Editing Vernon, Florida (section)

==History==
[[File:Vernon FL Family Health Center.jpg|thumb|left|Vernon Family Health Center]]

The pioneer city was the site of a major Native American settlement before colonization. In the 1820s, Vernon started off as a colonial settlement called "''Roche's Bluff''" after one of the earliest settler's [[surname]], Stephen J. Roche, who built and owned a [[trading post]] along Holmes Creek. The community was renamed "''Vernon''" in 1851. It was renamed for [[George Washington]]'s Virginia home, [[Mount Vernon]], playing off the county's name being Washington County. Vernon held the [[county seat]] from 1851 until 1927, when the seat was moved to [[Chipley, Florida|Chipley]].<ref name=VerSet/><ref name=VernSett/>

The city sits on [[Holmes Creek (Florida)|Holmes Creek]] where, during the 1880s, the creek was used as a [[shipping route]] to [[Bonifay, Florida|Bonifay]] and other nearby municipalities. The creek was also used to ship [[gopher tortoise]]s due to the high value their shell carried at that time. It was officially incorporated as the '''City of Vernon''' in 1926.<ref name=VerInc>{{Cite web|title=FLORIDA CITIES BY INCORPORATION YEAR WITH INCORPORATION & DISSOLUTION INFO|url=https://www.flcities.com/docs/default-source/research-institute-reports/2020citiesbyincorporationwithinfo.pdf?sfvrsn=5009d6d5_0|website=www.flcities.com}}</ref><ref name=VernInco>{{Cite web|title=MUNICIPAL DIRECTORY: City of Vernon|url=https://floridaleagueofcities.com/research-resources/municipal-directory|website=floridaleagueofcities.com}}</ref>

Vernon gained infamy in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to the improbably high percentage of residents who made [[insurance]] claims for lost [[limb (anatomy)|limbs]], leading to an investigation of whether residents of the city were intentionally [[dismemberment|dismembering]] themselves for the [[insurance fraud|insurance money]]. These insurance claims from Vernon, with a population of 500 to 800, accounted for as many as 2/3 of claims nationally, but there was no way of proving that any particular amputation was deliberate.<ref name=sptimes>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/02/Life/Dismembered_again.shtml
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017042746/http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/02/Life/Dismembered_again.shtml
|archive-date=2007-10-17
|title=Dismembered again
|first=Thomas
|last=Lake
|publisher=St. Petersburg Times
|date=2007-09-02}}</ref> This led to Vernon being referred to as "nub city" during this period. In 1980, [[Errol Morris]] attempted to make a documentary about this phenomenon, but after being threatened by city residents and physically attacked by one, he changed the focus of the film, resulting in the 1981 [[documentary]] film ''[[Vernon, Florida (film)|Vernon, Florida]]''.