Crestview, Florida

Crestview, Florida
City
City of Crestview
The Okaloosa County courthouse in March 2008
Location in Okaloosa County and the state of Florida
Coordinates: 30°45′15″N 86°34′22″W / 30.75417°N 86.57278°W / 30.75417; -86.57278Coordinates: 30°45′15″N 86°34′22″W / 30.75417°N 86.57278°W / 30.75417; -86.57278
Country	United States of America
State	Florida
County	Okaloosa
Area
• Total	12.8 sq mi (33.2 km2)
• Land	12.8 sq mi (33.1 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	236 ft (72 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	20,978
• Density	1,483/sq mi (573/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	32536, 32539
Area code(s)	850
FIPS code	12-15475
GNIS feature ID	0281044
Website	http://www.cityofcrestview.org/

Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Okaloosa County.

With an elevation of 235 feet (72 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest points in the state; it receives 65 inches (1,700 mm) of rainfall annually, the second-most of any city in the state of Florida, next to Fort Walton Beach with 69 inches. The town was once known as "the icebox of Florida", due to it having the coldest winters in the state. Today it goes by a more popular nickname as the "Hub City" of Northwest Florida.

Crestview is one of Florida's fastest growing cities, with residential developments, shopping, and land area to grow. It has, as of July 2007, become the largest city in Okaloosa County. In 2007, George Whitehurst, who had been mayor for nearly 20 years, resigned, leading to the election of David Cadle. Cadle had recently retired as the long-time director of the Crestview High School band, The Big Red Machine.

As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round, Crestview experienced further population growth as the U.S. Army's 7th Special Forces Group relocated from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to a newly built cantonment facility on the northern end of the Eglin Air Force Base reservation, approximately six miles south of the city.

Crestview is a principal city of the Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the city.

Crestview was largely an outgrowth of the coming of railroad service to the west Panhandle of Florida. The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad Company, chartered in 1881, opened its line between Pensacola and Apalachicola in January 1883. Soon two express passenger trains, the Atlantic Express and the Gulf Express, and a local accommodation train that stopped everywhere, were in daily operation. The expresses took about six hours to make the run, the local, thirteen hours. When the railroad company was unable to cover the interest owed bondholders, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad covered the shortfalls until 1885, and then foreclosed, merging the route into their system as the L & N's Pensacola and Atlantic Division.