Fort McCoy, Florida

Fort McCoy is an unincorporated community in Marion County, Florida, United States. It is situated northeast of Ocala and lies between the towns of Sparr and Eureka on County Road 316 and is directly north of Silver Springs on County Road 315. The community is part of the Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Fort McCoy is located at 29°21′52″N81°57′59″W / 29.36444°N 81.96639°W / 29.36444; -81.96639.^[1] The community is located west of the Ocala National Forest.

Fort McCoy was originally named Fort Mackay.^[2] MacKay and MacCoy were settlers in the area who were killed by Indians during the war. The town of Fort McCoy is named after the settler Jeb MacCoy but spelled differently. When hostilities with Native Americans worsened, Jeb MacCoy was killed by Indians while bringing his family into Fort Russell. Captain Mackay was head of the local militia, and was killed while surveying Itonia Scrub on March 20, 1839.^[3]

The first school in Fort McCoy was supposedly a log cabin which was built near the fort; and it is thought to have been abandoned during the Second Seminole War.^[4] When the Union Church was built near the Fort McCoy Cemetery, it was used as the school, with church services on the weekends.^[4] Sometime between the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s, a wooden building was built to serve as the school. In 1935, the building was destroyed in a fire. A small new school (to serve the approximate 75 pupils at the time) was built on the land donated by Dr. Percy F. Lisk, which was directly in front of the old schools location. The new brick school opened in 1936. The earliest known student grade levels are from the 1940s, when the school was known as Fort McCoy High School.

La escuela secundaria Fort McCoy cerró en 1963 y reabrió poco después como la escuela primaria Fort McCoy. La población de Fort McCoy aumentó con los años, y para la década de 1980 la propiedad era un terreno extenso lleno de "aulas portátiles". Debido al aumento de la población y la antigüedad del edificio (50 años), la Junta Escolar del Condado de Marion decidió construir una escuela en 1986. El edificio original de ladrillo se convirtió en la Biblioteca Pública de Fort McCoy en 1996, después de una renovación de $60,000. ^{[ 5 ]} En 1988, el campus abrió sus puertas, renombrado como Escuela Fort McCoy , que atiende a estudiantes de primaria y secundaria (desde preescolar hasta octavo grado). El campus se utiliza hoy en día, con los mismos niveles de grado.

La mayoría de los niños desde preescolar hasta octavo grado asisten a la escuela Fort McCoy . La mayoría de los estudiantes de secundaria en Fort McCoy asisten a la escuela secundaria North Marion en Citra , mientras que algunos asisten a la escuela secundaria Lake Weir en Ocala.

• Aldea de Veteranos de Guerras Extranjeras en Fort McCoy, Florida