,483 |
| • Density | 3,605.7/sq mi (1,392.2/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 33508-33511 |
| Area code(s) | 813 |
| FIPS code | 12-08150 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0279329 |
Brandon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 103,483.
Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon (1809–1886) arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his first wife Martha (1813–1867) and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon, purchased 40 acres (160,000 m2) in the New Hope area (now Brandon) and 160 acres (0.65 km2) later on and then named his land Brandon. John and his second wife Victoria's house was located on what would become the corner of Knights and Victoria Street. Four years later, the New Hope Church was built on land donated by Brandon. Besides being the first church in the community, it also served as Brandon's first school.
In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue. Charles S. Noble, a Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad engineer, was asked to plat approximately forty acres of land north of present day State Road 60, South of Lake Meade, east of Kings Avenue, and west to Parsons Avenue. Filed on April 24, 1890, the surveyor named the community in honor of John Brandon and Noble Street for himself.
The main landmark Stowers Funeral Home is a famous landmark in Brandon, built by John Brandon's son James.
Since then, Brandon has grown in spurts, beginning with the first general store opened by Dan Galvin on the corner of Moon Avenue and Victoria Street. In 1905, a school was built on Parsons Avenue and Victoria Brandon allowed new teachers to board with her so that the new school would have a teacher.
At the time, Valrico began to develop as Victoria's son Lovic, moved there and opened a general store. Lovic and Victoria's other son, Mark, organized the Valrico Baptist Church in 1915, which later moved to Brandon and became the First Baptist Church in 1930.
By 1914, the community needed a large central school to house all of the area's students, so the Brandon Grade School (now McLane Middle School) was built on Knights Avenue to house grades 1 through 12.
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Wikipedia