When most of the cedar trees in the area had been cut by 1890, the pencil mills closed, and many White residents moved to Sumner.

The Goins family brought the turpentine industry to the area, and in the years preceding the attacks, were the second largest landowners in Levy County.

[3] To avoid lawsuits from White competitors, the Goins brothers moved to Gainesville, and the population of Rosewood decreased slightly.

[5] As was common in the late 19th century South, Florida had imposed legal racial segregation under Jim Crow laws, requiring separate Black and White public facilities and transportation.

The hamlet grew enough to warrant the construction of a post office and train depot on the Florida Railroad in 1870, but it was never incorporated as a town.

[8] After the majority of the population fled Rosewood, the once profitable turpentine industry began to fade as newer, alternative synthetic products were being produced.

[9] Since the 1950s, several businesses were established in Rosewood, including a general store; fisheries; charter tours; clam, oysters and other types of Mollusca farmers; agricultural farms; restaurants; storage facilities and a small airfield.

In the spring of 1994, the Florida state legislature voted to award $2 million in compensation for the nine surviving family members (equaling $150,000 each).

[12] During the debate over Florida House Bill 591,[13] the Florida Legislature's Bill that established reparations based on the Massacre, the Special Master appointed by the Legislature compared the destruction of Rosewood to the taking of private homes during the Internment of Japanese Americans and specifically cited the case of William Minoru Hohri vs. United States.