Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker: Leon

Leon

THE TAYLOR HOUSE

Location:442 West Georgia Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built in 1894 by Lewis Washington Taylor and Lucretia McPherson Taylor, the Taylor House is located in Frenchtown, one of Tallahassee’s most historic neighborhoods. Settled by freed slaves after the Civil War, it quickly became a vibrant African-American area. Lewis (1865-1931) was an educator, tutor for white children, civic/religious leader, businessman, and landowner. Lucretia, a cook and seamstress, was born into slavery in Tallahassee on May 19, 1865, the day before the Emancipation Proclamation was read downtown. The Taylors married in 1887. They had 13 children, 11 of whom survived and became educators. Lewis bought the site of the Taylor House in 1893 from Fannie and Simuel Butler. Family members lived here until 1977. In 1995, the house was saved from demolition by Aquilina Howell (1917-2000), a granddaughter of the Taylors and the first woman Assistant Superintendent of Leon County Schools. She is credited with easing the integration of local schools in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 2001, with the aid of the Tallahassee Urban League and Lucille Alexander, a noted nurse and professor and Howell’s sister, the house was restored and became a museum.
Sponsors: Maggie Lewis Butler, Ernest Ferrell, Curtis Taylor,Scott Maddox, Delaitre Hollinger, Patricia Branton, and the Florida Department of State

MYERS PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT

Location:Myers Park on the north and northwest, County Club drive on the east, Magnolia Drive on the south, and South Gadsden and South Meridian Streets on the west
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: The Myers Park Historic District is near the remains of Hernando De Soto’s winter encampment (1539-40) in the Apalachee capital of Anhaica, and was the site of the 17th century Spanish mission La Purificación de Tama. The residential district includes Country Club Estates, parts of Woodland Drives and other subdivisions, Chapman Pond, Old Fort Park, Myers Park, and the Capital City Country Club and golf course. Reflective of the early 20th century City Beautiful Movement, the suburban setting and municipal green spaces create a park-like environment that has been home to civic and business leaders, Florida Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, state employees, college faculty and administrators, doctors, lawyers, and local officials. The low density neighborhood was carved largely from Lakeland Plantation, owned by the Edward Houston family. A portion of that land had belonged to Florida’s first territorial governor, William Pope DuVal, whose home was near the modern tennis courts in Myers Park. Other acreage is from the Flavius and Lula Coles Farm, whose house from the late 19th century still stands on Oakland Avenue. Side 2: Twentieth century development began in 1926 on the former Houston plantation in Country Club Estates. The planned suburb, with curvilinear streets and irregular lot shapes, is north of Palmer Avenue and between South Meridian Street and Golf Terrace Drive, which overlooked a nine-hole golf course. The green space of Myers Park, established in 1925, and the golf course were advertised as permanent assets. Developer R. H. Gibson gave free lots to the first four persons who agreed to build houses that cost at least $5,000. Among them were E. Peck Greene, a state chemist and landscape enthusiast, and Dexter Lowry, a former mayor and state senator who was president of the Capital City First National Bank. William G. Dodd, a dean at Florida State College for Women (FSCW), and his wife Josie built the fifth house in 1928, and others followed. George Perkins opened Woodland Drives east of the newly expanded municipal golf course and country club in the late 1930s. Early residents remembered living at the edge of the city, out in the country in the woods, with an easy commute to downtown Tallahassee and to FSCW, now Florida State University. The City of Tallahassee designated the area a local historic district in 2001.
Sponsors: The City of Tallahassee, Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation

ERNO DOHNANYI RESIDENCE

Location:568 Beverly Court
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: This brick home built in 1928 belonged to the renowned Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and professor, Ernő Dohnányi. Born in 1877, Dohnányi grew up in Pozsony, now Bratislava. At age 11, he gave his first public performance. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest, where he earned recognition all over Europe including from legendary composer Johannes Brahms. During the early 20th century, Dohnányi taught and performed internationally before returning to Budapest in 1915. While there, he held numerous prestigious positions including Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra Society, and Chief Director of the Academy of Music. He fled Hungary in 1944. Political fallout following the end of World War II in 1945 severely damaged Dohnányi’s reputation. In 1949, he accepted an offer to teach at Florida State University from Dr. Karl Kuersteiner, Dean of the School of Music. Dohnányi and his wife, Ilona, moved into this house in 1951. In Tallahassee, he continued to compose and produced many of his most significant works, including his Stabat Mater and American Rhapsody. Thirty years after his death in 1960, the Hungarian government awarded Dohnányi the Kossuth Prize, their highest civilian honor. Side Two: E házban élt Dohnányi Ernő, magyar zeneszerző, zongoraművész és karmester. Dohnányi 1877-ben született, Pozsonyban nevelkedett. Első nyilvános koncertjét 11 évesen adta. Később a budapesti Magyar Királyi Zeneakadémián tanult, tehetségét Johannes Brahms is méltatta. Európa-szerte ismert muzsikussá vált. A 20. század elején a világ számos országában fellépett és tanított, majd 1915-ben visszatért Budapestre. Itt a város zenei életének irányítójaként a Zeneakadémia főigazgatója és a Filharmóniai Társaság zenekarának elnökkarnagya lett. Hazáját 1944-ben el kellett hagynia. A II. világháborút követő politikai fordulat kikezdte hírnevét. 1949-ben elfogadta Dr. Karl Kuersteiner, a Floridai Egyetem Zenei fakultása dékánjának felkérését, és az egyetem professzora lett. 1951-ben feleségével, Ilonával ebbe a házba költözött. Dohnányi Tallahassee-ben folytatta alkotói munkásságát, több jelentős műve is itt született, köztük a Stabat mater és az Amerikai rapszódia. Harminc évvel 1960-ban bekövetkezett halála után a Magyar Állam Kossuth-díjjal tüntette ki.
Sponsors: Government of Hungary, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

