[4] Suwannee County was created in 1858,[5] as railways were constructed through the area connecting it to Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and points north.

It was named after the Suwannee River, which forms the county's northern, western, and much of its southern border.

The word "Suwannee" may either be a corruption of the Spanish San Juan ("Saint John") or from the Cherokee sawani ("echo river").

During the American Civil War, Company K of the 3rd Florida Infantry Regiment was composed almost entirely of men from Suwannee County.

In the 1930s, anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston did research in North Florida timber camps.

[7] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 43,474 people, 15,149 households, and 10,655 families residing in the county.

After being successful with its new library, the Suwannee River Regional Library System was approached by a number of nearby counties interested in the project, and in 1959 Columbia, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Madison and Taylor counties qualified for membership and became a part of the system.

Greenville, Jasper, Lake City, Madison, and Perry had small libraries operated by a Woman's Club that were also absorbed into the organization.

In May 1990 Madison County expanded by establishing a small satellite branch library in the Town of Lee.

It is a publicly operated airport run by the county government that has a paved runway in excess of 4,000 feet, major aircraft maintenance, training, car rental, as well as selling 100LL aviation fuel from the FBO.

Until 1964, Suwannee County, as part of the Solid South, voted with the Democratic presidential candidate every time.