Fort Walton Beach & Mary Esther Area Info

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Along the emerald waters and white-sandy beach of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Fort Walton Beach is one of the country’s best places to live. Fort Walton Beach is six miles west of Destin and just a short drive from Panama City and Pensacola, Florida and Mobile, Alabama.  Fort Walton Beach features long, warm, sunny summers, and brief mild winters.  An average high temperature is 63 degrees in February, 84 degrees in May, 90 degrees in August and 71 degrees in November. An average of 343 sunny days per year in Fort Walton Beach is just another reason why Florida is known as “The Sunshine State”!

Mary Esther is located in Northwest Florida,  between Fort Walton Beach and Hurlburt Field. The City was incorporated in 1946. With 2 1/2 square miles of land, the City has an estimated population of 4,200 residents. The area was first settled by John Anderson in 1838, and the name “Anderson” or “Andersons” is noted on maps from 1838 to the late 1880s. The area of Mary Esther was first noted in 1857 in the “Map of the State of Florida” by the Surveyor’s General Office. The area encompassing “Anderson” would later become Fort Walton Beach. Jesse Rogers and his family drove a large cattle herd from South Carolina to the shores of Santa Rosa Sound and settled here in 1842. During the mid-1850s John Newton, a minister and teacher, settled in the area west of Fort Walton Beach known as the Narrows, today known as Mary Esther. Reverend Newton founded the first school, which also doubled as a church during the Civil War. Newton established the first post office in the Mary Esther community October 10, 1871. The location was probably in Newton’s home, who became Mary Esther’s first postmaster. It is not certain how the community ended up with its name, only that Newton named the community for members of his family (either his wife, his two daughters, or a combination of his wife and daughter). Thomas Jefferson Pryor, born in Greenville, AL, sailed to Mary Esther in 1854 as a deckhand on a schooner headed for Pensacola. Pryor met Ona Rogers, daughter of Jesse Rogers, and they were married in May 1879. Ten children were born to the couple, two of which – Tom and Roger Pryor – later served as mayors of the town. Pryor became postmaster of Mary Esther in 1899, and members of his family served in that position until 1972. Notably, Mary Pryor, who was T.J. Pryor’s daughter in-law & wife of Roger, served as Postmistress from 1938 – 1972. William C. Pryor, noted educator, was among the pupils taught by John Newton. Pryor later became Okaloosa County’s first superintendent of schools. The Pryor name is synonymous with Mary Esther. Members of the family have lived in and often have run the small city. The Pryors continue to live on the same property purchased by the original settlers in the early 1800s located on the north bank of Santa Rosa Sound. Mary Esther was incorporated in 1946 with E. Roger Pryor as the first Mayor. Page Bacon was the second Mayor, and Tom Pryor, the third Mayor, served for 28 years. The opening of Santa Rosa Mall in 1976 sparked a commercial building boom along Mary Esther Cutoff (later renamed Mary Esther Blvd. within the City limits) that no one had ever envisioned.

 

If you are new to the Fort Walton Beach & Mary Esther Area or if you are interested in purchasing Real Estate in the Fort Walton Beach & Mary Esther area some important numbers you may need are:

Gulf Power (Electricity) 800-225-5797
Chelco (Electricity) 850-892-2111
Okaloosa Gas District (Natural Gas) 850-729-4700
Okaloosa County Public Works (Garbage) 850-862-7141
Okaloosa County Public Works (Water & Sewer) 850-651-7171
Okaloosa County Public Works (Mosquito Control) 850-651-7394
AT&T (Phone) 800-222-0300
Driver License Office 850-833-9121