1913 – Happy Birthday Bay County, which was carved out of Washington and part of Calhoun County on this date. In February 1913, representatives from five towns on St. Andrews Bay met in Panama City to select a name for a proposed new county. Panama City was chosen as the county seat a year later and remains the most populous city. The name Bay was selected because it was satisfactory to the majority of the citizens and was descriptive of the territory that would be included. The population of Bay County in 1920 was 11,407, in 2010 it swelled to 168,852.