Panama City, Florida
Historic Districts

A Guide To Historic Districts Of Panama City, FL

Panama City, FL has several areas that are considered historic districts. These include the downtown area and main street, St. Andrews, Glenwood, and Millville.

In the 1800s what we now know as Panama City was collectively called St. Andrew Bay or The Bay Country.

Settlers first began arriving about 1820, most near the Econfina area where fresh drinking water was abundant. More people came to the area during the Civil War, lured by the Confederacy's offer of conscription for anyone who came here to extract salt from sea water. Salt was a vital commodity during the civil war, it was used for curing meat, fertilizing, tanning hides and sustaining livestock.

The name Panama City was inspired by the Panama Canal, which was being built at the time the city was formed. Incorporation occurred in 1909. The local population was somewhere between 400 to 600 people at that time. R.L. McKenzie was elected as the first mayor. During the year 1926 St. Andrews and Millville were brought under the Panama City government.

The city dock located at the end of Harrison Avenue was home to the first city businesses, as well as the first jail and post office. The Crawford family from Dothan, AL built a 3 story hotel at the end of Harrison Avenue. It burned down in 1916 and now the St. Andrew Towers Retirement Center stands in its place.

St. Andrew Towers
_________________________________________________________________

For several years most people avoided the beaches. There was no direct access to them and back then many considered the beachfront as nothing more than worthless sand. That all began to change in 1929 when the Hathaway Bridge and the Coastal Highway (now U.S. 98) were opened. That was when development really began on the beaches. In 1953 Panama City Beach and several smaller beach towns became their own incorporated cities and then finally in 1970 all the beach towns were combined into Panama City Beach.

Well, that is a very short summary of our city's history, but there are several wonderful books on the subject for those who want to know more. Keep checking back here too for more information about each of the historic districts.

If you are interested in local history, a great resource is the Local History Room in the Bay County Public Library-Click here to learn more about it

Historic Districts - Top of the Page

Historic St Andrews
Discover Panama City Fl - Home Page