Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Umatilla, FL

Umatilla is a small city in northern Lake County that calls itself "Nature's Hometown" and is known as the "Gateway to the Ocala National Forest."

Umatilla was settled in 1856 by Nathan J. Trowell and was named after the town of Umatilla, Oregon.

The City of Umatilla was officially incorporated on November 8, 1904, by which time it had a hotel, stores, a school, a citrus packing house, and a post office.

The railroad reached Umatilla in 1880, when the St. Johns and Lake Eustis line made the town a stop between Astor and Eustis.

Umatilla had a population of 3,685 at the 2020 census, living in 1,657 households, with a median age of 53.5 years and about 35% of residents aged 65 or older.

Citrus defined Umatilla's economy for much of the 20th century, when the surrounding area became one of the largest citrus-growing regions in the United States.

In 1998 Umatilla was the site of a Mediterranean fruit fly outbreak at the Golden Gem citrus plant that threatened the local citrus crop.

Umatilla High School was first built in 1910, and the town's original schoolhouse — now called the Paul W. Bryan Historic Schoolhouse — serves as the Umatilla Historical Society Museum.

Umatilla's First United Methodist Church, built in 1922 with a blend of Gothic, Classical, Prairie, and Italian Renaissance styles, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 387,000-acre Ocala National Forest begins just a few miles north of Umatilla, and about 16% of the city's own area is water, including Lake Umatilla.