Lake City

Lake City, city, seat (1832) of Columbia county, northern Florida, U.S., near Osceola National Forest, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Jacksonville. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto passed through the area in 1539. The city occupies the site of a Seminole village ruled by a chief called Halpatter Tustennuggee (“Alligator Warrior”). The Seminoles left under the terms of an 1824 treaty, and settlers moved in. An important settlement in early Florida, it was called...