Dade City, Florida
county seat of Pasco County, Florida, United States
Dade City is a city in, and the county seat of Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is located in the Tampa Bay Area, northeast of Tampa and southwest of Orlando. The population was 7,275 as of the 2020 census. The current mayor of Dade City is Scott Black.
The city was named after U.S. Army Major Francis L. Dade, who was killed—alongside most of the men he led from Fort Brooke (present-day Tampa) to Fort King (present-day Ocala)—in the Dade Battle, a pivotal event that sparked the Second Seminole War.
History
An earlier community known as Fort Dade existed nearby in the 1870s and 1880s. When the railroad was constructed a few miles east of Fort Dade, local business owners chose to relocate to be closer to it. The newer settlement became known as Dade City. The name became official when the Hatton post office was changed to the Dade City post office on December 18, 1884.
Initially incorporated as a town in either 1884 or 1885, Dade City was later reincorporated as a city following state legislative approval on June 5, 1889.
The public source identifies “Dade City, Florida” as county seat of Pasco County, Florida, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dade, City and Florida.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Dade City, Florida”, the useful work is to connect “county seat of Pasco County, Florida, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2156477. VIAF identifies the subject as 127850208. The Library of Congress control number is n81048262. Authority coordinates are 28.361, -82.193. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1884, 1885 and 1889.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dade City, Florida”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dade City, Florida primary sources, Dade City, Florida archive and Dade research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dade City, Florida”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dade City, Florida” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.