Floridatown is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

located in

Santa Rosa County, Florida Santa Rosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population was 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities withi ...

. It is now considered to be a neighborhood within Pace. The population was 319 at the 2020 census, up from 244 at the 2010 census. It is part of the

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

— Ferry Pass—

Brent, Florida Brent is a census-designated place (CDP) in Escambia County, Florida, United States. It is considered to be a community within Pensacola. The population was 23,447 at the 2020 census, up from 21,804 at the 2010 census. It is a principal area of ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Floridatown was originally settled by the

Pensacola people The Pensacola were a Native American people who lived in the western part of what is now the Florida Panhandle and southwestern Alabama for centuries before first contact with Europeans until early in the 18th century. They spoke a Muskogean lang ...

. Early 18th century maps of the area show a possible European settlement around Floridatown. The village was along the Spanish Trail that connected Pensacola and St. Augustine. Early on, the town was a trading post between Europeans and Native Americans of the region. Floridatown was

platted In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

as the "Town of Florida" in 1823 by William Barnett. Ferries from Floridatown to Pensacola began to operate as early as 1822. A Post Office was established in 1838, which was moved to Pace in 1909. It was re-established in 1914, discontinued in 1927, re-established that same year, and discontinued for the final time in 1944. Floridatown is believed to have been Santa Rosa County's first county seat when it was founded in 1842. Almost as soon as the county was founded, a Yellow Fever outbreak decimated the population and the county seat was moved to Milton. Santa Rosa county's first election was held in 1842 in the home of Floridatown resident James Spellman. Even after the decimation of Floridatown's population, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office continued to use the area's facilities until the late 1840s.

Geography

The neighborhood is bordered by

Escambia Bay Escambia Bay is a bay located in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, in the far western Florida Panhandle. The city of Pensacola is located on the western side, and the town of Milton is located on the northeastern end of the two-pronged bay. ...

to the south,

U.S. Route 90 in Florida U.S. Route 90 (US 90) in the state of Florida is the northernmost east–west United States Numbered Highway in the state and runs parallel with Interstate 10. US 90 not only passes through the List of Florida county seats, county sea ...

to the north. Its eastern border is Air Products Road, and its Western Border is the Barnett Mill Creek. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the community has an area of ; of its area is land, and is water.

References

Unincorporated communities in Santa Rosa County, Florida Unincorporated communities in Florida Census-designated places in Santa Rosa County, Florida Census-designated places in Florida {{SantaRosaCountyFL-geo-stub