Holmes County, Florida

Holmes County, Florida

Holmes County Courthouse
Map of Florida highlighting Holmes County
Location in the U.S. state of Florida
Map of the United States highlighting Florida
Florida's location in the U.S.
Founded January 8, 1848
Seat Bonifay
Largest city Bonifay
Area
 • Total 489 sq mi (1,267 km2)
 • Land 479 sq mi (1,241 km2)
 • Water 10 sq mi (26 km2), 2.1%
Population (est.)
 • (2015) 19,324
 • Density 42/sq mi (16/km²)
Congressional districts 1st, 2nd
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website www.holmescountyfl.org

Holmes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,927.[1] Its county seat is Bonifay.[2]

History

Holmes County was created in 1848.

The county's namesake is a point of debate. Holmes Creek - the county's eastern boundary - bore that name before the county was created, but it was originally named Weekaywehatchee (a Creek Indian name meaning "spring creek"). One claim is that the county was named for Thomas J. Holmes, who came from North Carolina to settle in the area about 1830. Another is that it is named after Holmes, an American Indian chief who settled in the area with his band of Red Stick Creek Indians after 1814. He was subsequently killed in 1818 by a raiding party sent by Andrew Jackson during the First Seminole War.[3]

Holmes County has had four county seats in its history. The first was Hewett's Bluff (later renamed Bear Pen, then Cerro Gordo), then Pittman's Ferry, then Westville, and finally Bonifay. Bonifay has been the county seat since 1905.

Historic places

Historic places in the county include:

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 489 square miles (1,270 km2), of which 479 square miles (1,240 km2) is land and 10 square miles (26 km2) (2.1%) is water.[4] It is the fifth-smallest county in Florida by total area.

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
18501,205—
18601,38615.0%
18701,57213.4%
18802,17038.0%
18904,33699.8%
19007,76279.0%
191011,55748.9%
192012,85011.2%
193012,9240.6%
194015,44719.5%
195013,988−9.4%
196010,844−22.5%
197010,720−1.1%
198014,72337.3%
199015,7787.2%
200018,56417.7%
201019,9277.3%
Est. 201619,487[5]−2.2%
U.S. Decennial Census[6]
1790-1960[7] 1900-1990[8]
1990-2000[9] 2010-2015[1]

As of the census[10] of 2000, there were 18,564 people, 6,921 households, and 4,893 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile (15/km²). There were 7,998 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 89.79% White, 6.51% Black or African American, 1.01% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.79% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. 1.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 6,921 households out of which 30.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.60% were married couples living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.30% were non-families. 26.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.10% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 29.30% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 14.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 112.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,923, and the median income for a family was $34,286. Males had a median income of $25,982 versus $19,991 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,135. About 15.40% of families and 19.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.70% of those under age 18 and 17.90% of those age 65 or over.

Triracial people

The so-called "Dominickers", a number of related mixed-race (white, black, and Euchee Indian) families, lived for decades after the Civil War and well into the twentieth century in a rural area near Ponce de Leon, with a separate church and segregated public elementary school. Although considered a separate ethnicity from both whites and blacks, many Dominickers married into local white families, so that group boundaries blurred; some descendants still live in the area. The 1950 federal census identified 60 members of this group living in Holmes County at that time.[11] Few facts are known about their origins, and little has been published about them.

Politics

Holmes County is the most archetypically “Solid South” county in Florida, and in recent times the most Republican. It gave the fifth-highest percentage of the vote for segregationist George Wallace of any county in the country during the 1968 election,[12] and apart from Deep South native Jimmy Carter, no Democrat since 1964 has obtained as much as thirty percent of the county’s vote in any election.

Holmes County voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election with 87.9%, the highest percentage of any county in Florida. Holmes County has more Democrats than Republicans, but many are Dixiecrats, Southerners who register as Democrats but vote Republican.[13] Barack Obama earned only 15.2% of the vote in 2012.[13] Hillary Clinton earned a mere 10% of the vote in 2016.[13]

Presidential elections results[14]
Year Republican Democratic Other
2016 87.46% 7,483 9.97% 853 2.57% 220
2012 83.46% 6,919 15.25% 1,264 1.29% 107
2008 81.63% 7,033 16.78% 1,446 1.59% 137
2004 77.25% 6,412 21.81% 1,810 0.94% 78
2000 67.77% 5,012 29.43% 2,177 2.80% 207
1996 47.75% 3,249 33.98% 2,312 18.26% 1,243
1992 48.96% 3,196 28.75% 1,877 22.29% 1,455
1988 71.61% 4,225 27.78% 1,639 0.61% 36
1984 78.70% 4,548 21.30% 1,231
1980 52.41% 3,221 45.02% 2,767 2.57% 158
1976 35.71% 1,850 62.86% 3,256 1.43% 74
1972 92.51% 3,819 7.49% 309
1968 7.00% 377 5.79% 312 87.21% 4,700
1964 73.00% 3,225 27.00% 1,193
1960 34.26% 1,235 65.74% 2,370
1956 29.17% 1,036 70.83% 2,516
1952 27.67% 1,230 72.33% 3,216
1948 15.39% 492 56.29% 1,799 28.31% 905
1944 25.51% 908 74.49% 2,652
1940 24.84% 887 75.16% 2,684
1936 19.37% 772 80.63% 3,213
1932 13.71% 429 86.29% 2,701
1928 74.44% 2,260 24.21% 735 1.35% 41
1924 32.03% 377 55.90% 658 12.06% 142
1920 33.56% 537 54.31% 869 12.13% 194
1916 28.83% 427 51.52% 763 19.65% 291
1912 7.74% 52 61.16% 411 31.10% 209
1908 39.00% 337 50.69% 438 10.30% 89
1904 29.60% 140 60.04% 284 10.36% 49

Media

The Holmes County Times-Advertiser is now owned by Halifax Media. The weekly newspaper publishes each Wednesday and has an office at 112 E. Virginia Ave. in Bonifay.

Education

Holmes District School Board operates public schools. Holmes County High School and Ponce de Leon High School are its public high schools.

The Holmes County Public Library is the county's main library. It is located at 303 North Etheridge Street, Bonifay, Florida 32425. The branch is open Tuesday-Friday 8:00am–5:00pm, and Saturday 8:00am–12:00pm.

Holmes County is also a part of the Panhandle Public Library Cooperative System. The PPLC also includes Calhoun, Jackson, and Washington counties.

Communities

The Holmes County sign at Bonifay on SR79.

City

Towns

Unincorporated communities

Transportation

Airports

See also

Government links/Constitutional offices

Special districts

Judicial branch

Notes

  1. 1 2 "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  3. ↑ Morris, Allen (1995). Florida Place Names. Sarasota: Pineapple Press. pp. 120–121. ISBN 1561640840.
  4. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  5. ↑ "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  6. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  10. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  11. ↑ "Estimated Population of Reputed Indian-White-Negro Racial Isolates of the Eastern United States, by State and County, 1950". Archived from the original on 2006-05-18. Retrieved 2006-09-01.
  12. ↑ David Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential elections; 1968 Presidential Election Statistics
  13. 1 2 3 Farrington, Brendan; Bustos, Sergio (March 15, 2016). "As Florida votes, there’s a difference between north, south". Associated Press. New York City. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  14. ↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/datagraph.php?fips=12&year=1960&off=0&elect=0&f=0

Coordinates: 30°52′N 85°49′W / 30.87°N 85.81°W / 30.87; -85.81

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