Remembering Suwannee: Some interesting facts about Suwannee County, Part 3

As a historian, I find most of what I write about to be interesting, but I know not everyone shares this attitude. Today is the final part of a three-part series on some facts about Suwannee County that most people find fascinating, or at least amusing. Thomas Dowling was probably the first person in Florida, and certainly in Live Oak, known to have owned an automobile. Early vehicles didn’t have a steering wheel like we have today; it was more of a handle-looking contraption, and the cars ran on steam, so they had lots of smoke coming from them. On the first day Dowling drove his new Toledo Steamer through the streets of Live Oak, he caused such a stir that Sam McGinniss, a janitor