George Mortimer West
(1845-1926)

Died aged c. 81

George Mortimer West was born in 1845. In 1905 he helped organize the Gulf Coast Development Company. The company purchased much of early downtown Panama City and sold and developed tracts. At the same time, he persuaded A.B. Steele, a railroad builder from Georgia, to visit. From this invitation emerged the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad, known as the Bay Line. Steele, West and the other town council members, decided to name the new community "Panama City." In 1907, West organized the Panama City Pilot, the town’s first newspaper of which he was editor. He authored St. Andrews, Florida, Old St. Joe and A Night on a Florida Beach. In 1914, West established the Panama City’s public library. George Mortimer West died in 1926.

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