Flagler County, Florida – An Unheralded History

by

Matthew Paolini

Situated between Daytona Beach to the south and Jacksonville to the north, on Florida’s eastern coast, Flagler County – now one of the most explosively growing areas in the country — was founded way back in 1917. It was named after Henry Morrison Flagler, a famous railroad builder who was responsible for the Florida East Coast Railway.

By far, Flagler county’s most prominent city is Palm Coast. The population count there was 32,732 at the 2000 census, but as of 2004 that number had jumped to 44,427 and continues to grow at a phenomenal rate, due to both new residents and newly annexed areas. According to a March 16, 2006 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the county was the fastest-growing county for the second consecutive year with a 10.7 percent residency increase from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005. With 76,410 residents, the county also led the nation with a 53 percent population increase since the 2000 census. Flagler County has a rich history; one which extends back over 200 years. During the late 1800’s (1861-1875), in the period of colonization by European powers, the rivalry between Spanish forces based in St. Augustine and French based further north escalated, Flagler Beach became the scene of a dramatic but inconclusive naval fracas that was waged off shore. The fight took a strange turn as a violent storm slammed into the French ships, pushing them south and wrecking them on the beach somewhere near what is currently know as Ponce de Leon Inlet. The story of the subsequent brutal mass killing of the surviving French troops is still harked back to at Fort Matanzas National Park attraction. Moving forward to the 1860’s and the Civil War and Reconstruction, Flagler County was on the Confederate side and helped that cause through military service and the supply of timber, beef, citrus cotton and salt. In particular, salt was in short supply and much valued as meat preservative. At the Mala Compra Plantation, the salt works were an important source, but Union patrols caused the area to be viewed as insecure and the operation was moved eastward to the coast. There the great iron vats from the St. Joseph sugar plantation were used to boil sea water to produce salt. In the modern era, the post WWII ‘boom’ arrived later in Flagler County than in other areas of the country. It came in the form of an interstate roadway now known as I-95 and the ITT Corporation. Plans made public in 1969, which established the city of Palm Coast, included 48,000 home sites on approximately 42,000 acres of the 68,000 acres controlled by ITT.

Matthew Paolini is a consultant with

Citybook.com

for the

Springfield, IL online Yellow Pages

division.

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Flagler County, Florida – An Unheralded History