Starke is a city in and the county seat of Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,796 at the 2020 census. The origin of the city's name is disputed. Starke may have been named in honor of local landowner George W. Cole's fiancée's family or in honor of Madison Starke Perry, fourth governor of Florida. History Founding and 19th century Prior to 1857, the area that is today Starke was sparsely settled. The announcement of the Fernandina to Cedar Key railroad, which would connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico, brought the first known settlement to the community. In November 1857, the first post office in the area was established by George W. Cole. In 1859, Cole obtained 40 acres of land around the post office, which were described in his documents as the "Original Town of Starke." In 1858, the railroad reached Starke, bringing new residents to the community. The early 1870s brought on incorporation to the city, and in 1875, Bradford County residents narrowly voted to move the county seat from Lake Butler to Starke. Three additional votes would be taken in later years on the location of the county seat, before the Florida Legislature resolved the issue in 1921 with the creation of Union County. Starke's weekly newspaper, The Bradford County Telegraph, began publication in 1879 as The Florida Weekly Telegraph (it continues to be the oldest weekly newspaper in Florida today). The city experienced tremendous growth in the 1880s and 1890s from Florida's citrus industry. Northerners moved to the area in droves to take a stake in the industry, but the state's Great Freeze that came in the winter of 1894-1895 devastated the area's orange groves, moving the citrus industry further south. 20th and 21st centuries Starke oversaw a period of rapid expansion brought on by the new U.S. Highway 301 in the early 1900s and the construction of Camp Blanding during World War II. For travelers coming from the northeastern United States, Highway 301 was the quickest route between Jacksonville and Tampa (a title it still holds to this day). Starke's status as one of the largest cities on the route, as well its location on State Road 100, brought numerous hotels to the area. The construction of nearby Camp Blanding as a military training facility during World War II added to the local building boom, and by 1950, the city's