Coleman, Florida

Coleman is a city in Sumter County, Florida, United States. The population was 642 at the 2020 census.

On June 8, 1840, Colonel W. J. Worth, Colonel Bennet Riley, and the Second Infantry and Eighth Infantry divisions transferred to Fort McClure to search the Lake Panasoffkee area for Seminole warriors. Three days later, the troops discovered an empty village.

By 1853, the "Fort McClure" community was renamed "Warm Springs".

In 1882, it was officially incorporated as a municipality and renamed the "Town of Coleman" after Dr. B.F. Coleman.

The main industries were citrus, cotton, and cattle, but they also grew celery, cauliflower, cucumbers, lettuce, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. According to Broward Mill, the past president of the Sumter County Historical Society, Coleman became known for its cabbage production in the early part of the 20th century and by 1923, was called the "cabbage capital of the world".

On June 20, 1908, the "City of Coleman" was incorporated as a municipality. However, it was officially reincorporated and chartered in 1925.

In 1926, the West Palm Beach branch of the Seaboard Air Line began operations in Coleman.

In 1966, the American Automobile Association (AAA) named Coleman the nation's biggest speed trap after the city's only police officer, Chief Ernest H. Barry, began lurking behind a billboard to catch speeding motorists. Barry arrested 369 motorists in just 5 months, all of them from out of town. In response, Governor W. Haydon Burns wrote a letter to Mayor J. F. Crawford, urging them to treat tourists as guests, after which Barry was fired.