The History of Zephyrhills, Florida
From a Pennsylvania captain's 35,000-acre colony for Civil War veterans to a WWII fighter-pilot training base, the world's longest-running skydiving airport, and a city famous for its pure water.
Founded
1888
Renamed
1910
Incorporated
1914
Population
≈ 17,200
1888–1910
From Abbott to Zephyrhills
Long before the city carried its breezy modern name, the rolling hills of east Pasco County were home to a small railroad community called Abbott. The town was platted on April 18, 1888 with just over 280 acres, renamed Hegman from 1890 to 1892, and then back to Abbott. A voting district followed in 1893; a U.S. post office opened in 1896. Turpentine, lumber, and farming gave way to citrus groves and pasture as the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard rails turned Abbott into a shipping point on the line between Tampa and the Florida interior.
In 1909, a sixty-something Pennsylvania schoolteacher and Union Army veteran named Captain Howard B. Jeffries stepped off a train into Abbott. He bought up 35,000 acres, founded the Zephyrhills Colony Company, and began advertising in Pennsylvania newspapers for fellow Civil War veterans to come south and start a new life in the Florida highlands.
On March 10, 1910, after Jeffries reportedly overheard a visitor remark on the area's “rolling hills and zephyr-like breezes,” the town voted to drop the name Abbott. From that day forward it was Zephyrhills.
Historic Photo
Captain Howard B. Jeffries — founder of the Zephyrhills Colony (c. 1910)
The rolling hills, the zephyr-like breezes — a place where a tired old soldier could rest his bones in the sunshine.
The Civil War Colony
A Town Built by Old Soldiers
Captain Jeffries was unusual in American town-building: he wasn't chasing land speculation or a railroad bonanza. He was building a colony for Union and (later) Confederate veterans of the Civil War — men in their sixties and seventies looking for mild winters, cheap land, and the company of others who'd seen the same things they had.
From its 1909 founding through the 1910s, Zephyrhills grew street by street. Veterans bought five-acre tracts for citrus and chickens, raised modest cracker-style homes around the main rail depot, and laid out a downtown grid of commercial blocks. By 1914, the town was large enough to incorporate officially. Captain Jeffries' own home — built in 1910 on what is today 5th Avenue — survives, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Land Purchased
35,000 ac
By Jeffries, 1909
Renamed
Mar 10, 1910
Abbott → Zephyrhills
Incorporated
1914
As a city
The Downtown Historic District
The original colony grid still survives. The Zephyrhills Downtown Historic District — bounded by South Avenue, 9th Avenue, 7th Street, and 11th Street — was added to the National Register on September 27, 2001. It contains 126 contributing buildings across 84 acres, including the 1927 Atlantic Coast Line depot (now the Depot Museum), the Captain Jeffries House, and a remarkable concentration of early-20th-century commercial and residential architecture.
World War II
An Airfield for the War Effort
In January 1942, just weeks after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army opened the Zephyrhills Army Airfield as a sub-base of the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Orlando. By 1943 it was in full operation as an advanced fighter training base. Pilots flew P-51 Mustangsover the pasture and pine flats below — practicing the dogfighting and bomber-escort tactics they'd soon use over Europe.
Nearly 500 men of the 10th Fighter Squadron trained here in just thirteen months between January 1943 and March 1944. Military operations ended on October 31, 1944; three years later, in 1947, the federal government deeded the airfield to the city — which still operates it as the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport. A surviving WWII barracks building now houses the Zephyrhills Museum of Military History.
The City of Pure Water
From Local Spring to American Brand
The aquifer beneath east Pasco runs cold, clear, and famously clean. In 1957, a local entrepreneur named Don Robinson founded the Zephyrhills Spring Water Company. Water from Crystal Springs, a mile or so southwest of town, was delivered locally; in 1964, the company began bottling under the iconic Zephyrhills label that would soon be visible in supermarkets across the country.
Nestlé (through its Perrier subsidiary) bought the company in 1987, scaling it nationally. In 2021, the brand passed to a consortium of investment firms — One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos & Co. — operating today as BlueTriton Brands. Zephyrhills water is still sourced from local Florida springs (Crystal, Cypress, Blue, White, and Spring of Life), and the city still proudly calls itself “The City of Pure Water.”
