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Beginning around the 1830s western landowners from Georgia and Alabama started spending their summers at St. Andrews Bay, about a mile west of what would become Panama City by 1909. St. Andrew’s Bay was the main town in Washington County region, known today as Bay County.
It wasn’t until Florida’s Land Boom of the 1920's that Panama City experience a major expansion. Americans finally had the money to buy real estate and travel. Accordingly, the automobile—an essential addition to the new and improved American lifestyle encouraged Americans to journey by car to warm and sunny destinations like Florida. Yet, unlike previous travelers, the middle-class Americans that found their way to Florida were in search of homes rather than hotels and resorts.
Panama City and the surrounding areas benefited greatly from military spending during World War II. Beginning around 1941, a cluster of military bases sprung up, including Tyndall Naval Base, US Coast Guard Station Panama City, US Navy Mine Countermeasures Station, Naval Service Warfare Center, and the Wainwright Shipyard. Many of America’s service men and women that had been temporarily stationed there returned to raise their families.
While military spending remains an important part of the Panama City economy, the growth of tourism, recreation, and a student population attending the Gulf Coast Community College are adding to an important civilian mix and overall culture.
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