Starke is a city and county seat of Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,796 at the 2020 census. The origin of the city’s name is controversial. Starke may have been named after the family of the bride of local landowner George W. Cole or after Madison Starke Perry, fourth governor of Florida.

In the late 1980s, the city received national media attention during the proceedings of the Ted Bundy case [1] and his eventual execution at the Florida State Prison outside Raiford, Florida. It also received attention when Lawton Chiles was Governor of Florida as a notorious city with speed cameras, even having outdoors positioned at the southbound Interstate 10 exit of US 301. Other speed cameras on this stretch of US 301 between I- 10 and I-75 were Waldo, Lawtey and Hampton.

At that time, controversy would also arise over the cross located in the city’s water tank, as national atheist groups condemned the community. In the early 2000s, a court motion was filed by American atheists against the city to remove the cross, bringing Starke back into the national spotlight. The court battle would be contentious, with most city residents vehemently opposing his removal. In 2007, a district judge ruled against the city, and the cross would later be leased to a location on private property.

Years later, American atheists tried to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the Bradford County Courthouse courtyard. However, a compromise was finally reached in this case.

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1. Theodore Robert Bundy was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978.