CHANDLER'S TOURIST CAMP 1925-1929

Location:300 South Adams Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1915, construction began on the Dixie Highway system that linked Florida with the Midwest via highways running from Michigan through Tallahassee along Old St. Augustine Road toward Miami. In the 1920s, the number of auto tourists visiting Florida increased dramatically. Roadside accommodations and inexpensive lodging were very limited. Some early auto tourists, later called Tin Can Tourists, modified their automobiles to provide sleeping quarters, kitchen equipment, and barrels of water as they traveled to what were then remote locations. Gilbert S. Chandler, Sr., an asparagus farmer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a pioneer of the tourist camp industry in Florida, leased seven acres of city land south of the Capitol on Adams Street to begin an auto camp in 1925. Chandler’s camp consisted of a store, a laundry, a community center, a bathhouse, and three tiny tourist cabins with electricity and homemade furniture. As auto tourism continued to grow, Chandler’s Tourist Camp moved to Lake Ella in 1929 to take advantage of tourist traffic on the Old Spanish Trail that linked Florida to California. The vacated city property became the Ben Bridges ball field before state buildings were built there in the 1960s.
Sponsors: The Family of Gilbert S. Chandler, Sr., The Family of O.I. Gramling, Sr., Deborah Desilets, In Memory of Harvey A. "Coach" Desilets

OLD BRADFORDVILLE SCHOOL HOUSE

Location:3439 Bradfordville Rd.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Bradfordville School is a one-room school house built c. 1884-1893, where many generations of children, in elementary to eighth grade classes, received their primary education. It is an example of one-room schools once scattered throughout the area that gave rural children educational opportunities that would otherwise not have been available. The school is a wood frame vernacular structure with a whitewash exterior. The majority of the windows are six over six double hung sash wood. Now gone are two outbuildings used as restroom--one for girls and one for boys. The school was originally located at the intersection of Thomasville and Bradfordville Roads on property owned by the Lester family. In 1906 it was purchased by the Leon County Board of Public Instruction for the sum of $1.00. Declining attendance forced its closure in 1930. In 1940 ownership was transferred to the Leon County Commission. The building has been moved twice in an attempt to preserve it. The first move was in 1997 when a road expansion was planned for Thomasville Road. The second was in 2005 when the land was sold and it was moved to its present site. The building is currently used as a community center under the management of Leon County.
Sponsors: THE LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

FLORIDA A & M UNIVERSITY

Location:FAMU way and Railroad Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored Students, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is the only historically state supported educational facility for African Americans in Florida. It has always been co-educational. In 1890, the second Morrill Act was passed. This enabled the school to become the Black Land Grant College for the State of Florida. In 1891, the college was moved from its original location west of town to its present location, which was once the site of “Highwood,” Territorial Governor W.P. Duval’s slave plantation. It is on one of the highest hills in Tallahassee. The school was known as Florida A & M College from 1909 until 1953, when it attained university status. On May 6, 1996, the historic Florida A and M College campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places based on the school’s historic significance and the architectural style of its buildings. The designation also recognized the national achievements and contributions of FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff. In 1997, in national competition, FAMU was named “College of the Year” in Time Magazine’s Princeton Review.
Sponsors: The Black Archives, Research Center and Museum at FAMU and the Florida Department of State

THE UNION BANK OF FLORIDA

Location:On Appalachee Pkwy near Monroe St.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Completed in 1841, the Union Bank is Florida's oldest surviving bank building. The business was chartered in 1833 as a planter's bank from which plantation owners could borrow against their land and slave holdings. The bank operated in a private house called "The Columns" until 1841. With John Gamble as its first and only president, it served as Florida's major territorial bank. The bank failed in 1843 because of crop failures, the Second Seminole War, and unsound banking practices. After remaining unused for nearly 25 years, the building reopened in 1868 as the National Freedman's Saving and Trust Company, serving emancipated slaves and refugees. Starting in 1874, the building functioned in a variety of ways -- as a church, shoe factory, beauty shop, and dance studio. Originally located near the southwest corner of Adams Street and Park Avenue, the structure was moved to this site in 1971. The Union Bank building was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1984.
Sponsors: The Union Bank Restoration Committee and the Museum of Florida History

MAJOR GENERAL DAVID LANG

Location:Old City Cemetery
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: David Lang was born on May 9, 1838 in Camden County, Georgia. After graduating from the Georgia Military Academy in 1857, he moved to Florida and worked as a surveyor for Suwannee County. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th Florida Infantry. He commanded the Florida Brigade (2nd, 5th, and 8th regiments) at the battle of Gettysburg, PA, (July 1-3, 1863), including Pickett's Charge, where the brigade suffered 43% casualties. Lang surrendered at Appomattox with the brigade. After the war he married Mary Campbell, with whom he had four children. He worked as a civil engineer before being appointed Adjutant General of the State Militia (1885-1894). When Florida got a new constitution in 1885, Lang asked the legislature for changes in militia law, including increased funding for training camps, provided U.S. Army pay scales for militiamen on active duty and established tougher controls over militia units. He established the Florida State Troops as the official State military force and organized the first statewide summer encampment. After serving as the private secretary for Governors Mitchell and Bloxham, Lang died on December 13, 1917.
Sponsors: Florida National Guard, the Department of Military Affairs, and the Florida Department of State.

WILHELMINA JAKES AND CARRIE PATTERSON: INITIATORS OF THE TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTT

Location:On the campus of Florida A&M University
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson boarded a crowded Tallahassee city bus and sat in the only seats available, in the front next to a white female passenger. The bus driver ordered them to the back of the bus, but they refused. Outraged, the driver pulled the bus over and called the police. The two students were arrested and charged with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” The next night a cross was burned on their lawn. In response, FAMU students, led by SGA President Brodes Hartley, held a mass meeting and voted to stop riding city buses. This sparked the ten-month-long Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the second major successful economic protest of the Civil Rights Movement. Other citizens embraced the boycott. Local religious leaders and community members founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) and elected Rev. C.K. Steele, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as president. The ICC expanded the boycott, which ended in March 1957. Months of defiant walking, carpooling and legal battles and the fortitude of Jakes, Patterson and other FAMU Freedom Fighters, helped sustain America’s promise of equal rights and justice for all citizens.
Sponsors: FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITYAND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

