Facts about St. Augustine

The official website for the city of St. Augustine is http://www.ci.st-augustine.fl.us/.

St. Augustine is represented by Mayor Nancy Shaver.

St. Augustine is a city in northeast Florida and the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. The county seat of St. Johns County, it is part of Florida’s First Coast region and the Jacksonville metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975. The United States Census Bureau’s 2013 estimate of the city’s population was 13,679, while the urban area had a population of 69,173 in 2012.Saint Augustine was founded on September 8, 1565, by Spanish admiral and Florida’s first governor, Pedro Menendez de Aviles. He named the settlement “San Agustin”, as his ships bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in Florida on August 28, 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, and remained the capital of East Florida when the territory briefly changed hands between Spain and Britain. It was designated the capital of the Florida Territory until Tallahassee was made the capital in 1824. Since the late 19th century, St. Augustine’s distinct historical character has made the city a major tourist attraction. It is also the headquarters for the Florida National Guard.