History

In 1941, the Florida state legislature adopted a new numbering system for Florida state roads in conjunction with the State Highway Department. Implemented in 1945 following the Second World War, FL 189 was one of the renumbered routes (formerly FL 41) from Baker to the Alabama border. According to a source in the Wikipedia page for FL 189, the route was extended along the route below to Fort Walton Beach in 1947. ¹ Despite evidence (maps, county route numbers, the split itself), I have not been able to find this particular source. If anyone has any information about this, please email me.

From its extension c. 1947 until around 1955, FL 189 was a single continuous route from US 98 in Fort Walton Beach to the Alabama-Florida border at Wing. Much of the route between Baker and the Yellow River became a secondary state highway. Some former FL 189 highway segments are now part of Okaloosa County Road 189. One section of CR 189 (Galiver Cutoff) runs from about 0.9 miles (1.45 km) south of the current FL 189/FL 4 intersection in Baker to an intersection at US 90 approximately 2.25 miles (3.65 km) east of Holt; the other section (Log Lake Road) runs from the center of Holt at US 90 to a dead end along the Yellow River where the River's Edge RV Campground sits today. FL 189 would've run along its current path from Alabama to FL 4 in Baker, where the two would've shared a concurrency until the Galiver Cutoff. It would've followed the Galiver Cutoff to US 90, where it would've been concurrent with US 90 until Holt, where it would turn onto Log Lake Road.

A small wood-base bridge called the Log Lake Bridge used to run over the Yellow River south of Holt. Built in 1927, Florida officials state the bridge may have been abandoned as early as the late 1940's,² but it was used well into the 1950's according to locals.³ Though initially planned to be replaced, it was closed permanently in September 1962 and condemned.⁴ Over time, the old pylons supporting the bridge caused it to collapse. The truss was moved from the river around 2008 and now sits at the above-mentioned campground as a historical attraction. Log Lake Bridge was one of three fixed pony truss bridges in the state of Florida.²

FL 189 would've crossed the Yellow River and continued on what is now an unpaved and nearly overgrown part of Range Road 236. As the road traverses farther into the Eglin AFB complex, the road becomes more prominent on satellite imagery (at one point becoming paved). Former FL 189 would've split from Range Road 236 and merged onto Range Road 250 until reaching what is now Percy Coleman Boulevard/N. Beal Extension in Fort Walton Beach. The route ran through Fort Walton Beach directly as well, but that history can be found on the southern FL 189 page.

Over a period of 10 years (between 1950 and 1960), the route was broken into two separate pieces. Most of what was FL 189 ran through the then-Choctawhatchee National Forest. In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt requested the ownership of Choctawhatchee be transferred from the U.S. Forestry Service to the War Department for military use. This authorization passed Congress and Eglin AFB absorbed the land soon after. Over time, parts of the existing road network became restricted or even destroyed due to military activity, as Eglin AFB was used for weapons testing. By the mid 1950's, Fort Walton began booming as both a resort and military town. Nearby FL 85, the other major thoroughfare into Fort Walton, was closer to Eglin and larger towns like Crestview and Valparaiso and thus had priority for road funding. By the time re-organization of Florida routes happened in 1955, it was evident that FL 189 wasn't needed through Eglin AFB as a numbered route. At this point, it's likely the roads within Eglin AFB limits had their designations removed and the branches of FL 189 south of Baker were transferred to the secondary state road system.

FL 189 between Mary Esther and Wright (today's Beal Parkway) intersected the Camp Pinchot Road (S-85-A, now Lewis Turner Blvd), which was paved in 1952⁵ and later widened as traffic began using this route to bypass Shalimar and Fort Walton. Topographical maps have this section of road marked as FL 189 as early as 1958, but newspaper articles mention road work on Green Acres Road and Eldridge Road, both of which connect to what was mentioned as S-85-A and what is now Lewis Turner Boulevard.⁶ A traffic signal was installed at the intersection of SR 85-A and SR 85 north of Shalimar,⁷ which seems to be where present FL 189 and FL 85 intersect as well, suggesting S-85-A is what is now Lewis Turner Boulevard. By 1972, the state highway map marks this entire route on Beal Parkway and Lewis Turner Boulevard as FL 189.⁸

Footnotes

1. Contributors to Wikipedia. “Florida State Road 189” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 11 Feb. 2009
   Citation 2: "State Road Department memorandum, September 22, 1947...State Road No. 189 (one hundred and eighty-nine) is being extended and the full description of location is now as follows: Beginning at a point on SR 30 at Fort Walton and run Northerly to SR 10 at Holt; thence common with SR 10 to Galliver [sic]; thence Northerly via Baker to the Alabama State line; all in Walton [sic] County." ↩
2. Archaeological Consultants, Inc., and Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. "The Historic Highway Bridges of Florida" Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation, Environmental Management Office, Dec. 2012
   
   7-8: “It was used as a vehicle and pedestrian bridge until it was abandoned, possibly in the late 1940s to 1950s.” ↩
   7-8: “In circa 2008, the truss was removed from its location over the Yellow River to a site on the northwest bank of the river, within a local park. Although it is one of only three fixed pony trusses in Florida, the Log Lake Bridge has suffered a complete loss of integrity of location, setting, materials, workmanship, design, feeling, and association.” ↩
3. Comment on West Florida & Panhandle History Express’s "The Old Log Lake Bridge was constructed in 1927..." post. Facebook, 12 Sep. 2025
   "Went across the bridge several times with my dad and uncles to camp on the Eglin side of the river. Always was a scary feeling to cross it and hear those timbers slap as the jeep rolled over them. 1958-59. I was 10 years old." ↩
4. Allen Robinson. “‘Unsafe’ Log Lake Bridge Closed” Pensacola News Journal, 29 Sep. 1962, p. 9A.
   9A: "The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners decided Friday to close the Log Lake Bridge across Yellow River immediately due to its unsafe condition...Eglin officials have banned military travel on the bridge and warned military and civilian motorists of its "dangerous" condition..." ↩
5. “$3,737,00 In Road Job Bids Opened” The Tampa Morning Tribune, 27 Feb. 1952, p. 20.
   Paving State Road S-85-A, Okaloosa County, from State Road 189 at Garnier northeast about 3.8 miles; George G. Tapper Co., Inc., Port St. Joe, $114,309." ↩
6. “Tentative Work Construction Program” Pensacola News Journal, 11 May 1965, p. 8B.
   8B: "Green Acres Road-S.R. 85-A to Eglin Reservation...Eldridge Road-S.R. 85-A to Garnier's Bayou" ↩
7. “Shalimar Is Choice For South Okaloosa Courthouse Annex” Pensacola News Journal, 07 Sep. 1966, p. 9A.
   9A: "A resolution was also approved for the SRD to install a traffic signal at the intersection of S.R. 85 and S.R. 85-A, just north of Shalimar" ↩
8. Florida Department of Transportation, "Florida 1972 Official Road Map” Florida Department of Transportation and Florida Department of Commerce, 1972.
   1: Fort Walton Beach and FL 189 appear in grid B-2 ↩