A local history of Zephyrhills, Florida
The history of
Zephyrhills.
Railroad tracks. Front porches. A wartime airfield. The history of Zephyrhills is still visible—if you know where to look.
Explore the story
There is more to Zephyrhills than the name on a water bottle.
Its story brings together a railroad settlement, Civil War veterans seeking a new start, families building civic institutions, and visitors who came for a season and stayed. Later, military aviation and recreational skydiving gave the city a very different connection to the wider world.
This guide follows those threads through the streets and buildings that remain. Read it from the beginning, jump to an era, or use the landmark guide to plan your own look around town.
Before 1910
Before Zephyrhills,
there was Abbott.
The city’s founding dates describe different moments. Abbott began in 1888. The Zephyrhills colony emerged in 1910. Municipal incorporation followed in 1914. Treating them as one date misses the way a settlement became a town.
The region’s story also predates Abbott. The Florida Department of State describes Seminole and other Native peoples living in the region before the later American settlement. The familiar colony story is one chapter in that longer history, not the beginning of human life here.
Rail connections gave the little settlement a reason to grow. Early accounts collected by the West Pasco Historical Society describe a place of scattered buildings, a store and a depot that changed rapidly as new residents arrived. Those accounts are valuable snapshots, but their enthusiastic language also reflects the boosterism of a town trying to attract settlers.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills historic tour · Florida Department of State: Main Street Zephyrhills, 2024 · West Pasco Historical Society: early Zephyrhills
The colony years
A new start in the Florida sunshine.
Captain H.B. Jeffries, a Union veteran from Pennsylvania, helped turn Abbott into a planned colony. In 1909 he purchased 35,000 acres and established the Zephyrhills Colony Company. The promise of land and a different climate drew veterans and their families south.
This was also a development enterprise. Land sales, promotion and the practical work of building streets and homes were part of the story. It is more revealing to see Zephyrhills as both a veterans’ community and a growing town than as a romantic retirement camp alone.
The Jeffries House makes that history concrete. Its National Register nomination dates construction to 1911 and describes a heart-pine frame house, a brick-pier foundation and later additions. The building was not frozen in its founding moment: it evolved with the people using it.
That is a useful way to read the city around it. A porch, an altered shopfront or an old meeting hall can preserve several generations of local life at once.
Read more: National Register: Captain H.B. Jeffries House · City of Zephyrhills historic tour
A town becomes a community
The places people made together.
Local history is more than founders and milestones. It is also where neighbors borrowed books, watched films, held meetings and built routines.
A library built from shared books
The Historical Association’s account of the library’s centennial describes residents pooling 71 books in 1912 and meeting in homes. A dedicated library followed in 1927. The city took over the library in 1963, and another building followed in 1964.
Those beginnings make today’s library more than a public service. It is an example of a community creating an institution before it had much infrastructure to support one.
Read more: Historical Association: the library’s first century · Zephyrhills Public Library
A hall with many lives
The Grand Army of the Republic Hall was a veterans’ gathering place, but its role reached beyond veterans. The city’s historic tour identifies it as an early auditorium, meeting space and movie house—and the site of the incorporation vote.
Buildings that serve several purposes are a reminder of how small towns worked: one room could carry much of the community’s public life.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills historic tour
Saturday at the movies
The Home Theater opened on Fifth Avenue in 1948. A 2024 state preservation profile describes its large stage and a glass-enclosed space where parents could tend to crying children while a performance continued.
The same profile reported Main Street Zephyrhills’ acquisition of the theater. That connects a familiar downtown landmark to a continuing question: how do you keep an old building useful while preserving what makes it special?
Read more: Florida Department of State: Main Street Zephyrhills, 2024
Connections beyond the city
First the rails.
Then the runway.
Transportation did more than bring people here. It shaped local work, introduced new visitors and left some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks.
The station worth saving
The red-brick depot on South Avenue was built in 1927 for the Atlantic Coast Line. It handled both passengers and freight. It is a different station from the former Seaboard depot downtown, a distinction that matters when comparing old photographs and maps.
In 1989 the city bought the building from CSX. It was shifted 200 feet west, and restoration began in 1997 with state transportation funding. A November 19 ribbon cutting celebrated the completed work.
