Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Cedar Key

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Cedar Key

Cedar Key’s post office opened in 1845, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Island Hotel. Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.

1845first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
16old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cedar Key’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cedar Key began

When was Cedar Key founded?

1845

The Cedar Key post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 440 in 18702020 census: 687181 years
Founding year: the first Cedar Key post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Cedar Key’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Boom and bustPeaked at 1,066 in 1930; 687 people lived here in 2020.A town in old photos16 old photos, postcards and papers, 1850–1996.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1920, drew every building in Cedar Key.Deep rootsA post office since 1845: 181 years of Cedar Key.
★ What stands out · People over time

Cedar Key, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,066

Peaked at 1,066 in 1930; 687 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cedar Key’s Wikipedia page.

By decade

Cedar Key, decade by decade

8 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1870s6 items
Cedar Key Faber Pencil Millc. 1850Cedar Key Faber Pencil MillG N. 2 U.S. Coast Survey . . . Reconnaissance of Channel No. IV Cedar-Keys Florida1852G N. 2 U.S. Coast Survey . . . Reconnaissance of Chan…MapCedar Keys, Florida1861Cedar Keys, FloridaCedar Keys, Florida1861Cedar Keys, FloridaCedar Key tracks1870Cedar Key tracksIndian mound, Cedar Key, Fla.Alternate Title: American scenery ; tourist's seriesc. 1870Indian mound, Cedar Key, Fla.Alternate Title: America…
1880s5 items
Red cedar lumbering at Cedar Keys, Florida1882Red cedar lumbering at Cedar Keys, FloridaBird's eye view of Cedar-Key, Fla., Levy Co1884Bird's eye view of Cedar-Key, Fla., Levy CoCedar Key 1884 small1884Cedar Key 1884 smallCedar Key 1884b small1884Cedar Key 1884b smallCedar-key florida-1884-historicalmap1884Cedar-key florida-1884-historicalmap
1890s1 item
Victims gathered by building devastated by hurricane1896Victims gathered by building devastated by hurricane
1900s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s2 items
Florida - Brandenton through Clearwater1939Florida - Brandenton through ClearwaterFlorida - Brandenton through Clearwater1939Florida - Brandenton through Clearwater
1940s–1960snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1970s–1990s2 items
Heron restaurant1976Heron restaurantHistoric Bodiford Drug Store at 409 2nd St. on the northwest corner of B St. in1996Historic Bodiford Drug Store at 409 2nd St. on the no…
Today2 recent
Dockstreet200405302004Dockstreet20040530Cedar Key - Mon Pelican2004Cedar Key - Mon Pelican
Every building

Cedar Key, building by building, 1884–1920

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Cedar Key fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Cedar Key came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cedar Key.

Read it all →

While evidence suggests human occupation as far back as 500 BC, the first maps of the area date to 1542, when a cartographer from Spain labeled it "Las Islas Sabines" (which means "The Cedar Islands" in Spanish). An archaeological dig at Shell Mound, 9 miles (14 km) north of Cedar Key, found artifacts dating back to 500 BC in the top 10 feet (3.0 m) of the 28-foot-tall (8.5 m) mound. The only ancient burial found in Cedar Key was a 2,000-year-old skeleton found in 1999. Arrow heads and spear points dating from the Paleo period (12,000 years old) were collected by Cedar Key historian St. Clair Whitman, and are displayed at the Cedar Key Museum State Park.

ChaptersEarlyIndian WarPre-Civil WarCivil War eraPost-Civil WarDecline and restoration of wildlifePresentHistoric district and museum

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cedar Key, 1845 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1845Post officeThe Cedar Key post office opens
  3. 1850In the archiveCedar Key Faber Pencil Mill
  4. 1861In the archiveCedar Keys, Florida
  5. 1870In the archiveCedar Key tracks
  6. 1882In the archiveRed cedar lumbering at Cedar Keys, Florida
  7. 1896In the archiveVictims gathered by building devastated by hurricane
  8. 20th century
  9. 1914Born hereW. Randolph Hodges is born here
  10. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,066
  11. 1936Born hereGene Hodges is born here
  12. 1939In the archiveFlorida - Brandenton through Clearwater
  13. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Cedar Key on the map in 1955

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cedar Key.

Cedar Key on the 1955 USGS map1955Cedar Key sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cedar Key.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cedar Key Faber Pencil Mill
Retake this viewCedar Key Faber Pencil Mill, c. 1850

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cedar Key’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Cedar Key

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Island Hotel
Island Hotel
Buildings
Island HotelBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Cedar Key

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Gene HodgesAmerican politician · b. 1936
W. Randolph HodgesAmerican politician · b. 1914
Help out

Finish Cedar Key’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCedar Key Faber Pencil Mill: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Cedar Key’s history

What year was Cedar Key founded?

The Cedar Key post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Cedar Key?

One place: the Island Hotel (listed 1984).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.