Brandon
Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his first wife Martha and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon, purchased 40 acres in the New Hope area (now Brandon) and 160 acres later on and then named his land Brandon.
In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue.
In 1905, a school was built on Parsons Avenue and Victoria Brandon allowed new teachers to board with her so that the new school would have a teacher.
Most local residents worked in the two orange packing houses in Valrico. The center of town remained at Moon Avenue and Victoria Street, where the train depot, post office, school, and grocery store were all located. For entertainment and everything else, the train to Tampa was the way to go, as only a few paved roads existed with most being dirt or shell topped, making the drive to Tampa very difficult.
In 1959, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce was formed to help promote business and growth. By the early 1960s, Brandon's population was 8,000, and it was estimated that one new family moved into town every day. Brandon began spreading out into the bordering communities of Limona, Seffner, and Valrico.
Brandon took off rapidly during the 1980s. Development of the southern area of Brandon brought thousands of new residents. On September 27, 1986, I-75 began to bring traffic through the Brandon area, which dramatically changed the community and helped its population reach approximately 100,000 with over 2,500 businesses by 1988.
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