Posts Tagged ‘Palafox Street’
The West Florida History Center and University Archives …
The above image of ” Maxey’s Liquors ” is by the photographer Cottrell taken back in the 1920’s. You can find it in the West Florida History Center and University Archives out at the John C. Pace Library on the UWF campus. You can find these images on line here and other images from the UWF archives. These images have been scanned and are online for your browsing convenience. The files are high-resolution and not just low-resolution scans for the internet. I was really impressed with all that is out at UWF and the archives are located in the basement of the library. Anyone is welcome to use the facility and I talked to Stephanie Johnson when I was there. There are other people in this department if she is busy. The above photo of Maxey’s Liquors was just one that caught my attention because this business was located on Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola about where the Tin Cow Restaurant is now located. The L&L Pawn Shop next door was where my father used to have his wedding albums gold-stamped with the bride and groom’s name. I can remember the inside of this store like it was yesterday. Even though my father did not make theses images, I thought there would be readers of this blog would be interested in knowing that these archives are online and available to everyone. The photo below is of Gilmore’s Furniture and Jewelery Store located on Palafox Street about where the Rex Theater was located before it was converted into a church / spiritual center …
At some point, maybe the 1950’s, this business relocated to the 400 block of Garden Street. I have an image somewhere on this blog that my father had made of the new Glimore’s building at night. Just type ” Gilmore ” into the search area on this blog and the post should come up. There are literally thousands of images on this UWF site from lots of various photographers and places. I have a phone number ( 850-474-2794 ) for Stephanie Johnson out at the archive department if anyone has any questions or comments. I knew that this archive was out there, but I had no idea how large it is and how easy it is to access. There are a lot of people that are interested in local history and this is just one more place for them to go and research or just to view all of the images. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Port of Pensacola …
Here are some more images of the Port of Pensacola from back in the 1950’s. I had posted some others a year or so back of men working in this warehouse that I thought looked fairly interesting.. There are some more but they are mostly of people at what looks to be a cocktail party or something and I do not know who any of the people are in them. Here we go …
A primary product at the Port of Pensacola during this time was fertilizer I have been told. Not really sure if it was imported or exported, but I am sure that someone out there will know and can enlighten us. One thing that I do not want to hear is how the Port has been awash in red – ink for the last fifty years … I am fairly sure that the Port was in the black for a few years back in the 1960’s. I also do not want to hear from any nay-sayers that the Port should be closed down and made into condos like that did at the foot of Palafox Street. That project has turned out great or at least it looks great. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Downtown Pensacola Through The Years …
This first image of the Palafox Wharf in downtown Pensacola was made back in the 1930’s and this is strictly a guess. I found the negative in an old Kodak printing paper box that my father used to put negatives in once he was finished with it. My guess is that someone else had taken the photograph and had brought it to my father to make prints. That is only a guess and I doubt if we will ever know the story, but it shows Palafox Street in a different era … back when wind powered the ships. The strip of land on the far side is where the Port Royal development is now located. On the roof on one of the buildings in the top right of the image is a sign advertising ” Elebash Jewelery Co. ” so that might date the photo if someone knows when the sign was painted. The next photo was made in the 1950’s …
If someone can identify the year of the car parked out front, we might have a date for this photo. I am going to make a guess and say that the car is a Chrysler, but that is just a guess. This is Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola and like I mentioned earlier, I think that it sometime in the 1950’s. I personally do not remember ” Day’s Credit Clothing ” or the ” Quality Shoes ” shop next door. The last is a photo standing in the middle of Palafox at the Romana Street intersection.
