Panama City, Florida

==Name==
The development in this once unincorporated part of Northwest Florida had previous names such as Floriopolis, Park Resort, and Harrison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baycounty100.com/History-Bay-County-FL.aspx|title=Bay County Centennial Celebration - A Proud Past, A Bright Future|first=Aaron Rich: ARINC IT Services|last=<www.arincitservices.com>|website=www.baycounty100.com|access-date=15 October 2018|archive-date=October 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012060112/http://www.baycounty100.com/History-Bay-County-FL.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1906, the development was named Panama City and it was first incorporated as Panama City in 1909. When Panama City was incorporated, its original city limits were 15th Street (Hwy 98) on the north, Balboa Avenue on the west and Bay Avenue on the east. According to the Panama City Public Library's ''A History of Panama City'',<ref>Morris, Allen Covington & Joan Perry Morris. ''Florida Place Names: Alachua to Zolfo Springs'', Pineapple Press Inc, 1995, pg. 190.</ref> George Mortimer West hoped to spur real estate development in Bay County during a period of intense popular interest in the construction of the [[Panama Canal]] by changing the town's name from Harrison to Panama City, because a straight line between [[Chicago]] and the Central American country [[Panama City|Panama's national capital]] intersected the Florida town. Additionally, since required meanders around land formations in a seaborne route to the canal added distance when starting at other ports, Panama City was the closest developed port in the US mainland to the [[Caribbean]] entrance of the Panama Canal.