Spring Hill, Florida

Spring Hill
—  CDP  —
The gateway to Spring Hill on US 19 and Spring Hill Drive
Location in Hernando County and the state of Florida
Coordinates: 28°28′44″N 82°32′52″W / 28.47889°N 82.54778°W / 28.47889; -82.54778Coordinates: 28°28′44″N 82°32′52″W / 28.47889°N 82.54778°W / 28.47889; -82.54778
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Hernando
Area
– Total	54.8 sq mi (142 km2)
– Land	53.1 sq mi (137.6 km2)
– Water	1.7 sq mi (4.4 km2)
Elevation	Max 117 Min 11 ft (31m 3.35 m)
Population (2007)
– Total	92,144
– Density	1,260.5/sq mi (486.5/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
– Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	352
FIPS code	12-68350[1]
GNIS feature ID	0294933[2]

Spring Hill is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hernando County, Florida, United States. The estimated population was 92,144 in 2007 by the United States Census. Spring Hill belongs to Florida's Nature Coast and is in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area.^[3]

History and overview

Spring Hill was founded in 1968 as a planned community, which was developed by the Deltona Corporation and the Mackle Brothers who built the community. The plans for the community are actually identical to the community of Deltona, Florida. The Mackle Brothers sold many of the properties and land in the area through intense advertising.^[4] It appeared on maps of Florida as early as 1856.^[5] It has since become a sprawling semi-city in its own right, though it is an unincorporated area. The main entrance to the original development is marked by the Spring Hill waterfall on Spring Hill Drive and US Route 19 (Commercial Way). Its location has Hernando Beach to the west, Brooksville, Florida to the east, and Tampa to the south via the Suncoast Parkway, US 41, and I-75. Spring Hill is the largest town in population north of Tampa in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area.

Spring Hill has in the past two decades attracted a large number of business chains, reflecting the recent boom in population and the tastes of the recent influx of residents seeking lower property values, quiet suburban life, and a low crime rate. With its proximity to Tampa, about 35 miles (56 km) south and the completion of the Suncoast Parkway in 2001, has made Spring Hill easily accessible to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.

Education

Spring Hill has several schools, both public and private, which provide primary and secondary education to local children. There are also several options for higher education that are easily accessible from the Spring Hill area.

Primary and secondary education

Public schools in Spring Hill are part of the Hernando County School Board school system, which oversees all public schools in Hernando County. The main public schools that serve the Spring Hill area are:

Elementary Schools Chocachatti Elementary School Deltona Elementary School Pine Grove Elementary School Spring Hill Elementary school Suncoast Elementary School Westside Elementary School

K-8 Schools Challenger K-8 School of Science and Mathematics Explorer K-8 John D. Floyd K-8 School of Environmental Science

Middle Schools Fox Chapel Middle School Gulf Coast Academy of Science and Technology, a charter school Powell Middle School West Hernando Middle School

High Schools Central High School Frank W. Springstead High School, an IB World School[6] Nature Coast Technical High School Weeki Wachee High School Hernando High School

In addition to the public schools in Spring Hill, there are also several private schools:

• Notre Dame Catholic School (Pre-K to grade 8)
• Spring Hill Christian Academy (Pre-K to grade 12)
• Wider Horizons School, a Montessori school (Pre-K to grade 6) and College Preparatory school (junior and senior high school)

Higher learning

Spring Hill is also home to the new 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m²) campus of Pasco-Hernando Community College called Spring Hill Campus.^[7] The University of South Florida in Tampa is also accessible via the Suncoast Parkway.

Libraries

The Hernando County Public Library system operates several libraries in and around the Spring Hill area, such as the West Hernando Branch Library and the Spring Hill Branch Library, which serves as a replacement of the Little Red Schoolhouse Branch Library. The historic Little Red Schoolhouse Branch Library has since been converted into a bookstore whose proceeds benefit the library system.^[8]

Healthcare

Healthcare in Spring Hill is quite abundant and continues to grow. There are three accredited hospitals in the area, Spring Hill Regional Hospital, Oak Hill Hospital and the newest, Brooksville Regional Hospital. With a large senior citizen population, Spring Hill contains many nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities.

Recent developments

JCPenney^[9] opened a store on US Route 19 (Commercial Way), just south of Spring Hill Drive in Spring 2008, adjacent to the store is a 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m²) shopping center that include many stores and restaurants, including: Best Buy,^[10] Cracker Barrel,^[11] Office Depot, Ross & Sports Authority.^[12] A Kohl's^[13] on Spring Hill Drive, just east of the Suncoast Parkway opened in Fall 2008; a Supersize Target was constructed at the same location and recently opened in July 2009. The new Target store is the 2nd of its kind in the state of Florida and one of only 14 in the country. Just a few miles south of Kohl's and Target off of the Suncoast Parkway at County Line Road and Anderson Snow road is a new plaza called The Shoppes of Avalon. Their anchor store is Publix which opened fall of 2009. There is also a Nail Star, China Star & Leo Liquors. The newest businesses that have opened on SR 50 is Five Guys and Texas Roadhouse, Panera Bread and HHGregg.

Tourism

Spring Hill Dinosaur located near 3273 Commercial Way, Spring Hill, Florida

Spring Hill is home to many beautiful parks including Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, 3.5 acres (14,000 m²) of gardens. Stage West Community Playhouse which is Hernando County's oldest non-profit theatre has ongoing shows of classic and original productions. Hernando Symphony Orchestra, made up of more than 65 volunteers performing concerts. The Gulf Of Mexico is two miles (3 km) away to the west and has five parks that offer many different activities. One of the parks, Pine Island Park, a beach that is very popular and was recently refurbished. Weeki Wachee Springs ^[14] is home to the famous live mermaid show and Florida's only spring-fed water park, Buccaneer Bay. Canoeing and Kayaking on the Weeki Wachee river just one of many water based activities to do in the area.