LEON HIGH SCHOOL

Location:550 East Tennessee Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The first Leon Academy opened in 1827, three years after Tallahassee's founding, and operated until the mid-1840s. In 1869, the Leon County Board of Public Instruction established separate schools for whites and blacks. In 1871, the county opened the Leon Academy as a public school for whites and, in 1885, constructed a two-story brick building on Tennessee Street between Duval and Bronough streets. The Board of Public Instruction passed a resolution in 1903 establishing a 12-grade high school known as Leon Graded and High School. A new school was dedicated on Park Avenue in 1911. On March 27, 1927, the Board of Public Instruction purchased 31.7 acres of McDougal Pasture for $22,000. Efforts by Mode L. Stone, Tallahassee's supervising principal of public schools, and a 1935 bond referendum and a loan from the Emergency Administration of Public Works led to the construction of the present school in 1936. Architect M. Leo Elliott designed the Mediterranean Revival/Italian Renaissance style building with its distinctive barrel tile roof with wide eaves and decorative rafter tails. The school had 50 classrooms, a cafeteria, kitchen, library and an auditorium. The new Leon High School was dedicated on May 28, 1937.
Sponsors: Sponsored by the Leon High School Foundation and the Florida Department of State

HICKORY HILL CEMETERY OF WELAUNEE PLANTATION

Location:Miccosukee Greenway
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Hickory Hill Cemetery is the main burial ground for African-American families that lived and worked on Welaunee Plantation. Welaunee was established by Udo Fleischmann, a banker and sportsman and member of the Fleischmann baking goods manuafacturing family from New York, and his wife Jeanne Kerr Fleischmann, who donated land for the cemetery. The Fleischmanns began leasing and purchasing former antebellum cotton plantation land in Leon County during the first two decades of the 20th Century. Tenant farming was common in Leon County for more than half a century, but had collapsed by 1950 when many tenant farmers began to leave as land was sold or used for quail hunting. Hickory Hill Cemetery reflects the ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs, and settlement patterns of the black community of Welaunee Plantation, and includes grave markers dating from 1919 to 1947. For instance, Mason jars may sometimes be found at the graves of members of the Masonic order. Other folk practices include graves marked with pieces of iron, a wagon axle, or a simple glass container. Hand-fashioned markers can be found on the western side of the cemetery.
Sponsors: Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, New Zion Primitive Baptist Church, Testerina Primitive Baptist Church, The Trust for Public Land and the Florida Department of State

FLORIDA A & M UNIVERISTY

Location:Intersection of W. Palmer and S. Adams St.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored Students, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is the only historically state supported educational facility for African Americans in Florida. It has always been co-educational. In 1890, the second Morrill Act was passed. This enabled the school to become the Black Land Grant College for the State of Florida. In 1891, the college was moved from its original location west of town to its present location, which was once the site of “Highwood,” Territorial Governor W.P. Duval’s slave plantation. It is on one of the highest hills in Tallahassee. The school was known as Florida A & M College from 1909 until 1953, when it attained university status. On May 6, 1996, the historic Florida A and M College campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places based on the school’s historic significance and the architectural style of its buildings. The designation also recognized the national achievements and contributions of FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff. In 1997, in national competition, FAMU was named “College of the Year” in Time Magazine’s Princeton Review.
Sponsors: The Black Archives, Research Center and Museum at FAMU and the Florida Department of State

THE "LURAVILLE LOCAMOTIVE"

Location:3125 Conner Blvd
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Its specific identity lost to time and the Suwannee River, the Luraville Locomotive is one of the nation's oldest "iron horse" steam locomotives. Most likely built between 1850 and 1855, the oft-modified 10-ton wood-burning American 4-0-0 steam locomotive played a role in Florida's early logging history. At one time the engine may have sported a cowcatcher and perhaps was used to pull passenger cars. It became a tram engine c. 1890 and was used to haul logs for the Bache Brothers Lumber Company to its sawmill near Luraville, Suwannee County. The locomotive's working career ended sometime around 1900 when the engine sank to the bottom of the Suwannee River while being loaded onto a barge at or near the Live Oak and Gulf Railroad's Suwannee River terminus at Peck. In 1979, a team headed by Luraville resident James Lancaster hoisted the remains of the locomotive and two sets of iron wheels from the river bottom. The locomotive was subsequently purchased and presented to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for safekeeping and preservation. The partially restored engine now rests in front of a load of bald cypress logs, a fitting monument to an important era in Florida's history.
Sponsors: Sponsored by the Florida Society of American Foresters The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Florida Division of Forestry The generosity of Pat and Peggy Goyke and The Florida Department of State

Map of Natural Bridge Battle Site

Location:Natural Bridge Rd near River Run Trail
County: Leon
City: Woodville
Description: Map of Battlesite

THE GROVE

Location:North Adams Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Richard Keith Call (1792-1862) and his wife Mary Kirkman Call (1801-1836) purchased the original 640 acres of property at “The Grove” in 1825. Call, a protégé of Andrew Jackson, served as Florida’s first delegate to Congress and as its third and fifth territorial governor. Between 1825 and 1832, he designed and constructed The Grove’s two-story Greek Revival style mansion using African-American slave labor. After Call’s death, female descendants of the Call family led The Grove through a period of resourceful and innovative ownership, using the property at various times as an art and dance studio, a silkworm farm, and a boarding house and hotel. Thomas “LeRoy” Collins (1909-1991) and Mary Call Darby Collins (1911-2009) purchased The Grove in 1940. Under their stewardship over the next seven decades, the Collins family helped to preserve The Grove, today one of Florida’s oldest surviving 19th century estates. During Collins’ tenure as Florida’s 33rd governor (1955-1961), The Grove served as the Executive Residence while a new Governor’s mansion was constructed. In 1985, the family deeded The Grove to the State of Florida for use as a historic house museum.
Sponsors: The Florida Department of State

WEST CAMPUS OF THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY - TALLAHASSEE BRANCH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Location:Intersection of Mabry St and Ridgeway St
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: After World War II, many veterans returning to Florida sought a college education through the GI Bill. The all-male University of Florida (UF) experienced record enrollment as thousands of veterans applied to the university. Unable to accommodate all of the students, UF asked the veterans if some would be willing to attend the Florida State College for Women (FSCW) in Tallahassee. In September 1946, the Florida Legislature authorized the opening of the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida (TBUF). This was the first time male students attended FSCW since the school became a women’s institution in 1905. To house the more than 500 male students, FSCW purchased land and buildings west of the main campus. This area had been the location of Dale Mabry Field, the city’s first airport and a World War II Army Air Corp training field. Former barracks and officers’ headquarters were converted into student housing, classrooms, and other administrative buildings for the expanded campus. One year later, FSCW became the coeducational Florida State University (FSU), which continued to use the “West Campus” to accommodate the university’s students.
Sponsors: The Florida State University Emeritus Alumni Society and the Florida Department of State

