CALLAWAY by Ann Houpt

by ANN HOUPT   
The city of Callaway is located in the Florida Panhandle near the Gulf Coast. Settlers migrated to the area beginning in the 1800s, and in 1856, Pitt Milner Callaway purchased property there, hoping to create a large seaport town. He operated a sawmill, but when it was destroyed in a hurricane in 1858, he left the area and did not return until the 1880s. During the land boom, he built another sawmill and began planning wider streets and home sites. Success in fishing, sawmills, boat building, and a paper mill allowed for growth in the community, which was first incorporated in 1936 with Mayor Albert Reese Patterson. Today the city honors its first mayor, who served for 23 years and lived to be 100, every year on his birthday.