Brandon Demographics
As of 2010, there were 43,352 households out of which 8.1% were vacant. As of 2000, 38.1% households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.7% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.10.
In 2000, in the CDP the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.9 males.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the CDP was $51,639, and the median income for a family was $56,931. Males had a median income of $37,454 versus $28,935 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,080. About 6.9% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.7% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.
Brandon’s History
Founding
Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon (1809–1886) arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his first wife Martha (1813–1867) and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon purchased 40 acres (160,000 m2) in the New Hope area (now Brandon) and 160 acres (0.65 km2) later on and then named his land “Brandon”. John and his second wife Victoria’s house was located on what would become the corner of Knights Avenue and Victoria Street. Four years later, the New Hope Church was built on land donated by Brandon. Besides being the first church in the community, it also served as Brandon’s first school.
In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue. Charles S. Noble, an engineer for the FC&P, was asked to plat approximately forty acres of land north of present-day State Road 60, south of Lake Meade, east of Kings Avenue, and west to Parsons Avenue. Filed on April 24, 1890, the surveyor named the community in honor of John Brandon and Noble Street for himself.
Stowers Funeral Home is a famous landmark in Brandon, in a building erected by John Brandon’s son James.
Era of rapid growth
In 1959, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce was formed to help promote business and growth. By the early 1960s, Brandon’s population was 8,000, and it was estimated that one new family moved into town every day. Brandon began spreading out into the bordering communities of Limona, Seffner, and Valrico; Hopewell Road became four lanes wide and was designated State Road 60. Soon, the town’s first shopping center, Brandon Center, was built, and Brooker Elementary School and the Brandon Swim and Tennis Club opened in 1965. In the next few years, Kingswood Elementary School, the Brandon Public Library, and many housing developments, shopping centers, and golf courses further fueled or reflected the influx of new residences and businesses.
By the 1970s, growth was causing traffic congestion, as approximately 430 commercial and service businesses, three malls and a population of 40,000 were all contained within a 6-mile (10 km) radius.
In the mid-1970s, Hillsborough Community College moved to Brandon by holding classes at public schools. More indications of the increasing population were the building of Brandon Community Hospital and the Brandon Cultural Center (now the Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association).
Brandon took off rapidly during the 1980s. Development of the southern area of Brandon brought thousands of new residents. On September 27, 1986, Interstate 75 began to bring traffic through the Brandon area, dramatically changing the community and helping its population reach nearly 58,000 by 1990.
Brandon Regional Library
Brandon Regional Library is a two-story library in Brandon that caters to the communities of Brandon, Valrico, and Lithia. It is a branch of the Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System. It opened at its current location on March 10, 1991, and the building is approximately 25,000 square feet. In July and August of 2006, the library underwent an extensive renovation. It reopened on September 9, 2006. The library shares its facility with Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association, however, both organizations remain autonomous in operation.
