[5] Before European colonization and settlement, the area which is today Minneola was originally inhabited by the indigenous Timucua people.

The population of the Timucua were whittled by epidemics of infectious diseases introduced by Europeans, then by attacks and slave raids largely conducted under Spanish colonial rule.

Four years later, the area of modern-day Minneola became a part of an Indian reservation under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek[7].

The region was geographically called the High Sand Hills by Americans, according to maps by Washington Hood.

[9] The first white settler in what is today Minneola was Captain William A. Smith, originally from Georgia.

The settlement was established shortly after the Civil War on the north shore of Plum Lake[10][5][11].

At this time, citrus groves began to be established in the area by the settler Henry Wilson[5].

The settlement had a post office established three years later by George W. Hull, the city's first postmaster, based out of his home[5].

Minneola was formally founded in 1884 as an unincorporated area, originally as a part of Sumter County[5][11][12].