THE FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL (1911-1971)

Location:1700 Lee Hall Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The first healthcare facility built in Florida for African-Americans was the Florida A&M College (FAMC) Hospital, known as the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Hospital after 1953. The school’s original two-story, 19-bed wooden sanitarium was built in 1911 (since demolished), and provided medical care to patients of all races living in Leon and surrounding counties. It was supervised by Jennie Virginia Hilyer, RN, a graduate of Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., later renamed Howard University Hospital. In 1926, Leonard H.B. Foote, MD, a graduate of Howard University Medical School, became hospital administrator. Foote established FAMC’s School of Nursing in 1936, the first baccalaureate nursing program in Florida. He led a 10-year campaign to construct a new modern brick hospital, which opened in 1950. As a major medical center, the hospital provided clinical training for students and opportunities for research. After the withdrawal of federal and state support, the doors of the historic hospital closed on December 12, 1971. Today, the hospital’s legacy continues through Florida A&M University’s School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and School of Allied Health Sciences.
Sponsors: Florida A&M University, the Meek Eaton Black Archives and Museum, and the Florida Department of State

WOMAN'S CLUB OF TALLAHASSEE

Location:1513 Cristobal Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Woman’s Club of Tallahassee was founded in 1903 by Miss Anna Chairs and other prominent Tallahassee women. The club helped Tallahassee’s less fortunate citizens, and in 1910 was instrumental in securing funding for building the first Leon High School. It endorsed the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in 1920. The club supported the Girl Scouts and the 4-H Club during the 1920s, and fought against poverty during the Great Depression. During World War II, the clubhouse was operated by the Red Cross to roll bandages and participate in other activities which furthered the war effort. Since the 1950s, the Woman’s Club has been the site of many functions in support of a variety of charitable causes, as well as countless social events. The Mediterranean Revival style clubhouse, which became Tallahassee’s unofficial civic and entertainment center after 1927, was designed by E.D. Fitchner of Louisville, Kentucky. It is located in the Los Robles subdivision, a planned Mediterranean Revival style development. Only the development’s entry arch and the clubhouse were actually designed in this architectural style. The Woman’s Club of Tallahassee was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Sponsors: Ajax Construction Company, Benson's Heating and Air Conditioning Company, Charlene Hogan, Sue Tully and the Florida Department of State

MISSION SAN DAMIAN DE ESCAMBE

Location:x
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee vicinity
Description: Side one: Between 1560 and 1700, more than 100 Spanish missions were established between St. Augustine and Tallahassee. These missions were used to convert the Indians to Christianity and to employ their labor to support Spanish settlement. In 1633, Spanish Florida’s Apalachee Province, situated roughly between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers, received its first full-time resident Spanish missionaries. Mission San Damián de Escambé, also known as Cupaica, was located in this vicinity. Among the earliest Spanish missions to the Apalachee Indians, San Damián was also the westernmost mission in Apalachee Province. It was established in 1639 within the Apalachee village of Cupaica after its chief was baptized at St. Augustine. San Damián was a large settlement, growing from 900 people in 1675, to 2,000 residents by 1689. Side Two: By 1700, the colonial rivalry between Spain and England had greatly intensified. In 1704, Colonel James Moore, of South Carolina, led a force of English raiders and allied Creek Indians to destroy the Spanish missions located across northern Florida. In late June of that year, they destroyed San Damián. Most of its villagers survived by seeking refuge in the fort at Mission San Luis de Talimali, which was “within cannon shot” of San Damián. Apalachee Indians from both missions San Luis and San Damián emigrated to Pensacola and Mobile. In 1968, a state archaeologist, B. Calvin Jones, identified the archaeological remains of San Damián near this marker. The site was purchased by the State of Florida in 1972. Mission San Luis, located nearby, is a National Historic Landmark, and is open to the public.
Sponsors: The Florida Department of State

KNOTT HOUSE (REVISED)

Location:301 E. Park Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: This house was constructed in 1843, probably by George Proctor, a free black builder. Attorney Thomas Hagner and his bride Catherine Gamble became the home's first residents the following year. Immediately after the Civil War ended, Union Brigadier General Edward M. McCook used the house as his temporary headquarters when he occupied Tallahassee. On May 20, 1865, McCook declared the Emancipation Proclamation to be in effect, thereby announcing freedom for all enslaved persons in the greater Tallahassee region. In 1883, a prominent local physcian, Dr. George Betton, bought the house where he maintained an office. In 1928, the Knott family acquired the house, added the large columns in front along with other renovations, and lived here until 1985. William Knott served the State of Florida for more than forty years as tax auditor, comptroller, and state treasurer. His wife Luella was a musician, a poet, and an advocate for social causes. Their home bcause known as "The House That Rhymes" because she adorned its Victorian-era furnishings with her poems that blended history and moral lessons with charm and wit.
Sponsors: Florida Department of State

COACH ALONZO "JAKE" GAITHER HOME

Location:212 Young Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: This brick house was the home of legendary Florida A&M University (FAMU) football coach Alonzo “Jake” Gaither and his wife, Sadie, a FAMU English professor. The couple regularly hosted sports and public figures from the 1950s-1960s, including Florida governors. The Gaither residence also served as a second home for many FAMU football players. Jake Gaither’s career at FAMU spanned 1937-1973, with 24 years (1945-1969) as head football coach. He held one of the best records in the history of American college football with 203 wins, 36 losses, and 4 ties. Gaither, in his own words, conditioned his players to be “mobile, agile, and hostile.” He and his loyal coaching staff produced 36 All-Americans and 42 of “Jake’s Boys” played in the National Football League. He was a coach, teacher, mentor, father figure, and friend to his players and students. Using sports to champion civil rights, Gaither advised state and local leaders on racial matters. The award-winning coach was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame in 1975. In Tallahassee, a gymnasium, golf course, recreational center, and neighborhood are named in his honor. Gaither’s epic life and legacy enshrined forever in this home, makes him an American hero.
Sponsors: Cornelius and Reche Jones, The Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum, Niki P. Joyce, Latanya White, The City of Tallahassee, The Florida A&M University Foundation, Inc.

