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Okeechobee (US: /oʊkiˈtʃoʊbi/ OH-kee-CHOH-bee[6]) is a city in Okeechobee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 5,254. It is the county seat of Okeechobee County.[7] The Lake Okeechobee area was the site of the worst effects of the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, the first recorded Category 5 hurricane in the North Atlantic and still one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to strike the US.

Okeechobee, Florida
City
Aerial view of the town in 2013
Seal
Location in Okeechobee County and the state of Florida
Coordinates: 27°14′38″N 80°49′17″W[1]
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Okeechobee
Established	1917[2]
Government
• Type	Council-Mayor
• Mayor	Dowling Watford (Elected 2017)[3]
Area [4]
• Total	4.15 sq mi (10.76 km2)
• Land	4.06 sq mi (10.50 km2)
• Water	0.10 sq mi (0.25 km2)  0.96%
Elevation [1]	26 ft (8 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	5,254
• Density	1,295.36/sq mi (500.20/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	34972-34974
Area code	863
FIPS code	12-51200[5]
GNIS feature ID	0288073[1]
Website	http://www.cityofokeechobee.com

Okeechobee is served by the Okeechobee County Airport.

History

Okeechobee is close to the site of the Battle of Lake Okeechobee, a major battle of the Second Seminole War, fought between forces under the command of Zachary Taylor and Seminole warriors resisting forced relocation to Oklahoma.

In the 1930s, Okeechobee was the commercial center for the surrounding area, shipping hundreds of train cars of winter vegetables annually, in addition to poultry farms, a catfish shipping plant, and a bullfrog breeding industry.[8] The Florida guide described bullfrog breeding in the Okeechobee region:

Frog legs, or 'saddles,' bring high prices in the winter when frogs usually hibernate and are difficult to capture. Frog farmers enclose bottom lands, ponds, or swamps; as frogs live on insects, breeders strew the runs with rotting meat to attract blowflies. Some plant flowers and shrubs to lure bugs, and occasionally install electric lights to attract moths, beetles, and other nocturnal insects. A female frog lays from 10 to 30 thousand eggs a year; tadpoles appear from 60 to 90 days later, but frogs are seldom marketed before they are two years old. [9]

— Federal Writers'Project, "Part III: The Florida Loop", Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (1947)

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1920	900		—
1930	1,795		99.4%
1940	1,658		−7.6%
1950	1,849		11.5%
1960	2,947		59.4%
1970	3,715		26.1%
1980	4,225		13.7%
1990	4,943		17.0%
2000	5,376		8.8%
2010	5,621		4.6%
2020	5,254		−6.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[10]

As of the 2020 census,[11] the city of Okeechobee had a population of 5,254 and 1,814 households.

Of the city's population, 7.2% were under 5 years old, 24.1% were under 18 years old, and 15.1% were 65 years and over. 46.5% of the population was female.

85.1% of the population was white, 8.6% was black or African American, 0.2% was American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.1% was Asian, 2.8% was two or more races, and 33.0% was Hispanic or Latino.

There were 367 veterans living in the city and 12.2% were Foreign born persons.

The median household income (in 2020 dollars) was $40,425 with a per capita income of $19,633. 18.4% of the population lived below the poverty threshold.

Geography

Okeechobee is located just north of Lake Okeechobee. Taylor Creek flows through the east side of the town. The area is served by US routes 98 and 441 and state routes 70, 700 and 15.[12]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.2 square miles (11 km²), of which 4.1 square miles (11 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) (0.96%) is water.

Climate

Okeechobee has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), bordering within one degree of a tropical climate with hot, humid summers and warm, drier winters.

Points of interest

On 25 December 1837, Lake Okeechobee became the site of an important battle in the Second Seminole War, fought between a number of Seminole Native American groups, the United States government, and allied militias. The battlefield is now the site of a 145-acre (0.59 km²) park, and annual reenactments.[15]

In 2016, Okeechobee became home to the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. This multi-day, multi-genre music festival attracted approximately 30,000 people to the city in its first year.[16]

Notable people

• Janet Bonnema, civil engineer[17]
• Kutter Crawford, baseball player
• Lonnie Pryor, football player
• Reggie Rembert, football player
• Thomas Rooney, U.S. House of Representatives, Florida's 17th district
• Evan Neal, football player

References

External links

• City of Okeechobee

На других языках

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[de] Okeechobee

Okeechobee ist eine Stadt und zudem der County Seat des Okeechobee County im US-Bundesstaat Florida mit 5621 Einwohnern (Stand: 2010).

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- [en] Okeechobee, Florida

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