John Thomas Brooks
(1838-1917)

Died aged c. 79

John Thomas Brooks was born in 1838 and is considered the founder of Fort Walton Beach. After being stationed in Fort Walton during the Civil War, he settled in the area in 1867 with his wife and daughter. He built a log cabin along the community’s first street—Brooks Street. Brooks became the community’s de facto doctor through his Civil War service in an army hospital, frequently making his "house calls" by rowboat. He established the area’s first hotel, the Brooks House in 1902, later renamed the Brooks Hotel. Brooks also gave land for Fort Walton’s first cemetery, named in his honor in 1939, and to the Catholic Church for its first house of worship. He died in 1917.

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