drew thousands of visitors from around the world to the sulphur springs and related nearby sports, boating, and hunting activities. The health benefits of the springs were touted in magazines and newspapers worldwide, supposedly.curing everything from arthritis to “female problems”. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Live Oak saw a construction boom. Notable buildings such as the Suwannee County Courthouse, Live Oak City Hall, and Suwannee Hotel were completed, and dozens of fine two- and three-story homes were erected along the major streets. By 1913, the main streets were bricked and a sewage system had been built. Live Oak soon lost status relative to explosive south Florida growth and the realization that the sulphur waters did nothing to combat various illnesses. Devastation of the cotton crop by the boll weevil near the end of the First World War nearly finished off the city and county as an economic powerhouse, and business stagnated with the coming of the Great Depression. Politically, Live Oak and Suwannee County remained powerful for another four decades until redistricting took into account the massive growth of southern Florida. Ruby Strickland, former postmistress of the community of Dowling Park, became mayor of Live Oak in 1924. She was the first female elected as mayor south of the Mason–Dixon line after universal suffrage was enacted in 1919. Strickland served two non-consecutive terms and represented the area at the Democratic National Convention of 1936. In 1940, the men of the local National Guard unit, Company E of the 124th Infantry (historically called the Suwannee Rifles), were mustered into service for one year of training at Camp Blanding, Florida. A week after the December 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the unit was assigned to the 31st Division at Fort Benning, Georgia, to serve as a model infantry training unit. The unit was briefly deactivated in 1944, but reactivated the following month after many of the original men had been dispersed to other units; members served in both the European and Pacific theatres during World War II. Florida National Guard historian Robert Hawk noted that, "In the course of the Second World War, no unit of the Florida National Guard had more men killed, wounded in action, or dead from other causes than Company E, 124th Infantry." The Live Oak unit was reorganized several times over the years as infantry, tank, and engineering companies, and now