GIBBS COTTAGE

Location:South Adams Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Gibbs Cottage, a one-and-a-half-story frame vernacular residence constructed in1894, was home to The Honorable Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs. His father, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, served in the Florida cabinet during Reconstruction. This cottage is a prime example of the architecture used for upper-class African-American homes during the post-Reconstruction period. Thomas Gibbs served in the Florida legislature from 1884-1887 and helped sponsor a bill that created the State Normal College for Colored Students, present-day Florida A&M University (FAMU). In 1887 Gibbs, as vice president, and Attorney Thomas De Saille Tucker, as president, co-founded the school. When the college moved to the former location of Highwood Plantation in 1891, Gibbs purchased land at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Palmer Street. He built this home and lived there with his wife, Alice Menard Gibbs, who also taught at the school, and their six children. Alice died on October 23, 1898, and Thomas died soon after on the 31st. Following their deaths, the cottage was sold several times until finally acquired by FAMU in 1929, which served as housing for married FAMU faculty. The cottage is the oldest wooden building on FAMU campus.
Sponsors: Florida A&M University, The Florida Conference of Black State Legislators, The Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum

CARNEGIE LIBRARY AT FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY

Location:445 Gamble Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built in 1908 with funds donated by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, this was the first Carnegie Library built on a Black Land-Grant college campus. Nathan Young, President of the State Normal College for Colored Students, with cooperation from the school’s alumni association, obtained a $10,000 donation from Carnegie to construct the library. A 1905 fire had destroyed Duval Hall, the college’s main academic building and original library. Carnegie Library, stocked with donations from alumni, was the first brick veneer building on this campus at the former location of Highwood Plantation. It was also the first building with indoor plumbing and electricity. During the 1950s and 1960s, the library served as an art gallery and education facility. In 1970, it became a religious center. In 1976, Florida A&M University President Benjamin Perry, Jr., designated it as the home of the Black Archives Research Center and Museum. In 1978, under the museum’s founding director, Dr. James N. Eaton, Sr., the library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, an addition to Carnegie Library was named in honor of Dr. Eaton and U.S. Representative Carrie Meek.
Sponsors: Florida A&M University, The Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum

LUCY MOTEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Location:1493 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard South
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Lucy Moten School was built in 1932 at Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) with support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund and General Education Board. For more than 70 years, the school served as a training facility for African-American educators. The one-story brick building was designed in the Colonial Revival style. In 1935, FAMU President J.R.E. Lee, Sr., named the school in honor of Washington D.C. Miner Training School for Teachers principal, Lucy Ellen Moten (1851-1933), a protégé of Frederick Douglass. A Howard University graduate (1870), she was a pioneer of the “normal school” teacher training method during the early 20th century. Moten received her medical degree from Howard University in 1897. Her contributions as an educator and physician earned her national acclaim. In 1953, FAMU’s Lucy Moten School was placed under the College of Education as part of the FAMU High Developmental Research School (FAMU DRS) comprising grades K-12. In 2008, a new FAMU DRS was built on campus. The original Lucy Moten Elementary School building continues to be used by FAMU.
Sponsors: Florida A&M University, The FAMU Development Research School, The Meek-Eaton Black Archives Research Center and Museum

TOWLE HOUSE

Location:517 North Calhoun Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built in 1847, this was the home of Simon Towle, a member of the Whig Party who served as Tallahassee mayor and state comptroller. The house features Classical Revival elements with a symmetrical facade and two-story columned portico. A gothic influence appears in the decorative exterior trim. Richard Whitaker, a cotton planter, bought the house in 1854 and expanded it to include the second story and the columned front porch. During the 20th century, ownership changed several times. By 1906, the house was owned by Sallie Blake, an administrator at the Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University). It was sold to Nathaniel Brewer in 1922 and then to Malcolm Yancy in 1942, when Yancy was the Tallahassee city manager. Yancy reportedly discovered Confederate money in the ceiling. Lucille Givhan bought the house in 1968, and it was vacated in 1974. The building was renovated in 1976 for use by the Florida Democratic Party Executive Committee as their headquarters until 2002. Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA purchased the property, carefully restored the house, and received honorable mention for their work from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc.
Sponsors: Searcy Denny Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A.

CAPITAL CITY COUNTRY CLUB

Location:1601 Golf Terrace Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: After purchasing this land in 1912, George B. Perkins organized a golf club here. Perkins hired professional golf expert H. H. Barker to lay out the club’s scenic 9-hole course, which was completed in 1914. The Tallahassee Country Club, organized at The Grove in 1908, incorporated and purchased the golf course from Perkins in 1924. The club gave the property to the City of Tallahassee in 1935, stipulating that the city would improve and maintain it. That year, the city received a federal Works Progress Administration grant to expand the course to 18 holes. One of America’s foremost golf course architects, Albert W. Tillinghast, reviewed and commented on the expansion plans. Tillinghast designed some of the best golf courses in the United States, and is in the World Golf Hall of Fame. His feedback influenced the redesign of the entire course, and the Tallahassee Municipal Golf Course was completed within a few years. In a controversial decision in 1956, the city leased the golf course back to the Tallahassee Country Club, which then assigned their lease to the newly chartered Capital City Country Club. The golf course is in the Myers Park Historic District and on the Florida Historic Golf Trail.
Sponsors: Capital City Country Club, Integrity Golf Company, Jay Revell

ORIGINAL LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL

Location:438 West Brevard
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Lincoln School served as the primary public education institution for African Americans in Leon County from 1869 to 1969. Established in 1869 as one of only two Freedman’s Bureau schools in Florida to educate newly freed slaves, it was named after President Abraham Lincoln. The first school building, located at the corner of Lafayette and Copeland streets, burned down in 1872. When the second building, located at the corner of Copeland Street and Park Avenue, was transferred to the Florida State College for Women in 1906, a new wood frame school was built at this site in Frenchtown, a well-established African American area. In 1929, the building was replaced by the present brick one, with some funding from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. As Lincoln High School, it offered a high school curriculum, vocational training, night school, and GED program. Students came from more than 40 schools in rural Leon County and surrounding areas. They either roomed in town or walked for miles to Lincoln. There were no buses for African American students until the 1950s. The Lincoln High School name was transferred to the site of Griffin Middle School for two years, which allowed students to receive Lincoln diplomas until 1969.
Sponsors: City of Tallahassee

