Lawrence Puckett (1906–1985), mayor of Dade City from 1981–1983 and a member of the Dade City Commission from 1976 until his death in 1985, had his recollections published by the Pasco County Centennial Committee. They date from when he came to Dade City in 1925. Puckett describes Dade City before and after the Florida land boom as "a typical southern agriculture area, where the few well-to-do controlled the economy and the poor white folks and Negroes did the work for minimal pay. In other words, folks here were either quite well-to-do or very damn poor". Puckett's recollections also reconstruct Dade City as it existed during the Florida boom, with its various shops, streets, and buildings, most of which had changed significantly by the time he was writing.