Trilby is a small, quiet unincorporated community located in the northeastern corner of Pasco County north of Dade City. Today, it is a rural, residential area, but it carries a colorful history as one of central Florida’s earliest railway boomtowns. Situated near the Withlacoochee River and what was in years past the junction of three major railroads, it is close to neighboring communities like Lacoochee and Blanton. And, in fact, sometimes Trilby and Lacoochee are referred to as the "twin cities".

Established in the 1870s as the "McLeod Settlement" by homesteaders, the area was later renamed Macon in 1885 when its first post office opened. In 1896, railroad magnate Henry B. Plant purchased the local railway lines and renamed the settlement Trilby, after George du Maurier's wildly popular 1894 novel Trilby (his wife's favorite book). When Plant laid out the town square and streets, he named them after characters from the novel.

As three major railroad lines converged in Trilby, the community grew to become the largest town in Pasco County and contained the third-largest railroad yard in Florida around 1900. In 1901, Trilby was incorporated by an act of the Florida Legislature. But this was a short-lived experiment ending in 1909. Then again in 1913, during its boom years, the town was incorporated again. This lasted until 1935 when the economy fell on hard times after the Great Depression. Today, Trilby has reverted back to a quiet unincorporated rural residential area.

In 1911, Dr. Harvey Byrd built a tuberculosis sanatorium in Trilby, which is recognized by historians as the first hospital established in Pasco County. (Although it should be noted that the lumber town of Fivay in western Pasco County had a small hospital prior to that date.) During its height, Trilby boasted a busy depot with a 24-hour restaurant, a bank, hotels, stores, sawmills, and doctors' offices. Trilby's prosperity came to a sudden halt in May 1925, when a massive fire broke out in a dry goods store. Disastrously, most of the commercial district burned to the ground within hours.

The town never fully recovered from the blaze. During the Great Depression, the bank closed, and rail traffic steadily declined over subsequent decades until passenger service ceased entirely. The historic 1927 Trilby Depot was later relocated to the nearby Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City for preservation.

Today, Trilby sits near the southern terminus of the Withlacoochee State Trail - a rails to trails path that is evidence of the town's history as a railroad boomtown in times past. And the Trilby United Methodist Church, founded in 1897, still features an original section with the wood steeple from the historic church building.Activities & Facilities

PlaygroundPicnic shelterDogs allowedShort hiking trailsPaved bike trailsHorse trailsRV sites

• West Pasco Historical Society webpage for Trilby