Situated between Daytona Beach to the south and Jacksonville to the north, on Florida's East coast, Flagler County �- now one of the quickest growing areas in the country -- was established way back in 1917. The county was named for Henry Morrison Flagler, a wealthy railroad builder who constructed the Florida East Coast Railway.

By far, Flagler county's largest city is Palm Coast. The population there was 32,732 at the 2000 national census, but as of 2004 that number had jumped to 44,427 and has continued to grow at a very quick rate, due to both new residents and annexation.

According to a report released in the first quarter of 2006 from the U.S. Census Bureau, Flagler County was the quickest-growing county for the second year in a row with a 10.7 percent population increase from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005. With 76,410 residents, the county also led the nation with a 53 percent population bulge since the 2000 census.

Flagler County has a storied history; one which extends back over 200 years. During the late 1800's (1861-1875), in the period of European exploration and colonization, hostilities between Spanish forces based in St. Augustine and French based further north escalated, the area now known as Flagler Beach saw a dramatic but inconclusive naval battle that was waged off shore. The fight took a strange turn as a violent storm overtook the French ships, pushing them south and wrecking them on the beach somewhere near what is currently know as Ponce de Leon Inlet. The story of the subsequent brutal massacre of the surviving French troops is still harked back to at Fort Matanzas National Park attraction.

Taking a big leap forward to the 1860's and the Civil War and Reconstruction, Flagler County was on the Confederate side and helped that cause through military service and by supplying timber, beef, citrus cotton and salt. Salt was in short supply and much valued as meat preservative. The salt works at the Mala Compra Plantation was an important source, but Union patrols made the area insecure and the works process was moved eastward to the coast. There the huge iron vats from the St. Joseph sugar plantation were used to boil sea water to produce salt.

In modern times, the post WWII 'boom' was a little late in arriving in Flagler County. It came in the form of a highway now known as I-95 and the ITT Corporation. Plans made public in 1969, which established the city of Palm Coast, included 48,000 home sites on about 42,000 acres of the 68,000 acres owned by ITT.

Matthew Paolini is Citybook.com's communications manager for the Savannah, GA online Yellow Pages division.