RUTGERS HOUSE/ TALLAHASSEE GARDEN CLUB CENTER

Location:507 North Calhoun Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: This house was built by George Proctor, a free African American, in 1848 for City Councilman and Territorial Treasurer Henry Rutgers. The doors and woodwork were fashioned from mahogany, and other lumber was hand-hewn from native trees. Bricks came from a local kiln. The house's Georgian architecture features a double-pile center hall plan with tripartite front windows. A parterre garden design, popular in the 1800s, featured beds lined with boxwood. The grounds contained a smokehouse, outdoor kitchen, large carriage house, and pasture for livestock. Two rooms were added in the late 1800s. Erastus Clark bought the house from the Rutgers family in 1893, and his descendants occupied the home until the 1950s. An indoor kitchen and wainscoting were added in 1926. The original property stretched from McDaniel Street and Meridian Road to the present half-city block. The Tallahassee Garden Club purchased the property in 1954. The Rutgers House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a contributing property in the Calhoun Street Historic District. The house is also a contributing property in the Tallahassee-Leon County Register of Historic Places’ Calhoun Street Special Character District. Side Two: The Tallahassee Garden Club was founded on October 26, 1926. The first president was Florida State College for Women botany professor Dr. L. S. Barber. A constitution and by-laws were drafted in 1930 that outlined the purposes of the club: "To encourage garden planting and culture in Tallahassee, To promote co-operative gardening, To encourage city beautification through all available agencies, To aid in the protection of wild flowers and shrubs, To study in all its aspects the fine art of gardening, and to encourage the dissemination of same." The slogan "This is Our City, Let's Beautify It" was adopted. Much of the club’s community service included school and roadway plantings, protection and promotion of wildflower growth, educational speakers, decorations for civic organizations, flower shows, youth gardening, Blue Star Markers, and aiding the city and state in an anti-litter campaign. Originally, the ladies met in the homes of members. The club purchased the Rutgers House in 1954 to use as a clubhouse. Since then, the Tallahassee Garden Club has preserved the house’s historical authenticity and used it as a space to host community events.
Sponsors: The Families of Robert A. and David F. Lee, In Memory of Edna Eubanks Lee, Member of Tallahassee Garden Club, Dogwood Circle, from 1945-2003

ANTONIO PROCTOR, GEORGE PROCTOR, JOHN PROCTOR

Location:400 West Park Avenue
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: Antonio (Toney) Proctor, born Antonio Propinos circa 1743 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was enslaved as a child. During the American Revolution, he was a body servant to a British army officer. He later worked in St. Augustine for Panton, Leslie, and Co., and served in St. Augustine’s black militia. During the War of 1812, Antonio aided Spain and for his service, was granted his freedom and 185 acres of land by virtue of a royal order from the king of Spain in 1816. Following the United States’ acquisition of Florida, he worked as an Indian interpreter for the United States Government. After Antonio helped negotiate the Treaty of Moultrie Creek and the Treaty of Payne’s Landing, Territorial Governor William DuVal stated, “Proctor’s skills proved indispensable. His services were invaluable to the United States at a period when no other person could have preserved the peace of the country.” Born circa 1805, Antonio’s son George was an architect, and began his career in Tallahassee in 1829. He left a tangible legacy as an entrepreneur and home builder for prominent Tallahassee citizens, including the Rutgers House, Randall Lewis House, Knott House, and Chaires House. In 1830, Antonio joined him in Tallahassee. Side Two: In 1839, George married Nancy, an enslaved woman. In 1844, one of their sons, John, was born in Tallahassee. During the 1849 Gold Rush, George went to California with several Tallahassee businessmen. Settling in Sonora in 1850, he purchased properties, became a landlord, and worked as a newspaper agent for the San Francisco Elevator. George’s zeal for racial equality was echoed in an editorial he wrote for the paper, stating “Let us be men.” While George was in California, Antonio’s remarkable life ended in Tallahassee at the supposed age of 112 on June 16, 1855. George died in California in 1868. During Reconstruction, John worked as a teacher, election supervisor, and customs superintendent at St. Mark’s port. He served in the Florida Legislature, first as a Representative from 1873-75, and 1879, then as a Senator in 1883 and 1885. When some politicians tried to sell West Florida to Alabama, John was instrumental in resisting the sale. John died in Tallahassee on December 15, 1944, and is buried here. By doing great things during extraordinary times, three generations of Proctor men have earned a place in history.
Sponsors: Jacqueline Proctor Ervingm Maggie Beth McGrotha

BATTLE OF NATURAL BRIDGE - March 6, 1865

Location:Natural Bridge Historic Site, Natural Bridge
County: Leon
City: South of Tallahassee
Description: Site of decisive repulse of Federal forces by Confederate Militia in joint U.S. Army and Navy Operation to take St. Marks. The Army landing at lighthouse was prevented from getting to rear of St. Marks by Confederate opposition at Newport and Natural Bridge. The Federal Flotilla ran aground during ascent of River: it did not reach St. Marks. Their next objective would have been Tallahassee. Federals (Number = 893*, Killed = 21, Wounded = 89, Missing = 148), Confederate (Number = 595, Killed = 3, Wounded = 23, Missing = 0). COMMANDERS: Brig. Gen. William Miller – Confederates, Commander R.W. Shutelt – U.S. Navy, Brig. Gen. John Newton – U.S. Army. *Of Whom 500 Were Reported To Have Been At Natural Bridge
Sponsors: Florida Department of State

BELLE VUE

Location:No longer exists
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Home of Prince and Princess Achille Murat, it was named for a hotel in Brussels where they spent many happy days. Prince Murat was the son of the King of Naples and nephew of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Princess Murat was the great grandniece of George Washington. Built about 1831 by Samual Duval, nephew of Governor Duval, for his bride Ellen Willis, sister of the Princess, it was later owned by Governor Bloxham.

