Fort Walton Beach, Florida Fort Walton Beach, Florida City of Fort Walton Beach Fort Walton Beach City Hall, September 2014 Fort Walton Beach City Hall, September 2014 Flag of Fort Walton Beach, Florida Flag Official seal of Fort Walton Beach, Florida Location in Okaloosa County and the state of Florida Location in Okaloosa County and the state of Florida Fort Walton Beach is a town/city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States.
As of 2010, the populace estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,507 recorded by the U.S.
Enumeration Bureau. It is a principal town/city of the Fort Walton Beach Crestview Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Fort Walton Beach is a year-round fishing and beach resort community.
Prehistoric settlement of Fort Walton Beach is attributed to the mound building "Fort Walton Culture" that flourished from approximately 1100~1550 AD.
The Fort Walton citizens s put into practice mound building and intensive agriculture, made pottery in a range of vessel shapes, and had hierarchical settlement patterns that reflected other Mississippian societies.
The first Europeans to set foot in what is now Okaloosa County and the Fort Walton Beach region were members of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's party, who traveled by boat from what is now Panama City Beach, Florida in 1528 to Texas, "Then we set out to sea again, coasting towards the River of Palms.
During the era of Spanish and English colonization, the region of what was to turn into Fort Walton Beach was noted in a several journals but no worthwhile existence was established.
Early pioneer of Walton County, Florida were the first to establish permanent settlements in what is now Fort Walton Beach (the region was originally titled "Anderson").
It was not until 1911 that the name "Camp Walton" appeared on Florida maps.
In 1861, Camp Walton was a Confederate Army camp, a fortified post, made up of the "Walton Guards", an autonomous Company of Florida Volunteer Infantry from Walton County.
George Walton, who served as secretary of West Florida amid Andrew Jackson's governorship (1821-1822) and whose father, George Walton Sr., was the 56th signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Walton's influence in the politics of north-west Florida, his name was honored by establishing Walton County. On April 11, 1879, John Thomas Brooks purchased at a enhance auction in Milton, Florida, 111 acres in Section 24, Township 2, Range 24 of Santa Rosa County, a portion of the property of Henry Penny whose heirs had floundered to pay the taxes on the estate. This parcel on the Santa Rosa Sound became what is now downtown Fort Walton Beach.
The United States Post Office changed the official name on their cancellations from Camp Walton to Fort Walton on 1 March 1932.
The 1940 census counted 90 inhabitants in Fort Walton. Fort Walton was incorporated by a State Senate bill effective June 16, 1941. The community's name was officially changed from Fort Walton to Fort Walton Beach on June 15, 1953, by agreement with the state council in Tallahassee, and incorporated a portion of Santa Rosa Island formerly known as Tower Beach. Tower Beach, titled for a tall observation fortress at the site which was later finished by a hurricane, had been an amusement region directed from 1928 by the Island Amusement Company by future-Fort Walton Beach mayor Thomas E.
Wartime supply restrictions inhibited a ongoing standard . This 875-acre parcel of Santa Rosa Island with three miles of Gulf frontage was conveyed to Okaloosa County on July 8, 1950 in an informal ceremony at the county courthouse in Crestview, Florida.
The remaining Tower Beach summer cottages were removed after the 1955 tourist season as the new Okaloosa Island Authority redeveloped the site with a new hotel and casino.
Fort Walton Beach is positioned at 30 25 13 N 86 37 00 W (30.420199, -86.616727). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 21.3 km2 (8.2 sq mi), of which 19.3 km2 (7.5 sq mi) is territory and 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi), or 9.26%, is water.
Fort Walton Beach experiences hot and very humid summers, generally from late May to mid-September.
Fort Walton Beach, part of the Choctawhatchee Bay region of which Destin and Niceville are also part, is very wet, averaging 69 inches of precipitation each year, more than any other town/city in Florida, including Pensacola.
Climate data for Fort Walton Beach/Destin, Florida, 1981 2010 normals Nearby Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (airport code VPS) serves Fort Walton Beach, as well as Valparaiso, Florida.
Okaloosa County Transit provides enhance transit throughout Fort Walton Beach as well as Okaloosa County.
State Road 189 is a north-south highway from State Road 85 to US 98 in downtown Fort Walton Beach.
State Road 85 is a north-south highway from Alabama State Route 55 in Florala, Alabama, through I-10 in Crestview and ends at US 98 in downtown Fort Walton Beach.
US 98 is an east-west highway, which runs through downtown Fort Walton Beach.
The Brooks Bridge over the Santa Rosa Sound joins downtown Fort Walton Beach with Okaloosa Island.
The economy of Fort Walton Beach is driven by two major factors: tourism and the military.
There are two primary Air Force bases which border Fort Walton Beach.
Hurlburt Field is home to Headquarters, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the 1st Special Operations Wing, and the Joint Special Operations University. Eglin AFB is home to the Air Force Materiel Command's Air Armament Center and the 96th Air Base Wing, the 46th Test Wing, and Air Combat Command's 33rd Fighter Wing. Eglin is geographically one of the biggest Air Force bases at 724 square miles (1,880 km2), and thus home to joint exercises, and missile and bomb testing.
Companies based in Fort Walton Beach include Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken and Resort - Quest.
The region also boasts a large snowbird population, which includes the Fort Walton Beach Snowbird Club. The Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival is held annually in June. According to Fort Walton Beach's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the town/city were: 5 Fort Walton Beach Medical Center 1,305 Santa Rosa County, Florida Deed Book "C", pages 465, 466, R.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Playground News, June 18, 1953, page 1.
Hamilton, Percy, "Tower Beach to End Colorful, 26-Year History as Pioneer Tourist Attraction", Playground News, Thursday 11 August 1955, Volume 9, Number 80, page 1.
Display advert, Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida, Friday 2 September 1938, Volume 24, Number 35, page 5.
Crestview, Florida, "Amusement Area Of Tower Beach Is Destroyed By Fire", Okaloosa News-Journal, Friday 13 March 1942, Volume 28, Number 8, page 1.
Fort Walton, Florida, "Island Tract Turned Over To Okaloosa - Formal Transfer Completed With $4,000 Payment", Playground News, Thursday 13 July 1950, Volume 5, Number 24, page 1.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, "County Hits 61,067 - Enumeration Reveals 11,249 Is Population for FWB", Playground News, Thursday, June 9, 1960, Volume 15, Number "19" (actually No.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, "Today in Local History", Northwest Florida Daily News, Sunday 31 May 2015, Volume 69, Number 120, page B4.
Climate Summary for Fort Walton Beach, FL "Average Weather for Fort Walton Beach, FL".
Fort Walton Beach city, Florida - QT-PL.
City of Fort Walton Beach CAFR Fort Walton Beach, Florida City of Fort Walton Beach Official website Municipalities and communities of Okaloosa County, Florida, United States
Categories:
Cities in Okaloosa County, Florida - Populated places on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida - Beaches of Florida - Fort Walton Beach, Florida - Populated places established in 1941 - Cities in Florida - Beaches of Okaloosa County, Florida
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