Over a century ago, in about 1905 to be exact, a young nineteen-year-old by the name of John Gainey left his hometown of Brazil, Indiana and headed south to the land of sunshine and orange blossoms! Why he came to Largo, we don’t know for sure. Was it the fact the newly incorporated town of 291 residents needed a carpenter to help with the building boom?

Long before Leslie Estep and family arrived in Largo, there had been a lumber business sitting alongside the railroad tracks at Third Street and Fifth Avenue NW serving the needs of the growing community. The earliest lumber operation located on that site is believed to be a sawmill owned by John S. Hussey.

What was the one place in our hometown which was frequented more than anything else by Largo’s teens? Why, the Milk Bar, of course! There wasn’t a Friday night that went by but what you and your friends didn’t pile into that old Chevy after a football game and head to Thomas’ Milk Bar for a juicy hamburger and thick chocolate shake!

Countless men and women from Largo have served in the armed forces through the years, beginning with the Civil War, and continuing until the present day, made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for our country.

It all started about August 27, 1918, the arrival of influenza in the United States, that is. Three cases of the illness were first discovered in Boston that day; within ten days, the base hospital and infirmaries at the Army's Camp Devens outside the city were overwhelmed with thousands of sick trainees. The country's best medical teams were brought in to assess the outbreak.

Once upon a time ... more than 200 years ago ... the barren lands of Florida were void of humans except for tribes of indigenous people who lived alongside the key deer, black bears, gators, Florida panthers, and the many creatures that called Florida 'home'.