Platted in 1885, Haines City was first known as Clay Cut. It is said that the pioneers of the city persuaded the railroad company to build a station by agreeing to rename their city to Haines City in honor of Colonel Henry Stevens Haines. Haines was born on the 21st day of November in 1836 in Nantucket, Massachusetts and died on November 03, 1923 in Lenox, Massachusetts.