Blountstown, Florida

History

Blountstown was originally named for a Native American Chief (John Blount), who had been awarded land in the vicinity by Andrew Jackson for aiding Jackson in his battles against the Native Americans and allied runaway slaves living along the Apalachicola River. However, he was forced to move from Florida to Texas in the 1830s under the terms of the Indian Removal Act. He died soon after being relocated. However, the current city started to be permanently settled by American settlers in the 1820s, soon after Florida became a U.S. Territory.

In the late 1850s, there was an open and violent feud between two rival factions which included the local Durden family. At one point, the Durdens and their rivals had a "pitched battle" at the courthouse square in Blountstown.

In 1903, the City of Blountstown was officially incorporated as a municipality.

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. 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.

From the History section of Blountstown, Florida on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.