Founding year: the first Live Oak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Live Oak’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Live Oak is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #32 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Live Oak’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Live Oak’s 14.3 sits above most of its state (86% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Live Oak’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Built along the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad in or prior to 1861, Live Oak was named for a southern live oak tree under which railroad workers rested and ate lunch. When a railroad depot was built nearby, the small community that sprang up around it was called “Live Oak Station” (first mentioned in records in 1861). The tree was at the site of the present-day Pepe's Mexican Grocery on U.S. 90.
During the Civil War, the Pensacola & Georgia Railroad served as a vital route for parts of North Florida. Defensive earthworks were built where it crossed the Suwannee River west of Live Oak, to deter Union attacks. These earthworks still exist as part of the Suwannee River State Park, one of Florida's first State parks.
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.
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.
The Live Oak post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Live Oak rank for history?
Live Oak is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #32 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Live Oak?
6 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Bishop B. Blackwell House (listed 1985, the first). 10 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Live Oak?
15% of Live Oak’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1936![Florida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingham County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/2300/ffe9a21669dae3a6ff94-s.jpg)
1940
2004
