# Central City, Florida **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050 "2015-07-13T13:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/1 "2015-07-13T13:50:05Z")
Just came back from a Florida vacation and had an interesting road experience. While driving through the vast tracts of pines that are Tate’s Hell State Forest on Hwy 65 we encountered a sign marking the boundary of a city(?)/unincorporated area. My wife and I look at each other because there is nothing as far as the eye can see except one tiny dirt road that seems to meander into the pine forest. Less than a mile down the road I see a sign on the other other side of the road and checking my rear view mirror it is the other boundary of this city, Central City. When we got home I did some Googling and can see there is a tiny cluster of homes around some sort of building complex off in the woods on that tiny dirt road. Map https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.1846974,-84.9347778&z=15&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=Central%2BCity,%2BApalachicola%2BNational%2BForest,%2BFlorida%2B32321 My curiosity is dialed up to 11. Anybody know anything about the area? I can’t find anything on Google. The only demographics I can find are for the whole county. And what is that building complex, Air Force? Prison? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/2 "2015-07-13T14:16:12Z")
I think that Sumatra, FL, is just south of Central City, with a population of about 150. Could it be that? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/3 "2015-07-13T14:26:32Z")
Google Maps is our friend! It appears to be [Twin Oaks Juvenile Development](http://www.twinoaksfl.org/) (camp?) which is actually in Bristol. As for Central City–WAG, a name\* created for an area which hasn’t been built up, yet. Maybe the County Seat(?). \*Mailing address ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/4 "2015-07-13T15:37:43Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > While driving through the vast tracts of pines that are Tate’s Hell State Forest on Hwy 65 we encountered a sign marking the boundary of a city(?)/unincorporated area. My wife and I look at each other because there is nothing as far as the eye can see except one tiny dirt road that seems to meander into the pine forest. Less than a mile down the road I see a sign on the other other side of the road and checking my rear view mirror it is the other boundary of this city, Central City. [Grodd did it.](http://dcau.wikia.com/wiki/The_Brave_and_the_Bold#Part_II) ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/5 "2015-07-14T04:30:07Z")
Thanks, Burpo! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/6 "2015-07-14T04:41:07Z")
Central City is listed as a populated place in the Geographic Names Information Service, but going to the listed coördinates on a USGS topo map doesn’t show a placename on the map. Chances are good that it was a “paper town” laid out in the 19th or early 20th century, had a few residents at one time (may still), but never was an incorporated municipality. The name survives mostly as a historic placename. There are lots of these around the country; once they’re shown on county maps compiled by the state DOT, signs often get posted whether the name is actually in use locally or not. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/7 "2015-07-14T06:58:12Z")
A whole lot of GA and FL small towns exist only for the purpose of a speed trap. Jimmy Carter (GA Governor) was famous for parking house trailers on State-owned land near the town’s City Hall and staffing them with lawyers to bust the tickets. The southern speed trap dated back to the Depression as FL became a popular place for snowbirds. Between speed traps and chain-gangs, the south had a bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/8 "2015-07-14T12:06:46Z")
It may have been a logging camp or some other location that was important in the past but dried up a blew away. I say logging because Tate’s Hell was or possibly still is a timber production area. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/9 "2015-07-14T18:13:11Z")
There is a railroad running alongside 65 all the way through there. My initial thought was perhaps an old railroad landmark of some point…perhaps related to the logging of that area. Just a couple of miles up the road from Central City was a crosswalk painted on the pavement. A very odd sight out in the middle of this vast tract of pines. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/10 "2015-07-15T00:14:54Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > There is a railroad running alongside 65 all the way through there. My initial thought was perhaps an old railroad landmark of some point…perhaps related to the logging of that area. Just a couple of miles up the road from Central City was a crosswalk painted on the pavement. A very odd sight out in the middle of this vast tract of pines. Not only that, there are crosswalk signs on each side of the road, but I can’t tell where the path is on the southeast side of the road. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/11 "2015-07-15T04:15:14Z")
[OK, I _finally_ found it on the topo.](http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=30.187999,-84.923074&z=16&t=t4) The earliest USGS topo of the area is 1946, which shows it exactly as now, merely a name along the railroad. I would guess it’s a “railroad place,” someplace where there once was a siding for loading pine logs coming out of the surrounding forest or a bunkhouse for the logging hands. It’s possible some 19th century landowner envisioned urbanity; it’s just as possible it was a railroad worker or lumberjack’s little joke when he nailed a sign to a tree. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/12 "2015-07-15T04:39:34Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > [OK, I _finally_ found it on the topo.](http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=30.187999,-84.923074&z=16&t=t4) The earliest USGS topo of the area is 1946, which shows it exactly as now, merely a name along the railroad. I would guess it’s a “railroad place,” someplace where there once was a siding for loading pine logs coming out of the surrounding forest or a bunkhouse for the logging hands. It’s possible some 19th century landowner envisioned urbanity; **it’s just as possible it was a railroad worker or lumberjack’s little joke when he nailed a sign to a tree**. Neat! (Hey, **Mr Downtown** , apropos of nothing, you need to adopt [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t62DFEVL6hQ) as your theme song.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/13 "2015-07-15T14:14:03Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Not only that, there are crosswalk signs on each side of the road, but I can’t tell where the path is on the southeast side of the road. 😕 Didn’t help being there in person either. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/14 "2015-07-15T20:03:24Z")
What piqued my interest about this story is the “Tate’s Hell State Forest” bit. How did this name come to be? Well, it turns out that there was a man named Tate who had a bit of a hellish experience in the area. See [http://findingflorida.org/tates-hell-swamp/](http://findingflorida.org/tates-hell-swamp/). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/15 "2015-07-16T04:16:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > (Hey, **Mr Downtown** , apropos of nothing, you need to adopt [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t62DFEVL6hQ) as your theme song.) 🙂 The Play-Tone Galaxy of Stars is indeed the origin of my user name. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/central-city-florida/725050/16 "2015-07-16T14:22:56Z")
Righteous! A fine group they be!