The City of Fort Walton Beach, home to approximately 22,000 people, was first created and chartered as a municipality in 1937. Though Fort Walton Beach is a relatively young city, its history actually goes back thousands of years.
There is evidence from radioactive dating of artifacts back to 10,000 B.C. and archaeological evidence of five distinct Indian periods between 600 - 1650 A.D. There were pirates from 1500 - 1800, the most notorious being Billy Bowlegs. During the Civil War there was an encampment. In the early days Fort Walton was known both as Brooks Landing when John Thomas Brooks and his family settled here in 1868 and Camp Walton for the Civil War encampment by the Walton Guards. It was renamed Fort Walton when a Civil War cannon was discovered in 1932 and excavated from an Indian mound in the present downtown area on Santa Rosa Sound.
Tourists, resort hotels and the waterfront have been a part of Fort Walton Beach since its earliest days. Tourists came from the North, Midwest and Southeast to spend months at a time at several of these full-service, American plan hotels on the shores of the Santa Rosa Sound. Dancing nightly in an over-the-water pavilion (where Fort Walton Landing is today), taking a water taxi from the hotel docks back and forth across the Sound to the beach, chartering fishing trips in the gulf and bay, receiving ice and mail by boat from Pensacola, and shopping in stores built over the water, visitors and locals alike enjoyed the relaxed lifestyle for which Fort Walton was famous.
Okaloosa County was formed from two counties, Santa Rosa and Walton, in 1915, and Eglin Field was created in 1937. In 1930, the population of the area was approximately 90 people; between 1940-1950, the population quadrupled. Between 1950-1970, Fort Walton Beach grew 700% and was recognized nationally as one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The existing Brooks Bridge was built in 1964, replacing the two-lane swing bridge, Eglin Parkway was widened to six lanes, and seven new traffic lights were installed. The tax base expanded, the Fort Walton Beach Civic Center complex and auditorium were built, as well as neighborhood parks and tennis courts, the Library, the Senior Center, the Tennis Center, the Municipal Golf Course (now the Fort Walton Beach Golf Club), and three neighborhood recreation centers--Docie Bass, Chester Pruitt, and Fred Hedrick.
In the last two decades, growth in Fort Walton Beach has slowed, and today the City looks towards innovative and exciting ways to bring the spirit of yesterday into the plans of today and tomorrow. Activities continue on the banks of the Santa Rosa Sound, and every June, the notorious Billy Bowlegs returns for a fortnight of merriment and fun. The City sponsors quarterly Sunday in the Park events at the spot where there was once an over-the-water pavilion. In 1997, Fort Walton Beach was honored to be named by Money magazine as #10 Best Place to Live among the 300 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.A. Come for a visit, we think you'll understand why!
A Brief History of Destin
|
As you drive over the East Pass Bridge that enters Destin, you'll behold one of the scenic wonders of Florida where bay meets Gulf. Here, ever changing sandbars create beautiful patterns that sparkle in the sun, and the blue waters of Choctawhatchee Bay. A spectacle of color accented with charter boats cruising through the pass creates a drama that only nature can perform.
It was in 1845 that Captain Leonard Destin, a shipmaster from Connecticut, arrived in the areas, found it to his liking and decided to settle here. He started the first commercial fishing business, and today's prosperous commercial and charter fisherman are his lineal descendants by trade if not by family tree.
Captain Destin was not the only one to appreciate the fishing, scenery, and climate of the East pass area. He was soon followed by other commercial fisherman, and by the early 1900's there were 18 shorelines of the inlet. Each had its own bunkhouse and cookhouse, boat, schooner, and seine net.
For almost a century only one road-and one full of potholes at that connected the peninsula with the rest of the world. Mail came in by boat from Ft. Walton Beach. Then in 1935, Highway 98 and the bridge over East Pass were built, and the world discovered Destin. Sports fishermen will go almost anywhere to test their luck against the marlin and sailfish, and both are plentiful and accessible in this part of the Gulf. It wasn't long before the commercial fishermen also began to reap the harvest as charter boat skippers. Some commercial fishing still exists in Destin, and you can sit in a waterfront restaurant and watch the boats move up and down the channel.
Various types of housing, unique shops and specialty restaurants are available to visitors. Friendly people, emerald green waters and windswept dunes complement the proud heritage of this exquisite fishing community.
Year after year this friendly fishing village welcomes thousands of visitors who come to enjoy the modern gulfside resorts, condominiums, and the white sand and sparkling waters.
As a result of the election on November 6, 1984, Destin became incorporated into a city, making it the second largest in Okaloosa County.
Awareness and appreciation of the beauty and serenity of this coastal area takes but one visit.
