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Photo taken in the early 1900s of a dock and wooden buildings next to the Choctawhatche River in Carryville, Florida
History of Washington County
Source: Wahington Florida's Twelfth County by E.W.Carswell
Washington County, created by the Florida Territorial Council on December 29, 1825, was named for the nation's first president. Soon after it was created, Washington County stretched from the Alabama-Florida line to the Gulf of Mexico and for about 100 miles along that coastline from the mouth of the Apalachicola River to East Pass, near today's Destin. The new county's population probably did not greatly exceed 600.
Washington County's population grew to 1,950 in the 1850's. In 1860, the total was 2,154, including 474 slaves. And in the 1880's, despite the war and it's aftermath, the population had grown to 3,039. The decade ending in 1890 brought the total to 6,426, the rapid gain being attributed partly to the coming of the railroad and to commercial lumbering and naval stores activities. By 1910, the total population had reached 16,403. In 1913, however, an area that was to form most of Bay County, plus a long strip of land south of Choctawhatchee Bay was removed from Washington County. That territory ultimately formed parts of Bay, Walton, and Okaloosa Counties.
The 1920 Census showed Washington County with a population of only 11,828. Two boundary changes, both in 1915, had little effect on the totals. One involved the transfer of 22 sections of land to Holmes County, and the other was an area of near equal size near Chiplley, from Jackson County to Washington County. The counties boundaries haven't changed since 1915, and it's population totals remained fairly constant from 1930 to 1970. Then an influx of newcomers, many of them retirees, began establishing homes in the county, bringing the population total to 14,509 by 1980. The in-migration trend continued and intensified through 1989. Today the population of Washington County is over 25,000.