BELLE VUE - HOME OF THE PRINCESS MURAT

Location:Rankin Avenue on grounds of Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Former home of Catherine Daingerfield Willis, great-grandniece of George Washington and widow of Archille Murat, Prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon. During the Second French Empire she was recognized as a princess and financially assisted by Napoleon III, whose court she visited. She lived in this house from 1854 until shortly before her death, on August 6, 1867. The house, moved to this site in 1967 from its original location on the Jackson Bluff Road, is an excellent example of indigenous Southern architecture.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with Murat House Association, Inc.

CAPITOL OF FLORIDA

Location:Monroe St. and Apalachee Parkway, on Capitol groun
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Capitol site was selected before Tallahassee was founded. Three log buildings housed the government in 1824. A wing of the permanent Capitol, financed by sale of city lots, was built in 1826 but was later torn down. Another building was completed in 1845. Added in 1902 were the Capitol dome and the north and south extensions. The east and west wings were dedicated in 1922, the north wing in 1937, and the south wing in 1947.

CHAIRES HISTORIC DISTRICT

Location:Intersection of N/S Co. Rd. 154 Y E/W Co. Rd. 54
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The community of Chaires was established in the 1820s during Florida’s Territorial Period (1821-1845). The community is named after Green Hill Chaires, who, along with his two brothers, Benjamin and Thomas Peter, came from Georgia and established vast plantations in Eastern Leon County. Chaires’ plantation eventually grew to 20,000 acres with a home on Lake Lafayette. It was later destroyed and his wife, two of his children and several of his slaves were massacred in 1839 during the Second Seminole Indian War (1835-1842). He then built a house called Evergreen and his brother, Thomas Peter, built a house called Woodlawn. In 1851, Green Chaires built the state’s first plank road, which connected upland plantations to the Gulf Coast shipping communities of Newport and St. Marks. The establishment of Railroad Station #1 in 1857 and the Chaires Post Office in 1858 contributed to the sense of community. By the turn of the century, Chaires was the commercial hub for the area, with a cotton gin and packinghouse, public schools, stores and churches. Today, Chaires retains much of its turn-of-the-century character. In December 2000, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sponsors: THE LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSS AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

DALE MABRY FIELD

Location:Tallahassee, Appleyard Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In October 1940, hundreds of laborers began clearing swampland for temporary quarters for Dale Mabry Army Air Base, named in honor of a young Tallahassee dirigible pilot who died in 1922 after serving in World War I. In 1941, America entered World War II. The need for a place to train pilots prompted the federal government to set a 90-day completion deadline. Eventually, the base became a nearly self-sufficient city, with several runways, barracks, officers’ quarters, mess hall, hangers, a hospital, a church and a bowling alley. Some sections of the base’s asphalt runway are still visible, as are several concrete tie-down pads. Over 8,000 pilots from Europe, China and the United States trained here in P-39s, P-40s, P-47s and P-51s. This marker is at the edge of the NW/SE runway near the point where planes took off or landed. Over a dozen pilots died in accidents while learning how to fire at targets such as a giant, plywood “bull’s eye” at Alligator Point to the south. During 1943, 79,000 family members came to Tallahassee, then a town of 16,000, to visit pilots-in-training. The base was deactivated in 1945 and served as a commercial airport until 1961, when Tallahassee Regional Airport opened.
Sponsors: TALLAHASSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

DE SOTO WINTER ENCAMPMENT SITE 1539-1540

Location:De Soto State Park, De Soto Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1539, a Spanish expeditionary force led by Hernando De Soto landed in the Tampa Bay area. Nearly 600 heavily armed adventurers traveled more than 4000 miles from Florida to Mexico intending to explore and control the Southeast of North America. The route of de Soto has always been uncertain, including the location of the village of Anhaica, the first winter encampment. The place was thought to be in the vicinity of present day Tallahassee, but no physical evidence had ever been found. Calvin Jones’ chance discovery of 16th century Spanish artifacts in 1987 settled the argument. Jones, a state archaeologist, led a team of amateurs and professionals in an excavation which recovered more than 40,000 artifacts. The evidence includes links of chain mail armor, copper coins, the iron tip of a crossbow bolt, Spanish olive jar shards, and glass trade beads. The team also found the jaw bone of a pig. Pigs were not native to the New World and historical documents confirm that the expedition brought swine. These finds provided the physical evidence the 1539-40 winter encampment, the first confirmed de Soto site in North America. From this location, the de Soto expedition traveled northward and westward making the first European contact with many native societies. Within two centuries, most of the southeastern native cultures were greatly diminished by the affects of European contact and settlement.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

EASTERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.e. corner 3 mi. north s.e. corner 3 mi. south

Location:No longer exists U.S. 90 near Lafayette Vineyards
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General Lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thirty-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. Side 2: General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Congress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to Florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.

FIRST CHRISTMAS SERVICE

Location:North of Tallahassee off U.S. 27 near Lake Jackson
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In this vicinity was the Indian village of Anhayea. Here the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men spent the fall and winter of 1539-40. Since twelve priests accompanied the Spaniards, it is probable that the first Christmas service in the United States was celebrated here.
Sponsors: In Cooperation with Leon County Commissioners

FLORIDA A & M UNIVERSITY

Location:S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. at Lee Hall
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored Students, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is the only historically state supported educational facility for African Americans in Florida. It has always been co-educational. In 1890, the second Morrill Act was passed. This enabled the school to become the Black Land Grant College for the State of Florida. In 1891, the college was moved from its original location west of town to its present location, which was once the site of “Highwood,” Territorial Governor W.P. Duval’s slave plantation. It is on one of the highest hills in Tallahassee. The school was known as Florida A & M College from 1909 until 1953, when it attained university status. On May 6, 1996, the historic Florida A and M College campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places based on the school’s historic significance and the architectural style of its buildings. The designation also recognized the national achievements and contributions of FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff. In 1997, in national competition, FAMU was named “College of the Year” in Time Magazine’s Princeton Review.
Sponsors: The Black Archives, Research Center and Museum at FAMU and the Florida Department of State

