Live Oak soon lost status relative to explosive south Florida growth and the realization that the sulphur waters did nothing to combat various illnesses. Devastation of the cotton crop by the boll weevil near the end of the First World War nearly finished off the city and county as an economic powerhouse, and business stagnated with the coming of the Great Depression. Politically, Live Oak and Suwannee County remained powerful for another four decades until redistricting took into account the massive growth of southern Florida.