How DeFuniak Springs Acquired Its Name

By Anna Reardon, Staff Writer, DeFuniak Springs Herald-Breeze, December 28, 1972, Page 1Published by the Genealogical Society of Okaloosa County, Volume XIX, Number 66, Winter 1995, Pages 52-53. The man for whom the town of DeFuniak Springs was named, was a Frenchman, according to his grandson, Colonel William Q. DeFuniak… Continue reading

Stuart Knox Gillis

Stuart Knox  Gillis, seventh son and eleventh child of John and Christian McIntosh Gillis, was born at  Knox  Hill, Walton County, Florida on  July 28, 1866. He,  like his older brothers, attended school at the Old Knox  Hill Academy. As did many of his Gillis kin, Knox  Gillis taught school in his younger… Continue reading

Hygeia Coca-Cola Bottling Plant

In June 1903, L. G. Crosby became the sole owner of the new Pensacola Coca-Cola franchise. In September of that year, he produced the first bottle of Coca-Cola in the Pensacola plant. By 1924, Crosby had succeeded in running his competitors out of business and had the only bottling plant… Continue reading