Explosions, State Champions and Wild Weather

1960

In March there was an explosion at the Gilchrist County Courthouse. The explosion shook downtown Trenton and sent then Clerk of Court Horace Thomas to the hospital. Early that Monday morning Clerk of Court Thomas tried to light the gas heater in the vault room at the  Clerk’s Office and there was a large explosion which took the window from the vault room and Clerk of Court Thomas crawled out the window opening onto the Courthouse lawn. The wall between the Clerk’s Office and the hall was also blown down and the floor of the upstairs courtroom dropped an inch or two. Several windows were also broken from the blast. Clerk of Court Thomas said that the gas must have leaked over the weekend and he had a bad cold and could not smell the gas when he tried to light the heater. After the explosion he was transported to the University of Florida Hospital in Gainesville for treatment of his burns. The estimated damage to the building was just over $26,000.

1979

In 1979 the Trenton High School Lady Tigers softball team were the Class 1A State Softball Champions. They also took home the Class 1A State Champion Softball title in 1981, 1992, 2019, 2021, 2024, and 2025.

1980

A record freeze hit Florida in early March which damaged the watermelon crop. Record lows were reported from Pensacola to Key West. Bell and Trenton had snow flurries with reports of temperatures of 19 degrees and possibly lower in some areas of the county. The agriculture weather station in Hague near Gainesville reported 17 degrees.

• By Cindy Jo Ayers