Follow
This project is for those who were born, lived or died in Laurel Hill, Florida.
The area which is now Laurel Hill was one of the first post-American annexation English-speaking settlements in Florida. There had been settlements by English-speaking loyalists in Florida during the American Revolution. Settlers were documented establishing a community, originally known as Almirante, soon after Florida's acquisition by the United States in 1821.
In the 1880s, railroad access to north-west Florida opened up a booming lumber industry, with the Yellow River Railroad reaching the Almirante (Laurel Hill) area by 1892. In 1895, Almirante, then just a small logging and farming community, was platted and renamed Laurel Hill, the name purportedly inspired by a large laurel tree which grew in the center of the community. Growing rapidly, the community was incorporated by the Florida Legislature in 1905.
Although in 1915, Laurel Hill was the largest community in newly created Okaloosa County, the town lost out becoming Okaloosa's county seat to the more centrally located town of Crestview. Laurel Hill's economic fortunes went into a decline after World War I, a waning intensified by the Florida land speculation collapse of the 1920s, which resulted in the closing of Laurel Hill's only bank. In order to install infrastructure improvements and to re-stimulate the community, Laurel Hill was reincorporated in 1953.
Once served by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, which purchased the Yellow River Railroad in 1906, the line was abandoned and lifted in the 1980s.
First held in 1992, the Laurel Hill Hobo Festival is an annual event scheduled for the first Saturday in October.
Historic churches in the city include South Ebenezer Baptist Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, Laurel Hill First Baptist Church, and Mount Zion Baptist Church.