Chaires, Florida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chaires is an unincorporated community located just east of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida. It is near the intersection of Chaires Cross Road and Capitola Road, northeast of Lake Lafayette and the Edwards Wildlife Area.
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[edit] Geography
Chaires is located at (30.436, -84.1175).[1]
[edit] History
[edit] 1830s
Chaires was named after one of its earliest founders, Green Hill Chaires. Green Hill was one of three brothers who moved to Florida and helped settle Tallahassee and the surrounding areas. Green Hill and his brothers, Benjamin and Thomas Peter, all created thriving plantations in the southeastern section of Leon County. They settled down, became wealthy planters and were influential, to varying degrees, on the politics of North Florida. Although the plantations are gone, their legacies still exist today in the names, families, pride and history of the area that is now known as Chaires.
Green Hill originally built a cotton plantation on the edge of Lake Lafayette, Florida. Here he began to develop into a wealthy and, therefore, influential Southern planter. In 1838, however, an Indian raid left several of his family members, including his wife, dead and his home burned to the ground. To rebuild, Green Hill moved further east. He built a new plantation, called Evergreen Hills, in the area that is currently known as Chaires. It was so named because Green Hill owned all of this land until he gave certain tracts of it to the building of the railroad and his descendants had to sell of portions to survive. Green Hill and his descendants, however, continued to own much of the land in the Chaires district even through the Civil War when so many people lost so much. It was where Green Hill had established his final home that the Chaires family prospered until they have become known as one of the original aristocratic families of Tallahassee.
[edit] 1920s
[edit] Chaires School
Probably one of the greatest historical gems of Chaires is the Chaires School. Chaires became more settled and the land more open, the community of Chaires began to grow. In response to the needs of this agrarian community, a small schoolhouse was built for the education of the white children.
[edit] 1980s
[edit] Chaires-Capitola Volunteer Fire Department
Fire and rescue services are provided to the community by the Chaires-Capitola VFD.
[edit] 2000s
[edit] Chaires-Capitola Community Park
In the early 2000s, Leon County developed a new community park adjacent to Chaires Elementary School. The park has 4 Lighted Tennis Courts, 2 Basketball Courts, Restrooms/Concession Building, and 2 Standard Little League Baseball Fields.
[edit] Dorothy Cooper Spence Community Center
A community center was also built to serve the citizens of the community. Subsequently named after Dorothy Cooper Spence, a community activist. The community center and park have become the focal point of the larger Chaires community.
[edit] Unknown Boundaries or Population
Since Chaires is not a formal municipality, but rather a community by association, it's boundaries are undefined. However, with the growing sprawl of the city of Tallahassee, more and more people in unincorporated eastern Leon County often distinguish themselves by associating with the "Chaires" community name. This sometimes includes neighborhoods south of Apalachee Parkway, along Williams, Louvinia, and WW Kelley Roads.
[edit] Political
| Chaires Governmental Representation | ||
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| Position | Name | Party |
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| County Commission At-Large | Cliff Thaell | Democrat |
| County Commission At-Large | Ed DePuy | Republican |
| Commissioner Dist. 5 | Bob Rackleff | Democrat |
| U.S. House | Ander Crenshaw | Republican |
| Florida House | Loranne Ausley | Democrat |
Note: DePuy was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2004.
[edit] References
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
[edit] External links
- Chaires, Florida is at coordinates Coordinates:
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