Community Description
Short Description: Waldo is 14 miles northeast of Gainesville and 50 miles southwest of Jacksonville. Bellamy Station was a small village just south of the Santa Fe River where the old Bellamy Trail crossed an earlier trail. The community, part of the Madison Sparkman cotton plantation, was renamed Waldo for Dr. Benjamin Waldo of Ocala.
When the Florida Railroad reached Waldo, the community had a post office but only two streets. After a canal was dug to connect Lake Alto and Lake Santa Fe and the town of Melrose, the railroads and steamships arrived daily making Waldo busy with shipments of fruit and vegetables, tourists and new residents. By the end of the 1880s, Waldo was the second largest town in Alachua County, with a population of 1,000. The community boasted an opera house, three resort hotels, a cigar factory, ice house, sawmill, cotton gin and wagon factory. The moving of the citrus crops after a bad freeze as well as the decision of the Seaboard Airline Railroad to move out of Waldo among other events ended Waldos celebrated era. The community does however remains in the railroad business today with the only Amtrak station in Alachua County.
Community events include Railroad Days.
Nearby communities include Hampton (5.5 miles), Keystone Heights (9.5 miles), Starke (11.5 miles), Brooker (13 miles), Gainesville (14.5 miles), Hawthorne (15 miles), Lawtey (19 miles) and Lake Butler (20 miles).
Population: 1,042
Year of Incorporation: 1907
Location: North Central Florida
Median Home Price: $92,000
Tax Rate: 5.0314
Taxes Levied (per capita): $81.23
Total Area: 1.53 square miles
City Hall:
207 SW 4th Blvd, PO Drawer B
Waldo, FL 32694
352.468.1001; 352.468.2482 Fax
Library: Waldo Branch Library
14257 Cole St, Waldo, FL 32694
352.468.3298
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