The building’s survival was a preservation effort, not an accident. Today the depot provides a physical link to the movement of people and goods that helped shape Zephyrhills.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills: train depot · City of Zephyrhills historic tour
A wartime chapter, a lasting airport
During the early 1940s, Army fighter pilots trained at Zephyrhills Army Airfield. For a small community, a military installation meant a new population and a new role in events far beyond Pasco County.
After World War II, the airport passed to the city. The military museum occupies the surviving infirmary building—not one of the pilots’ residential barracks. The city documents restoration work supported by grants between 1997 and 2001.
The museum’s objects put people back into the aviation story: a 48-star flag, ration coupons, recruiting posters and material relating to the 10th Fighter Squadron. They are reminders of military service and the everyday restrictions of wartime life.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills: Barracks Museum
A name that traveled
The City of Pure Water.
The bottled-water brand made “Zephyrhills” familiar to people who had never visited Fifth Avenue. The brand dates its establishment to 1964, making water an important part of the city’s modern identity.
But the city was promoting its water before the brand’s launch. A visitor brochure dated circa 1963 in the Florida Memory collection already used the “City of Pure Water” description. The nickname belongs to a broader story of place, tourism and how Zephyrhills presented itself.
The brand’s own 2017 history describes water drawn from several Florida springs. The name on a bottle should not be read as a claim that every bottle comes from one spring inside the city limits.
Read more: Zephyrhills brand: history and conservation, 2017 · Florida Memory: a visitor brochure, circa 1963
Visitors who shaped the city
Winter neighbors.
An international sky.
Seasonal residents are an enduring part of Zephyrhills’ identity. The circa-1963 brochure describes winter motorists arriving from across the country, along with apartments, cottages and trailer parks. Community life expanded around people who returned year after year.
The appeal was not simply warmer weather. Clubs and shared activities gave visitors ways to belong. Reading those old promotions today helps explain why seasonal residents are woven into the city’s story rather than standing outside it.
Why skydivers know “Z-Hills”
The airport’s later civilian life brought another kind of visitor: skydivers. Skydive City describes an international community of first-time jumpers, experienced athletes and competition participants.
Its current website says visitors have come from more than 80 countries, all 50 states and every Canadian province. Those are the operator’s figures, but they illustrate how a small Florida city became a meeting place for a worldwide sport.
The airport therefore connects two very different chapters: wartime training and recreational aviation. Both have connected Zephyrhills to people and places well beyond Florida.
Read more: Skydive City
The story at a glance
Zephyrhills through the years.
Follow the milestones, or open a source to look more closely at a particular chapter.
- 1888
Abbott takes shape
The town of Abbott is established on April 18. A voting district follows in 1893 and a post office in 1896.
Source - 1909–1910
A new colony, a new name
Captain H.B. Jeffries purchases land and creates the Zephyrhills Colony Company. The community becomes Zephyrhills in 1910.
Source - 1912
Neighbors build a library
Residents pool books and begin a library that becomes one of the city’s enduring public institutions.
Source - 1914
Zephyrhills incorporates
Residents vote to incorporate at the Grand Army of the Republic Hall, a center of early community life.
Source - 1927
A depot for a growing city
The Atlantic Coast Line opens a combined passenger and freight station on South Avenue.
Source - 1940s
An airfield serves the war effort
Army fighter pilots train here during World War II. The surviving infirmary later becomes a military museum.
Source - 1948
The Home Theater opens
A new downtown movie theater becomes part of Fifth Avenue’s social life.
Source - 1964
A familiar water brand begins
The Zephyrhills spring-water brand is established, carrying the city’s name far beyond east Pasco.
Source - 1989–1997
The depot is saved
The city buys the old station in 1989. Restoration is celebrated with a ribbon cutting in November 1997.
Source - 2001
Downtown earns historic recognition
The downtown historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source - 2014
A new chapter for the library
A new downtown library building opens in December, continuing a tradition begun more than a century earlier.
Source - 2024
Preservation gains statewide recognition
Main Street Zephyrhills is named Florida Main Street Program of the Month in May.
Source
Preservation is an ongoing job
A downtown to keep using.
The 2001 National Register listing recognized downtown Zephyrhills as a historic district. That recognition helps explain why the everyday fabric matters: not just a single landmark, but the relationship between houses, shops and public spaces.
