Located on land that was once the hunting ground of the Creek Indian Confederation, Crestview traces its origins to the arrival of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad in the 1880s. Railroad surveyors plotted the community on a high ridge between the Yellow and Shoal rivers, some 235 feet above sea level. It was formally incorporated as a town in 1916.

William Henry Mapoles, a cantankerous Florida state representative and newspaper editor, had introduced legislation one year earlier to carve Okaloosa County out of Santa Rosa and Walton counties. Vinegar Bill now promoted the new town for the county seat, which it became in 1917.

Crestview is a unique example of a Florida community that grew during the Great Depression. The establishment of Eglin Air Force Base during World War II further spurred the town's growth. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his men trained at Eglin for what came to be known as Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo in April 1942. A few years later, "Twelve O'clock High" starring Gregory Peck, was shot on location here. Today, Eglin is home to the Air Force Armament Center.

Crestview's commercial historic district, which is on the national register of historic places, offers a window on an earlier time. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, in praising Crestview as a model Main Street community, noted "an impressive example of how growing cities can use their historical resources to attract visitors and new businesses." Each year, on the last weekend of April, residents feel the impact of heritage tourism in the Old Spanish Trail Festival, which celebrates the community's place on the historic route that linked Jacksonville to El Paso, Texas. A vibrant, rapidly growing city of more than 20,000, Crestview has not lost touch with a unique history that began almost a century ago with the arrival of the railroad.

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council. Script written by Paul Zielinski. Narrated by Sandra Averhart.