Valrico, FL

Before it became Valrico, this east-central Hillsborough County community was called Long Pond and contained several cotton plantations. William G. Tousey, a Tufts College philosophy professor who bought property there, renamed it Valrico in the 1880s. Construction of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad through the community brought an influx of immigrants in 1890. The census-designated place lies 14 miles east of Tampa along State Road 60 and recorded 37,895 residents in 2020. Brandon borders Valrico to the west, with Bloomingdale and FishHawk along its southern side.