Dansville was a historic community in Pinellas County named for founding resident Dan Henry, who moved there from Dawson, Georgia, with his brother Lloyd’s family in the early 1920s. As citrus groves covered the county’s sandy ridges, the brothers found work loading citrus at freight stations on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Lloyd first bought property and in 1928 built a house and started a grove in nearby Baskin. Dan later purchased two 40-acre tracts there by 1946, built a house for his family, and invited other African American families to settle on the land. Smaller lots were created from the larger tract by “stepping off” enough space for new homes, and the close-knit, self-sufficient community eventually grew to about 80 houses, a store, and Mt. Olive Baptist Church. On October 3, 1992, a tornado struck the area, destroying 26 homes and damaging many others, after which Pinellas County helped residents rebuild and documented the community’s history through an award-winning oral history project.