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Florida Counties

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Florida Counties

In 1821, there were only two Counties in Florida: Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. From these two Counties were formed 67 today.In 1968, the electors of Florida granted local voters the power to adopt charters to govern their counties. Charters are formal written documents that confer powers, duties, or privileges on the county. To date, there are 19 charter Counties in Florida. Collectively these Counties are home to more than 75 percent of Florida's residents.

Bay County, Florida

Bay County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Panama City
Year Organized: 1913
Square Miles: 764

Court House:

P.O. Box 1818
County Courthouse
Panama City, FL 32402-1818

Etymology - Origin of County Name

It was named for the nearby Saint Andrews Bay and the abundance of Bays / Bayous within the county line.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

On February 12, 1913, representatives from five towns on the St. Andrew’s Bay, met in Panama City to select a name for a proposed new county. The name Bay was selected because it was satisfactory to the majority of the citizens and was descriptive of the territory that would be included. On July 1, 1913, Bay County was created by the Legislature from portions of Washington, Calhoun and Walton counties.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,033 square miles (2,676 km²), of which, 764 square miles (1,978 km²) of it is land and 270 square miles (698 km²) of it (26.09%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Washington County
Northeast: Jackson County; Calhoun County
Southeast: Gulf County
Southwest: Gulf of Mexico
Northwest: Walton County

Cities and Towns:

- Callaway	city	Incorporated Area
- Cedar Grove	town	Incorporated Area
- Lynn Haven	city	Incorporated Area
- Mexico Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Panama City (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Panama City Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Parker	city	Incorporated Area
- Springfield	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."