Preservation is not the same as stopping time. The challenge is to make older buildings useful for new businesses and new generations while retaining the details that make the place recognizable.
Read more: National Register: Zephyrhills Downtown Historic District · City of Zephyrhills historic tour
Look beyond the date on the wall
On a visit, look at building scale, the rhythm of doorways and windows, and the short distances between homes and businesses. Those details tell you how downtown was used, even when a sign or tenant has changed.
Compare a dated photograph with the same streetscape today. What remains? What has been adapted? A town’s history becomes much easier to understand when you can point to it.
The photographs in this guide are dated records of real places, not depictions of their appearance today. Use the landmark links below to plan a current visit.
Take the story outside
Six places to explore.
Start downtown, then continue along South Avenue for the depot and military museum. Check access before visiting; some stops are best viewed from public sidewalks.
Fifth Avenue
5th Avenue, downtown Zephyrhills
Start with the streetscape: storefronts, shaded sidewalks and the relationship between the commercial blocks and nearby homes. Look for the Home Theatre, which opened in 1948. The downtown itself is the exhibit.
Captain H.B. Jeffries House
38537 5th Avenue
The founder’s 1911 home offers a tangible link to the colony years. Notice the broad porch and frame construction. The National Register record explains how the house changed as the town around it grew.
Grand Army of the Republic Hall
5340 8th Street
This 1910 gathering place hosted civic life as well as veterans. It is the setting the city identifies for the 1914 incorporation vote. View it from the public sidewalk and respect any activities inside.
Zephyrhills Public Library
5347 8th Street
A useful stop for readers and local-history explorers. The library’s roots reach back to 1912; its services connect that early commitment to shared learning with the community today.
Zephyrhills Train Depot
39110 South Avenue
Continue to Depot Park to see the restored 1927 station. Its broad roof and long platform help explain the building’s original job: handling people and goods moving by rail. Check the city’s page for current access.
Museum of Military History
39444 South Avenue
The surviving wartime infirmary connects the airport to the people who trained here. The city’s museum page lists military objects, recruiting posters and material about the 10th Fighter Squadron. Confirm visiting hours before traveling.
A few things worth knowing.
Was Zephyrhills founded in 1888 or 1910?
Both dates appear because they refer to different stages. Abbott was established in 1888; the Zephyrhills colony dates to 1910. The city’s official history gives 1914 for incorporation.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills historic tour
Is the depot in its original location?
No. The city says the 1927 Atlantic Coast Line station was moved 200 feet west after it was purchased in 1989. It remains a historic building, even though saving it involved moving it.
Read more: City of Zephyrhills: train depot
Can I go inside every historic building?
Do not assume that a historic designation means a building is open to the public. Check the linked city or venue page before visiting, and respect private property and scheduled activities.
Where can I research my family’s connection to Zephyrhills?
Start with the library, the Historical Association’s publications and the West Pasco Historical Society’s collected local accounts. Bring names, approximate dates and addresses. A labeled photograph or a newspaper clipping can be more useful than a general family story alone.
Read more: Zephyrhills Public Library · West Pasco Historical Society: early Zephyrhills
Your family may have the next piece.
An old storefront photo. A school memory. A story about arriving for the winter. Help us document Zephyrhills with names, dates and places. Tell us who took a photograph and whether you have permission to share it.
Sources & photograph credits
Researched and updated September 27, 2026. This guide draws on city records, historic nominations, archival material and local-history publications. Visitor access and schedules can change; use the linked venue pages for current details.
Open the reading list
- City of Zephyrhills historic tour
- National Register: Captain H.B. Jeffries House
- National Register: Zephyrhills Downtown Historic District
- West Pasco Historical Society: early Zephyrhills
- Zephyrhills Public Library
- City budget: the library building and services
- Historical Association: the library’s first century
- City of Zephyrhills: train depot
- City of Zephyrhills: Barracks Museum
- Florida Memory: a visitor brochure, circa 1963
- Zephyrhills brand: history and conservation, 2017
- Skydive City
- Florida Department of State: Main Street Zephyrhills, 2024
Photographs are reproduced under their linked Creative Commons licenses, with photographer credits in each caption. Images may be cropped in the page layout; the source links provide the originals. No AI-generated historical scenes are used.
Suggest a correction or an additional source