A History of Protecting Florida
Florida's Military Turning Points
In the early 1500s, Spain realized the importance of Florida's geographic location in protecting ships carrying gold and silver from Mexico and South America to Spain. The Spaniards who settled La Florida after the era of exploration built settlements, missions, and forts. The settlements supported the forts, and the forts in turn protected settlers when hostile forces threatened.
Florida's strategic location has always made the state vital for national defense. Our weather conditions, flat land, and miles of accessible coastline made it ideal for the building of military training bases.
World War II was a transformative moment for Florida. By 1942, Florida had over 172 military installations, ranging from relatively small specialty camps to extremely large bases. Camp Blanding near Starke became Florida's fourth largest city, growing to 180,000 acres and housing 55,000 soldiers at a time. There were forty airfields actively training military personnel throughout the state. Likewise, Naval Stations and Airfields lined the coast from Pensacola in the panhandle to the newly built Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville. Many of these sites are still active military installations today.
During WWII, about 248,000 Floridian men and women served in the armed forces, and the state's military installations hosted hundreds of thousands of recruits who came to train for their roles in the war. Many of these people returned to Florida after the war as visitors or even new residents, fueling a major population boom for the Sunshine State.
Take a look at the pages below to learn more about Florida Military bases that are still in operation.
