History of the Emerald Coast: Crestview wins contest for county seat

Today’s Emerald Coast History Article is brought to you by the folks at Okaloosa Gas District. 

Two years after State Representative William ‘Bill’ Mapoles got a bill to create Okaloosa through the Florida State Legislature and signed on then-Governor Park Trammell’s desk. Now, the residents of brand-new Okaloosa County had a tough decision to make. 

The residents of Okaloosa County, numbering about 1,000 voters, needed to choose a permanent county seat. For the first two years of the county’s existence, the town of Milligan had served the purpose. 

The men and women couldn’t vote in Florida until the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed in 1919, got to choose between a variety of possible locations, all in the north end of the county, like Crestview, Baker, Milligan, and Laurel Hill on March 6, 1917. 

The results came in, but no town had an outright majority in the poll. That meant voters would choose again between the two leaders, Crestview and Baker. In the month that followed proponents of each side looked to the voters to align them to their cause. 

On April 3, 1917, the voters headed back to the polls to make their final decision.  The Pensacola News Journal reported that Crestview would take the election by 77 votes, winning 737 to 652. Today, 109 years ago, the vote was certified by the supervisor of elections. 

A year later – the city would have the County’s first courthouse, built at a cost of $29,000, or about $650,000 in 2026 dollars, and completed in 1918.