Gainesville At A Glance
WELCOME TO Gainesville! Centrally located in North Florida, Gainesville is within approximately two hours of some of Florida’s top sites of nature and manmade destinations. These destinations include Disney World in Orlando, Daytona Beach, and the oldest city, St Augustine, and some of the most beautiful beaches. The city of Gainesville is located in Alachua County between Tallahassee (the state capitol), Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando and Tampa, and is surrounded by a number of communities that typify small-town America – Hawthorne, Waldo, La Crosse, Alachua, High Springs, Newberry, Archer, Micanopy and Cross Creek.
As the county seat, Gainesville serves as the commercial hub for the North Central Florida area. It is home to the University of Florida, the state’s largest and oldest university, supporting higher education, medicine, cultural arts, and sports for the area.
With our average temperatures between 76 and 82°F in the spring and fall, and 89 and 91°F in the summer, and as high as 69°in the winter, Alachua County’s climate indulges a growing season that lasts through much of the year. Alachua County encompasses 969 square miles, with Gainesville occupying a little more than 45 square miles. The county population is just under 200,000 with the city of Gainesville accounting for almost half that number. Approximately 65 percent of the county is surrounded by scenic lakes, wetlands, and trails. The area contains approximately 100 square miles of these wetlands and scenic lakes plus nearly 520 miles of forests.
Alachua County and Gainesville offer to residents, as well as visitors, numerous outstanding healthcare facilities, including Shands Healthcare, North Florida Regional Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospital. Other appealing features Gainesville and Alachua County have to offer are convenient transportation, including four major highways, CSX and Amtrak, Greyhound bus lines and the Gainesville Regional Airport.
Gainesville, also known as The Tree City because of the area’s lush tree canopies, has for years been ranked as one of Florida’s most livable cities.
The historic downtown area, now listed in the Register of Historic Places due to its preservation of many buildings built between 1880 and 1930, also serves as the center for nightlife, much of which caters to students from UF and Santa Fe Community College. However, several of the downtown cultural activities cater to people of all ages, including the downtown plaza, Hippodrome State Theatre and a variety of restaurants.
Some of the activities and entertainment commonly know to this area include Gatornationals, the Spring Arts Festival, the UF Homecoming Parade and, of course, Gator football season. There are also numerous waterways for snorkeling, canoeing and scuba diving since more than one in 20 acres is submerged in water. Also popular in the area is the Devil’s Millhopper State Geological Site, a 500-foot-wide sinkhole containing a dozen small waterfalls and plant species rare to Florida. Other Gainesville attractions include the Santa Fe Community College Zoo, the UF Teaching Observatory, and the Butterfly Rainforest which is now part of the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Congratulations to the University of Florida in all sporting events! Sports fans, from all over flock to the University of Florida to enjoy football, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, baseball, softball and so many more Gator events.
The public school system in Gainesville educates nearly 30,000 students a year, and there are 14 private schools. Education is a big part of our community with the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College right here and other universities and community colleges in the surrounding areas.
The Gainesville area is served by one local, daily newspaper, The Gainesville Sun. The Independent Florida Alligator publishes Monday through Friday when UF is in session. The High Springs Herald, The Record, and five-star winners Alachua Today are published weekly. There are four local television stations: WCJB-Channel 20 (ABC), WUFT-PBS, Channel 5, WGFLTV53 (CBS) and WOGX-Channel 51 (Fox). Cox Communications Gainesville/Ocala, the local cable company, transmits a number of additional stations, including the other major networks plus the major news, sports and movie channels.
Newcomers will find many worship places in and out of our community representing most denominations. Gainesville visitors and residents can enjoy religious freedom and a diverse variety of religious activities.
A number of large corporations have located their corporate headquarters in Gainesville; North American Archery Group and Shands Healthcare are among these. Gainesville is the home of Nationwide Insurance’s regional office and the headquarters for the Florida Farm Bureau.
Gainesville’s year-round weather, scenic attractions, healthcare facilities, education facilities, community involvement and employment opportunities make Gainesville an attractive place to work and live. G