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This project is for those who were born, lived or died in Jay, Santa Rosa County, Florida.
In 1902, a committee was formed to select a name for the thriving farming community. James Thomas Nowling submitted the name "Pine Level" but it was declined due to a Florida post office already using it. Mr. Nowling was asked to submit a second name and was turned down again due to the name being too long. He was asked to submit yet another name but the Postal Department named the new post office after Mr. Nowling before he was able to submit another name and Mr. Nowling became the first postmaster of Jay.
In 1922, at least 175 Black residents from the Jay left in a mass exodus after a fight between a black and white farmer, leaving a legacy of Jay as a sundown town. In a 1974 Tampa Bay Times article, the then-mayor of Jay, J.D. Bray said: "The sun doesn’t set on a colored man in Jay, ... Come 4 o’clock, they’re gone. They were run out of here back in the days of the turpentine still. And they know better than to come in here.”. According to the 2020 census, the town has only four Black residents.
Jay was officially incorporated as a town in 1951.
A small group of farmers began a livestock market in 1940, and reached sales of up to $1 million within 10 years, but the market closed near the turn of the century. Oil was discovered here in 1970. The Jay oilfield has approximately 67 oil wells - eleven within the town limits. Royalties from the oil have exceeded $400 million that funded a new city hall, fire department and recreation complex.