by Beverly Mount-Douds (Author)
Carved out of Calhoun County on June 6, 1925, Gulf County is one of Florida's youngest counties. The county seat, Port St. Joe, was founded in 1913, and construction of the St. Joe Paper Company's plant in 1937 revitalized the area. The popular fishing site Wewahitchka was the county seat until voters elected to relocate it to Port St. Joe in 1964. Until recently, Port St. Joe was a typical company town, anchored by the paper mill headquarters. The town is near St. Joseph, where Florida's first constitution was drafted in 1838, and which was later destroyed by yellow fever and hurricane surge. Today Gulf County is a thriving, growing area of industrial and recreational resources with nostalgic reminders of a glorious past and a promising future. Port St. Joe and Wewahitchka remain away from the hustle and bustle of large cities.