Blountstown, Florida

Blountstown is a city in Calhoun County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,514 at the 2010 census, which represented an increase from 2,444 in 2000. It is the county seat of Calhoun County.

Name

Blountstown is named for John Blount, a Creek Indian during his invasion of Spanish Florida in 1818. This invasion was not directed at Spain, per se, but at Seminole Indians who would attack settlements north of Florida, then retreat to relative safety below the border of Spanish Florida. Also, Spain did not return escaped slaves to the U.S. In any case, this invasion caused Spain to sell Florida to the United States, since it was apparent that Spain would have a hard time defending against invasion. Thus, this territory became a part of the U.S. in 1821.

History

Blountstown was originally named for a Creek Indian Chief (John Blount), who had been awarded land in the vicinity by Andrew Jackson for aiding Jackson in his battles against the Native Americans.
Today, the city is primarily known as the home of the Calhoun Correctional Institution.

On October 10, 2018, Blountstown was nearly annihilated when Category 5 Hurricane Michael struck the town. The city was without power for almost three weeks and over 80% of homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed. Blountstown High School suffered heavy damage, but Blountstown Elementary School was completely destroyed. As of November 2018, BES students are being housed at the Blountstown High and Blountstown Middle School campuses until the local school board can rebuild the elementary school. In addition, the local timber and farming industries, which are Calhoun County's largest industries, were completely destroyed, costing millions of dollars in economic loss.

Geography

Blountstown is located at .

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and 0.31% is water.

Directly to the east lies Bristol in Liberty County. Blountstown and Calhoun County uses the Central Time Zone, as opposed to Liberty County which is in the Eastern Time Zone.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,444 people, 913 households, and 595 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,046 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 65.18% White, 31.79% African American, 1.27% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races, and 1.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.70% of the population.

There were 913 households, out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 21.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 25.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 75.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $23,271, and the median income for a family was $30,880. Males had a median income of $23,313 versus $20,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,498. About 18.5% of families and 24.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 17.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Calhoun County School District operates public schools.

Blountstown has three schools: Blountstown Elementary School, servicing kindergarten through fifth grades; Blountstown Middle School for sixth through eighth; and Blountstown High School for ninth through twelfth.blountstownhigh.org

Notable people

* Patricia Dane, Hollywood actress of 1940s and early 1950s; starred in films ''Grand Central Murder'', ''Johnny Eager'' and ''Life Begins for Andy Hardy''; wife of bandleader Tommy Dorsey; died in Blountstown in 1995
* Corn Griffin, Heavyweight boxer born in Blountstown, whose memorable 1934 TKO loss to James J. Braddock was recreated for the 2005 film '' Cinderella Man''
* Carey Loftin, Hollywood stuntman and actor, born in Blountstown
* Elam Stoltzfus, Suncoast Emmy award winning American environmental documentary filmmaker
* Fuller Warren, 30th governor of Florida

Images

File:Blountstown FL Sign SR20.jpg, Sign for Blountstown
File:Blountstown FL old crths01.JPG, Old Calhoun County Courthouse
File:Lake Hilda from Sherry Avenue.jpg, Lake Hilda

References

External links

City of Blountstown, Florida

''The County Record''
newspaper that serves Blountstown, Florida is available in full-text with images i
Florida Digital Newspaper Library

{{authority control

County seats in Florida
Cities in Calhoun County, Florida
Cities in Florida
1903 establishments in Florida
Populated places established in 1903