Lithia, Florida | |
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Unincorporated community | |
Lithia Springs canoe launch
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Coordinates: 27°51′01″N 82°10′29″W / 27.85028°N 82.17472°WCoordinates: 27°51′01″N 82°10′29″W / 27.85028°N 82.17472°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Florida |
County | Hillsborough |
Elevation | 105 ft (32 m) |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
ZIP code | 33547 |
Area code(s) | 813 |
GNIS feature ID | 285575 |
Lithia is an unincorporated community in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Tampa. The ZIP code is 33547, and the area code is 813. It is part of the census-designated place (CDP) of Fish Hawk. Lithia is home to the 2,963-acre (1,199 ha) Alafia River Corridor and 5,515-acre (2,232 ha) Chito Branch Reserve.
Lithia is a small unincorporated community and home to Lithia Springs Regional Park, Alderman's Ford Regional Park, and the C.W. Bill Young Reservoir. The elevation ranges from less than 8 feet (2.4 m) above sea level at Lithia Springs to 105 feet (32 m) south of the post office.
The community has a rich history in agriculture, saw mills, and phosphate mining. In the late 1990s, Newland Communities purchased 3,000 acres (12 km2) to develop Fishhawk Ranch. Fishhawk Trails was developed by another company, and more public works and retail stores are currently in the development.
Prior to the advent of white settlers in 1846, Lithia had been variously inhabited by Native American tribes, such as the , Muskogan (Creek), Tomokan, Caloosa, some of whom were mentioned by the Spanish in the 1600s, and later the Seminole. Settlers from Georgia arrived in 1847. In 1848, James Alderman created a ford on the Alafia River at the site of present-day Alderman's Ford Park. By the time of the Civil War, Alderman's cattle ranching operation ran to around 30,000 head of cattle. Around 1900, lithium was discovered in the waters of a spring (now known as Lithia Spring Major), which resulted in the naming of the community to "Lithia".