Situated between Daytona Beach to the south and Jacksonville to the north, on Florida's east coast, Flagler County �- for the last few years one of the quickest growing areas in the country -- was created way back in 1917. The area was named for Henry Morrison Flagler, a famed railroad builder who constructed the Florida East Coast Railway.



By far, the county's largest city is Palm Coast. The population there was 32,732 at the 2000 national census, but as of 2004 that count had jumped to 44,427 and has continued to grow at a phenomenal rate, due to both new residents and newly annexed areas.

According to a March 16, 2006 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, Flagler County was the quickest-growing county for the second year in a row with a 10.7 percent residency increase from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005. With 76,410 residents, the county also led the nation with a 53 percent population increase since Census 2000.

The Flagler County area has one of the richest and most interesting recorded histories in the country; one which goes back over 200 years. During the late 1800's (1861-1875), in the period of European exploration and colonization, the rivalry between Spanish forces based in St. Augustine and French based near present day Jacksonville escalated, Flagler Beach saw a dramatic but inconclusive naval fracas that was waged off shore. The contest took a strange turn as a violent storm overtook the French ships, pushing them towards the south and wrecking them on the beach somewhere near what is currently know as Ponce de Leon Inlet. The story of the subsequent brutal massacre of the surviving French troops is commemorated at Fort Matanzas National Park attraction.

Taking a big leap forward to the 1860's and the Civil War and Reconstruction, Flagler County supported the Confederate cause through military service and by supplying timber, beef, citrus cotton and salt. In particular, salt was in short supply and great demand as meat preservative. At the Mala Compra Plantation, the salt works were a critical source, but Union patrols made the area insecure and the works process was moved eastward to the coast. There the huge iron vats from the St. Joseph sugar plantation were used to boil sea water in the production of salt.

In modern times, the post WWII 'boom' arrived later in Flagler County than in other areas of the country. It came in the form of a highway now known as I-95 and the ITT Corporation. Plans made public in 1969, which established the city of Palm Coast, encompassed 48,000 home sites on approximately 42,000 acres of the 68,000 acres controlled by ITT.