Fort Walton Beach, Florida
| Fort Walton Beach, Florida | |||
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| City | |||
| City of Fort Walton Beach | |||
Fort Walton Beach City Hall, September 2014
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| Nickname(s): "The Emerald Coast", "The Camellia City", "The Sonic City" | |||
| Motto: "A City On The Move!" | |||
 Location in Okaloosa County and the state of Florida |
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| Coordinates: 30°25′13″N 86°37′0″W / 30.42028°N 86.61667°WCoordinates: 30°25′13″N 86°37′0″W / 30.42028°N 86.61667°W | |||
| Country |  United States of America |
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| State |
 Florida
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| County |
 Okaloosa
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| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Mike Anderson | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 8.2 sq mi (21.3 km2) | ||
| • Land | 7.4 sq mi (19.3 km2) | ||
| • Water | 0.8 sq mi (2.0 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 7 ft (2 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 19,507 | ||
| • Density | 2,606.8/sq mi (1,006.5/km2) | ||
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) | ||
| ZIP codes | 32547-32549 | ||
| Area code(s) | 850 | ||
| FIPS code | 12-24475 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0282710 | ||
| Website | http://www.fwb.org | ||
Fort Walton Beach is a city in southern Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2010, the population estimate for Fort Walton Beach was 19,507 recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is a principal city of the Fort Walton Beach−Crestview−Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Fort Walton Beach is a year-round fishing and beach resort community. Its busiest time of the year is the summer, causing a boost to the local economy because of seasonal human migration.
Prehistoric settlement of Fort Walton Beach is attributed to the mound building "Fort Walton Culture" that flourished from approximately 1100~1550 AD. It is believed that this culture evolved out of the Weeden Island culture. Fort also appeared to come about due to contact with the major Mississippian centers to the north and west. It was the most complex in the north-west Florida region. The Fort Walton peoples put into practice mound building and intensive agriculture, made pottery in a variety of vessel shapes, and had hierarchical settlement patterns that reflected other Mississippian societies.
The first Europeans to set foot in what is now Okaloosa County and the Fort Walton Beach area were members of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's party, who traveled by boat from what is now Panama City Beach, Florida in 1528 to Texas, "Then we set out to sea again, coasting towards the River of Palms. Every day our thirst and hunger increased because our supplies were giving out, as well as the water supply, for the pouches we had made from the legs of our horses soon became rotten and useless. From time to time we would enter some inlet or cove that reached very far inland, but we found them all shallow and dangerous, and so we navigated through them for thirty days, meeting sometimes Indians who fished and were poor and wretched people".
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