90-year milestone

Marion County officials and others recently commemorated the Jan. 16, 1935, anniversary of the Ma Barker shoot-out in Ocklawaha.


Marion County Tax Collector George Albright, left, who was instrumental in saving and preserving the Bradford-Ma Barker House and Carson Good, right, whose family donated the house to Marion County, hold Thompson submachine guns outside the house during the event commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Ma Barker FBI Shootout at Carney Island Recreation and Conservation Area in Ocklawaha, Fla. on Thursday, January 16, 2025. Kate “Ma” Barker and her son, Fred, were both killed in the house by the FBI, which ended up being the longest FBI gun battle to date, which happened on January 16, 1935. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

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Posted January 20, 2025 | By Susan Smiley-Height / Photos by Bruce Ackerman
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Ninety years ago, on Jan. 16, 1935, the peace and quiet of the sleepy town of Ocklawaha was disturbed by one of the most infamous shoot-outs in the history of the FBI. That was the day agents hailed a rainstorm of bullets on gangster Kate “Ma” Barker and her son Fred, who were hiding out inside a rented home on Lake Weir.

On Jan. 16, 2025, Marion County hosted an invitation-only event, during which Tax Collector George Albright, who was instrumental in saving and preserving the Ma Barker House, also known as the Bradford-Ma Barker House, and Doug Jones, with the Society of Former Special Agents, unveiled a bronze plaque outside the historic home. The house is now located inside the county’s Carney Island Recreation and Conservation Area, after having been moved there in 2016.

According to the Friends of the Ma Barker House, Inc., website, the home was owned by Carson Bradford, who bought the real estate in Ocklawaha in 1892. His son, who lived in Miami, built the two-story Florida cracker style house on Lake Weir in 1930. It was used as a weekend and summer retreat.

Carson Bradford had never rented the house but in late 1934 got a generous offer from a representative of a Mrs. T. C. “Kate” Blackburn, describing her as “a sweet little old lady” looking for an out of the way cottage in which to spend time with her sons. Bradford said the house wasn’t for rent. Not willing to accept no for an answer, the offer went up, including paying cash in advance for the entire season.

“It is the only time the house was ever rented,” said Carson Good, Bradford’s great-grandson, on the site.

Two months later, the Bradford house was riddled with bullets and became the scene of the longest FBI shoot-out in history. When the shooting was over, Bradford learned the real identity of his tenants, known then as the Barker-Karpis gang.

Descendants of the Bradford family donated the house to Marion County in 2016. Officials decided to preserve the house and moved it on a barge in October of that year to its present location inside the county-owned park.

On Jan. 16 this year, the event attendees could take tours of the home and the FBI’s Community Outreach and Evidence Response Teams worked with students from Lake Weir High School in an exercise about crime scene processing and evidence recovery.

During a press conference, local historians, law enforcement officials and community leaders reflected on the historical significance of the shootout and its impact on the American criminal justice system.

For more information, including scheduling a tour of the home or making donations for preservation efforts, go to mabarkerhouse.org or parks.marionfl.org/our-department/ma-barker-house-museum

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