The northwest region of Alachua County was probably first settled on a permanent basis by English-speaking people during the late 1830s. One of the earliest settlements in the vicinity was at Crockett Springs, about three miles east of present-day High Springs, where settlers during the 1840s included Fernando Underwood and Marshal Blanton. No town developed in the area before the latter part of the nineteenth century. In 1884, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad was extended from Live Oak to Gainesville, and a post office and station were established there under the name Santaffey, a common spelling of the nearby Santa Fe River. The town was also known unofficially as Orion before its name was changed in 1888 to High Springs. In the next few years, High Springs boomed as a result of phosphate mining in the area. In 1892, the town was incorporated. During the next year, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad completed its South Florida Division, connecting High Springs with Port Tampa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, High Springs was known as an important railroad center, and in later years it became the focus for the surrounding agricultural region.