Brandon is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the community had a total population of 77,895. According to the American Fact Sheet, the community had a population in 2007 of 90,470, which is an increase of 16.1% or 12,575 people.

History
=Founding=
Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his wife Martha Carson and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon purchased of land in the New Hope area...

Brandon is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the community had a total population of 77,895. According to the American Fact Sheet, the community had a population in 2007 of 90,470, which is an increase of 16.1% or 12,575 people.

History
=Founding=
Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his wife Martha Carson and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon purchased of land in the New Hope area (now Brandon) south of Hopewell Road (now SR 60), between Parsons Avenue and Lithia Road. Nine years later, after his wife died, John left everything he owned to his son James Henry Brandon and moved to Bartow, Florida. In 1876 James built a home for his wife Joanna. It is still standing today and is now Stowers Funeral Home, a well-known landmark on Brandon Boulevard.

Meanwhile, John Brandon remarried a widow named Victoria and moved back to New Hope in 1874. John bought and named his land Brandon. John and Victoria's house was located on what would become the corner of Knights and Victoria Street. Four years later, the New Hope Church was built on land donated by John. Besides being the first church in the community, it also served as Brandon's first school.

After John's death in 1886, Victoria took a leading role in the community. The community's first post office was opened in Victoria's home, when she became the postmistress. In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue. Victoria convinced a civil engineer for the railroad to survey the area and lay out a town site. He surveyed and prepared a map, and Victoria named the town Brandon, after John Brandon.

=Early 20th century=
Since then, Brandon has grown in spurts, beginning with the first general store opened by Dan Galvin on the corner of Moon Avenue and Victoria Street. In 1905, a school was built on Parsons Avenue and Victoria allowed new teachers to board with her so that the new school would have a teacher.