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Citrus County yields archaeological evidence that aboriginal Indians inhabited the shores of its lakes and rivers thousands of years ago. The remains and artifacts of coastal Timucuan Indians are featured in displays at the State Archaeological Museum north of Crystal River. Recent discoveries also suggest that the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto traveled through the Inverness area in 1539. Pioneers first came to the area in the 1820s, but it was the Armed Occupation Act of Florida, in 1842, that made land affordable and brought about the settlement of the Red Level area.
The Citrus County area became a military theater during the Second Seminole Indian War, 1835-1842. Battles were fought along the banks of the Withlacoohee River in 1835 and 1856. Camp Izard and an Indian camp are located here, as well as Powell's Town, the headquarters of Chief Osceola, and Fort Cooper, established by General Winfield Scott in 1836.
Citrus County was officially carved out of Hernando County on 02 June, 1887. The first county seat was Manfield, now a part of the Withacoochee State Forest.
In 1839, David Levy Yulee ventured to the Citrus County/Homosassa area. He held impressive credentials as an attorney, businessman, railroad magnate, statesman and planter. Yulee built his home an Tigertail Island on the Homosassa River and established a 5,100-acre sugar cane plantation along the river's banks. He became Florida's first U.S. Senator when the territory became the nation's 27th state in 1845. The mill is the only documented structure in Citrus County that felt the blows of the Civil War.
The "Homosassa" orange, which Yulee developed in his citrus groves, is still produced and enjoyed today. The "Homosassa" is one of Florida's oldest citrus varieties and has been considered one of its finest.
Citrus County is not a heavily industrialized area. However, it has enjoyed several industrial booms important to development. The greatest boom covered a 30-year period that started as the 19th century ended and saw the development of the county's outlying regions.
Although Dunnellon, in nearby Marion County, was the discovery site of phosphate, Floral City became the focal point of mining interests and, at one time, boasted a population larger than newly settled Miami.
Until the freeze of 1894-95, which forced most of the area's major groves south, Citrus County was one of the state's major citrus producers. Steamboats loaded with citrus were sent down the Withlacoochee River to the Gulf of Mexico, where the fruit was transferred to ocean going vessels headed for the European markets.
Ranching, lumbering and turpentine production were also highly lucrative industries at the turn of the century.
Today, even with its rapid growth, Citrus County remains largely unspoiled. The woodlands, water and natural beauty of the region are well preserved.
