A Bit of History
Newnansville
1826
Dells Post Office 1926
Post Office Records, National Archives
Volume 4, 1824-1828
Soon after the completion of the road, three Dell brothers, James, Simeon, and Maxey, seeing the potential, bought land along the road in Alachua. The Dell brothers had visited Alachua before, in 1821 were in the Alachua area and stayed with Edward Wanton but then left. Upon returning and they bought land about thirty miles north of Wanton’s and north of the Arrendondo Grant along the Bellamy Road. In 1826 the Dells opened a post office with James Dell as postmaster, the second post office in central Florida after Micanopy. With the traffic from the road and with the only post office for miles around, it became the center around which a community quickly grew.
Alachua County had no permanent county seat until 1828, when by an act of the Legislative Council on November 15, one was established: “at a place in said county usually called and known, as the courthouse head, eight miles southeast of the Natural Bridge on the Santa Fe River, and on United States road, known as Bellamy’s road. . . . That said county site shall hereafter be called and known by the name of Newnansville.“ Dell’s settlement was renamed Newnansville in honor of Daniel Newnan, who had led a raid into Alachua County during the Patriot War. Newnansville soon became a thriving community with more residents than Micanopy. On maps of the period it was identified as Dell’s Court House, Dell’s Post Office, Alachua Court House, or just Dells. The post office continued to be called Dells until May 1, 1837, it appears on official records as Newnansville with Sylvian Ellis as postmaster.
See also "The Lost City of Newnansville"