Restaurants and retail stores have been in great demand in Spring Hill, making the area a major destination for shoppers in and outside the area. Golf courses are quite abundant in the area and has made Spring Hill a top pick for golf enthusiasts. Spring Hill also has a public skate park with street and vert courses.

Media

Two local newspapers, Hernando Today (a publication of Tampa Tribune) and Hernando Times (a publication of St. Petersburg Times) serve the county. Spring Hill Newsletter is a free magazine published monthly and mailed to residents.

Spring Hill belongs in the Tampa media market, the 13th largest designated market area in the United States.

Notable residents

• Huey Whittaker, wide receiver for the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL)^[15]

Geography

Spring Hill is located at 28°28′44″N 82°32′52″W / 28.47889°N 82.54778°W / 28.47889; -82.54778 (28.478929, & 82.547732)^[16]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 54.8 square miles (142 km²), of which, 53.1 square miles (138 km²) of it is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²) of it (3.12%) is water.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1980	6,468		—
1990	31,117		381.1%
2000	69,078		122.0%
source:[17]

Spring Hill's location in Florida (red dot)

As of the census^[18] of 2000, there were 69,078 people, 28,274 households, and 21,035 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,300.1 people per square mile (502.0/km²). There were 30,658 housing units at an average density of 577.0/sq mi (222.8/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 88.4% White, 6.8% Hispanic or Latino, 3.00% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.8% from other races.

There were 28,274 households out of which 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.2% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.6% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.74.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 19.5% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 21.2% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 29.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $32,861, and the median income for a family was $37,608. Males had a median income of $30,076 versus $21,364 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $17,184. About 6.4% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Mass transit

Bus service in Spring Hill is provided by THE Bus (The Hernando Express), which serves as Hernando County's main bus system, servicing both Spring Hill and Brooksville. Started in 2002, THE Bus has three main routes, two of which serve the main thoroughfares of Spring Hill, such as Spring Hill Drive and Mariner Boulevard.^[19]

Roads

Main article: List of county roads in Hernando County, Florida

Tourism sign on US 19 just north of CR 578 (County Line Road)

There are several county roads in Spring Hill that serve as major thoroughfares for traffic traveling around and passing through Spring Hill. Below is a list of the county roads that pertain to Spring Hill:

CR #	Name	Direction
CR 572	Elgin Boulevard/Powell Road	East/West
CR 574	Spring Hill Drive	East/West
CR 578	County Line Road	East/West
CR 585	Barclay Avenue/Anderson Snow Road	North/South
CR 587	Mariner Boulevard	North/South
CR 589	Deltona Boulevard	North/South

Highways

Spring Hill is bordered to the west by US 19 (named Commercial Way), to the north by SR 50 (named Cortez Boulevard), and to the east by US 41. The Suncoast Parkway (SR 589) is a toll road that passes through Spring Hill and serves as a connection to Pasco and Hillsborough counties (and, by extension, Tampa) to the south.

Gallery

• 

  Spring Hill waterfall at US 19 and Spring Hill Drive.

• 

  Entrance to the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens.

• 

  The Mother Earth sculpture, found in the Botanical Gardens.

• 

  West Hernando County library branch.

• 

  Spring Hill library branch.

• 

  Harold's Garage on US 19 is a gas station shaped like a dinosaur; An example of novelty architecture.

• 

  Pink Brontosaurus statue on US 19 near Windward Village.

References

1. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
2. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
3. ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/
4. ^ http://www.deltona.com/history.asp
5. ^ http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/countgal/drew56/27drew56.htm
6. ^ http://www.ibo.org/school/003284/
7. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/college/article1005804.ece
8. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article937881.ece
9. ^ "JC PENNEY's Store Locator". http://www2.jcpenney.com/jcp/StoreLocator.aspx?LOC=28.4609252808431%3a-82.6061041618859&CT=28.4609252808431%3a-82.6061041618859%3a10.6875845064821%3a8.01568837986161&DSN=MapPoint.NA&GAD2=&GAD3=34606&IC=28.4609252808431%3a-82.6061041618859%3a32%3a34606&fcmain=JCPSTORE&FC1=N&FC2=N&FC3=N&FC4=N&FC5=N&FC6=N&FC7=N&FC8=N&numCatChosen=0&context=StoreLocator&CmCatId=customerservice. 
10. ^ "Best Buy Store Locator". http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12090&type=page. 
11. ^ "Cracker Barrel Restaurant Locator". http://hosted.where2getit.com/crackerbarrel/locator.html?form=locator_search&addressline=Spring%2520Hill%2C%2520Florida&searchradius=20&search=Search. 
12. ^ "Sports Authority Store Locator". http://www.sportsauthority.com/corp/index.jsp?page=storeLocator&selectedIndexValue=&selectedStateIndexValue=&strLocator=&state=FL. 
13. ^ "Kohl's Store Locator". http://www.kohlscorporation.com/maps/SiteAdvantage/advantage.asp?template=map&transaction=locMap&recordId=1293. 
14. ^ http://weekiwachee.com
15. ^ "ArenaFan Online: Huey Whittaker". arenafan.com. http://www.arenafan.com/players/?page=players&player=5070. Retrieved 8 May 2011. 
16. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
17. ^ "CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING (1790-2000)". U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/index.html. Retrieved 2010-07-18. 
18. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
19. ^ http://www.hernandobus.com/history.htm

External links

• Hernando County Chamber Of Commerce
• "Spring Hill Community Association"