This is looking north up Palafox and I am going to say sometime in the early 1970’s, maybe 1973. I am sure that someone out there can most likely tell us. It has really changed over the years. If anyone has any comments about the time-frame of any of these images, please comment. If anyone can remember any of these stores or anything else we would love to hear from you. Thanks again for all of the nice comments from everyone over on Facebook … it is nice to know that some local people enjoy remembering Pensacola and vicinity through the years. Thanks again for looking … Frank
St. Michael’s Catholic Church …
Here is an interior view of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in downtown Pensacola Florida that I made back around 1982 on 4×5 sheet film. This is a few that few people see unless they walk up to see the altar. I do have some altar photos somewhere and when I run across them I will put them up. I cannot tell you how many wedding that I have done here, but I would guess over a hundred. One job that my father and I did here was to photograph each station of the cross and made a photo album for a man’s wife who visited the church and could not get over how detailed each piece was. We also gave an album to the priest at the time which he was thrilled to get, since the only photos he had were a bunch of snap-shots. I put a link to the church that you can click on to take you to the church’s site. I was sitting here thinking how the previous post was about a liquor store and then I followed it up with a church post … that was not a ” Sinner and Saint ” message since we are going into Mardi Gras season this time of year. I just happened to have these two images ready to post and they are in the same folder, so there is no hidden meaning here what so ever. Like I said in the previous post, if you want to share any memories that you have about St. Michael’s – you got married here or attended a wedding in the church or even attended St. Michael’s School and had First Communion in the church … feel free to share them with us. Thanks again for looking and please check back … like I said in an earlier post, I have a few more ready to go and I will get them up in the next few weeks … Frank
PS – I just went to the church’s site and they have a photo gallery that has lots of photos … activities, interior and exterior views, etc, etc. I should have done that before I wrote the post, but you know me …
Pensacola High School Annona Ads …
These photos were shot to be used in ads for the Pensacola High School yearbook Annona. As usual, I have no clue who any of these young ladies are in any of these photos or do I know exactly which business they advertised. But I am confident that some of you out there will let us know. I am going to say that they are from the 1950’s, but they could be from the 1960’s. The one above is from some dress store in Pensacola and it most likely was downtown somewhere, since the malls did not come about until later ( I am guessing about that ) in the late 1960’s I would guess. Here are several more photos …
The last photo of the girls looking at the silver settings was made in side Elebash Jewelery store in downtown Pensacola I believe, bit I could be wrong. The girls in the cosmetic store is not familiar to me at all, so if anyone recognizes the store let us know. Thanks again and I hope looking at these photos puts you in the shopping mood for Christmas …. Check back and be safe … Frank
PK Younge Class Photo …
This is my father’s fifth grade class photo at PK Younge School on Palafox Street. This is the class photo that I mentioned in an earlier post that has the author, Shelby Foote, in the group, but I do not know which one he is. My father is the third boy standing up on the top row, left side. I do not know who the small child standing next to him and I doubt that she is old enough to be in this class. The only thing that I can think of is that maybe she is the teacher’s child and wanted to be in the photo. Having your photo made was a rarity for this time … I would guess that this is 1926 … that they included her for that reason. I do not know if the Escambia County School Board would even have records going back this far. If anyone has any knowledge of this, please let me know. I would be interested in knowing who the rest of these kids are and who the teacher is . I also have a photo of my father’s class out front of the school in Muscogee Florida and I do have the names of the students in that class. There are some names that are familiar to old time Pensacola families like Vaughn, that some of you might recognize. Thanks for looking and if anyone knows about the school board records from the 1920’s, let me hear from you. Please check back … Frank
First Baptist Church in Pensacola Florida …
This was the church building for the First Baptist Church in Pensacola Florida back in the 1950’s before the new sanctuary was constructed in the mid-to-later 1950’s. I have an interior view somewhere that I will post later. Here are several of the new sanctuary below …
This last photo is church letting out from the first service held in the new sanctuary. I have several interior views that I will post later and also several events like the ground-breaking for this church and several from the Easter Sunrise Service that First Baptist used to hold over at Bayview Park on Bayou Texar. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Fiesta Parade 1955 …
These are two from the Fiesta Parade of 1955. I just found them the other day and they show downtown Pensacola very well. I have scanned them all, but have only worked up these two, but they are in good shape, so I will post the rest in a few weeks. This looks like a float with the Kid’s Court, but that is just my guess, since I do not see a name on the float.
Here are a couple of clowns … notice that they are on Palafox Street next to Christ Church and that Palafox at this time was still paved with bricks. I have no idea who these clowns are, but everyone around them are smiling, so they must be doing their jobs. My all-time favorite clowns were the guys from the jail that were always the last ones in the parade scooping up after the horses … I wish my dad would have taken some photos of them. They always made me laugh and I told my mother that I wanted to be just like those guys, since they always looked like they were having so much fun! My mother always told me that I should have some higher aspirations, but at five, I did not know what she was talking about. Only later … Thanks for looking and commenting … Frank
PHS Graduating Class of 1934 …
This is a photo of the old Pensacola High School that was located at the top of Palafox Street, one block up from where the First Baptist Church is located. In fact, part of First Baptist’s parking lot is this location. My father had made a 16×20 photograph of the school and got everyone to sign it at one of their reunions. When my father graduated in 1934, PHS did not have a yearbook that year … all that they had was a sheet of paper with all of the graduate’s names and their activities they were involved in. I do not know if this was because of the Depression or what the reason was. The photo is fairly sharp and if you click on the photo, it will open up in another window larger and you can see the name a little clearer. Thanks for looking … FRank
The “New” Medical Center Clinic on Palafox Street …
This a photograph of the first Medical Center Clinic that is located over on Palafox Street. It has been abandoned for years and has really fallen into a state of disrepair. The original scan is posted below …
As you can tell, I removed the people from the side of the building and the telephone poll out front. I probably would also have removed the street sign next to the telephone, but I wasted to much time on the telephone pole. For future reference … there is not a magic wand in Photoshop that magically removes people and objects without leaving any traces. It takes a lot of selecting, cutting, pasting, masking and blending to get these photos to look like the top photo. Most people do not realize hoe much work is entailed to get all of this to blend seamlessly and to look believable. I have shown one image of the Hotel San Carlos that I have a before and after view … at some point I might put together all of the steps involved in creating these images. Thanks for looking and let me hear what you think … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
You must be logged in to post a comment.