In 1924-26, a group of Slovak and Czech immigrants moved from New York and Pennsylvania to establish a farming community in Florida and bought about 10,000 acres in Hernando County. They founded a town here and named it after Thomas G. Masaryk (1850-1937), the “founding father” and first president of the independent republic of Czechoslovakia, formed in 1918 with the help of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The town’s streets were named for American presidents and for Slovak and Czech patriots and writers who contributed to the independence movement. Initial attempts to grow citrus and vegetables failed, but a thriving egg and poultry farming community eventually developed. Slovak cultural traditions were maintained for more than one half century. A building on this site was erected in 1925 as the Masaryk Hotel for the initial housing of newly arrived settlers and retained that name until 1997.