Founded
1957
By Don Robinson
First Bottled
1964
Under the Zephyrhills label
Acquired by Nestlé
1987
Now BlueTriton Brands
The Skydiving Capital
The Longest-Running Drop Zone in the U.S.
Once the Army left the airport behind, civilian aviation moved in — and so did parachutists. Skydiving in Zephyrhills traces back to the early 1960s, making Zephyrhills Municipal Airport one of the very few U.S. airports with a continuous skydiving history of more than half a century.
In 1990, Joannie Murphy and Susan Perkins Stark founded Skydive City, today the largest woman-owned drop zone in the world. The center now logs more than 70,000 jumps a year from its turbine aircraft over the airport, and Zephyrhills has earned itself the unofficial title Skydive City, USA in the international skydiving community.
The same zephyrs Captain Jeffries was talking about in 1910 are the reason canopies open so reliably here today — steady winds and clear skies make Zephyrhills one of the most consistent drop zones in North America.
A Town's Milestones
A Walk Through 135+ Years
Apr 18, 1888
Abbott is founded
1893
A voting district forms
1896
Post office opens
1909
Captain Jeffries arrives
Mar 10, 1910
The town becomes Zephyrhills
1910
The Jeffries House is built
1912
The Public Library opens
1914
Zephyrhills incorporates
1927
The Atlantic Coast Line depot is built
Jan 1942
Zephyrhills Army Airfield opens
Oct 31, 1944
Military operations end
1957
Zephyrhills Spring Water Company founded
Early 1960s
Skydiving comes to Zephyrhills
1987
Nestlé acquires Zephyrhills Water
1990
Skydive City launches
Sep 27, 2001
Downtown Historic District added to National Register
2010
100-year anniversary
Zephyrhills Today
A Mid-Sized City with Deep Roots
Population (2020)
17,194
U.S. Census
Land Area
9.61 sq mi
City limits
Median Age
48.8
Years
Elevation
95 ft
Above sea level
Geography, People & Economy
Zephyrhills sits in eastern Pasco County, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Tampa. The 2020 Census recorded 17,194 residents, with about 30% aged 65 or older — a reflection of the city's decades-long popularity with retirees, RV residents, and snowbirds. Demographics run roughly 67.8% White (non-Hispanic), 17.7% Hispanic or Latino, and 7.7% Black or African American.
The economy is anchored by AdventHealth Zephyrhills (the region's primary hospital), the bottled water industry, Skydive City, light manufacturing along the SR-301 corridor, and a thriving downtown of independent restaurants, antique stores, and specialty shops.
City Government
A Mayor & Council
Zephyrhills operates under a mayor–council form of government, with a full-time professional city manager handling day-to-day operations and a seasonally elected mayor and council members setting policy. City Hall is located in the historic downtown grid laid out in 1910.
Mayor
Melonie Monson
Chief Elected Official
City Hall
5335 8th Street
Zephyrhills, FL 33542
Council and committee meetings are open to the public. See zephyrhills.gov for current officials and agendas.
On the Map
Where Zephyrhills Sits
Zephyrhills, Florida — eastern Pasco County, on US 301 northeast of Tampa.
Walk the History
Six Places to See It for Yourself
Capt. Howard B. Jeffries House
The 1910 home of the city's founder, on 5th Avenue. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Zephyrhills Depot Museum
The restored 1927 Atlantic Coast Line depot — now a free museum tracing the city's railroad and citrus past.
Zephyrhills Museum of Military History
Housed in a surviving WWII Army Airfield barracks. Aviation, ground troops, and home-front exhibits.
Downtown Historic District
84 acres, 126 contributing buildings — bounded by South Ave, 9th Ave, 7th St, and 11th St.
Skydive City
70,000+ jumps a year — the world's largest woman-owned drop zone, at the Municipal Airport.
Crystal Springs
The cold, clear spring just southwest of town that put the 'pure water' in Zephyrhills bottled water.