Carrablee City Hall is located at 106 Avenue B, Southeast, Carrabell FL 32322.
Phone: 850-697-3618.
Neighborhoods
Carrabelle is rich in waterfront history and culture. Centuries before commercial shipping, WWII Camp Gordon Johnston and the railroad put Carrabelle on the map, native peoples harvested abundant seafood from pristine rivers and the gulf. Protective barrier islands created the perfect environment for their handmade shallow draft boats. Indians mounds still exist here.
The City was founded in the 1870’s, and formally chartered in 1893. Long before traditional roads were built, the railroad terminus shipped lumber and naval stores while large ships served the area’s only natural deep-water port. Ship captains built homes on the highest elevations to keep watch; several remain in accelerating conditions of disrepair.
The 1930’s brought the roads, visitors and tourists. The abundance of seafood, good transportation systems and the availability of commercial ice (the first ice machine was invented in Franklin county) created an economic boom in the commercial seafood industry.
During the early days of World War II, German U-Boats operated in the Gulf of Mexico. Carrabelle became an important port for shipping of oil to Europe from Texas through the Intercoastal Waterway to Jacksonville.
The WWII home of “Camp Carrabelle” (renamed Camp Gordon Johnston in 1943) trained hundreds of thousands of soldiers for amphibious service, housed support staff and later served as a prisoner-of-war camp.
In the 1950’s, Carrabelle was called the “party boat capitol” of northwest Florida. However, the last decades have seen a steady decline in traditional economies. Net bans and increasing regulation dealt a severe blow to the commercial shrimping and fishing industries. Fuel costs and foreign seafood competition have further threatened the historic water-dependent economy.
The real estate boom of the early 2000’s saw explosive growth and local land prices skyrocket. Developers and speculators maximized both impacts and returns on the limited water frontages. The resulting collapse left new buildings empty and developments unbuilt. Property devaluations further resulted in more devastating economic impacts to the Carrabelle way of life.
† Charting the Course for the Carrabelle Waterfront, Vision Implementation Plan, 2008, Carrabelle Waterfront Partnership, accessed July, 2024.