GOVERNOR W.D. BLOXHAM HOUSE

Location:410 North Calhoun Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: This Federal-style building was constructed in 1844 by Richard A. Shine, a prominent builder and mason who constructed the south wing of Florida’s Capitol in 1845. In 1881, Mary C. Bloxham, Governor Bloxham’s wife, acquired the property. Governor Bloxham, the owner of a plantation west of Tallahassee, used the house as a town residence during his two terms as governor, 1881-1885 and 1897-1901. The house was used by Governor Edward A. Perry, 1885-1889. In 1911, when Governor Bloxham died, Gertrude M. Bloxham, his second wife, became its owner and in 1913 sold it. A number of ownerships and uses followed, including as a rooming house and hotel. In 1977, the Florida Heritage Foundation purchased the property and developed plans for restoration of the house, but was unable to raise sufficient funds. In 1979, one of its members, Frances Cushing Ervin, purchased the property and restored the house to its original architectural style and elegance. Side 2: Governor Bloxham’s career of public service was extensive and included representing Leon County in the Florida House of Representatives, serving as Florida’s Secretary of State and Comptroller and as United States Surveyor-General for Florida. He was a popular war veteran, having organized an infantry company in Leon County in 1862 and served as its commander throughout the Civil War. Governor Bloxham, Florida’s first native-born governor, is remembered for founding the Florida Normal and Agricultural College for Colored Students, now Florida A & M University, and for restoring to fiscal solvency Florida’s Internal Improvement Trust Fund by selling four million acres in the Everglades. He was governor during the Spanish-American War when Florida served as a principle staging area and its ports were major embarkation points for United States military activities in Cuba.
Sponsors: THE TALLAHASSEE TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION

JACKSONVILLE, PENSACOLA AND MOBILE RAILROAD

Location:918 Railroad Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company Freight Depot, built in 1858, is one of the oldest railroad buildings in Florida and the oldest still used as a passenger rail station. The one-story depot was built when Tallahassee was the center of Florida’s cotton trade. By 1885 the two-story addition was added. Middle Florida (now North Florida), with its rich agriculture lands, grew rapidly in the 19th century. By 1890, Leon County was the top producer of livestock, sweet potatoes, corn and cotton in the state. With cotton in great demand, Tallahassee was the region’s commercial hub, shipping 16,686 bales of ginned cotton in 1860. Wagons brought the cotton from local plantations to be processed. It then went by rail to the coast for shipping. A new rail line between Pensacola and Jacksonville provided access to ports and made transporting both freight and passengers easier. In 1905 a passenger station was built across from the original one. It was used continuously until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service ended. Tallahassee was a freight only stop until 1992 when passenger services resumed, with the old freight depot used as the passenger station.

JOHN W. MARTIN HOUSE

Location:1001 DeSoto Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: John Martin was born in Plainfield, Marion County, Florida on June 21, 1884. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1914. He joined the Democratic Party and toured the state making speeches in support of President Woodrow Wilson before and during World War I. From 1917 until 1923 Martin served three terms as Mayor of Jacksonville. In 1924 he ran and was elected Florida’s 24th Governor, serving from January 1925 until January 1929, during the height and collapse of the Florida Real Estate Boom. Martin was the first candidate to solicit the women’s vote. At the bottom of his political advertisements was the phrase “The Ladies are Especially Invited.” During his administration he proposed a change in the state constutitujion to allow the state to provide direct assistance to public elementary schools. This was ratified by the voters in 1926. Wildlife conservation programs were also begun in the state, with the restocking of quail and deer and the establishment of fish hatcheries. Martin’s house, called Apalachee,” was constructed in the early 1930’s on his 27 acres. It is of the Georgian Revival style. In 1941, Martin sold the property to local developers who incorporated all but approximately six acres into a new subdivision called Governor’s Park. Martin moved back to Jacksonville where he lived until his death in January 1958.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

KNOTT HOUSE

Location:301 E. Park Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Evidence points to George Proctor, a free black man, as the probable builder of this structure in 1843.The house was a wedding gift for Catherine Gamble, the bride of attorney Thomas Hagner. In 1865 the house was used as a temporary Union Headquarters by Brigadier General McCook. On May 20, 1865, McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation from the front steps of the house, declaring freedom for all slaves in the Florida Panhandle. After the Civil War a locally prominent physician, George Betton, bought the house, bringing with him a young buggy driver named William Gunn, a former slave. When Gunn expressed an interest in learning medicine, Betton funded his study at medical school and helped him establish a practice in Tallahassee. Gunn became Florida’s first black physician. In 1928 the Knott family acquired the house, had the front columns added and lived here until 1985. William Knott served the State of Florida for over 40 years as its first State Tax Auditor, as Comptroller, and Treasurer. His wife Luella Knott was an artist, musician, and poet. She named hr home “ The House That Rhymes,” and filled it with Victorian era furnishings. Almost every piece is adorned with a poem narrating history and moral lessons, written with charm and wit. Luella was also a political activist. The sale of alcohol was banned in the state’s capital for over fifty years, in part because of Mrs. Knott’s involvement with the temperance movement.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

LEON COUNTY

Location:301 South Monroe St. In front of County Courthouse
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Originally part of Escambia and later Gadsden Counties, Leon was created by the territorial legislature in 1824. Named for Juan Ponce de Leon, discoverer of Florida, it became antebellum Florida's most prosperous and populous county, Cotton thrived in its fertile soil. Tallahassee, the county seat, has been the state capital since 1824. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A&M University (1887).
Sponsors: In Cooperation with Leon County Commissioners

LEWIS BANK

Location:South Monroe St. at the Lewis State Bank Bldg.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1856 by B.C. Lewis as a private banking business, the oldest bank in Florida has grown with the city and section, in size and services rendered. Since its founding, sons have followed fathers in the profession.
Sponsors: In Cooperation with Lewis State Bank

MISSION SAN LUIS

Location:2020 Mission Road
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Mission San Luis, established by Spanish members of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), served the Apalachee Indians located in present day Leon and Jefferson Counties. Its name may have been a tribute to Luis Horruytiner, the governor who began the mission effort. San Luis was established shortly after 1633 at Xinayca near the present State Capitol and the Hernando de Soto winter campsite of 1539-40. The mission was moved in 1656 to Talimali, an important Apalachee town. For three generations, Mission San Luis was the religious and military administrative center for the Apalachee region. In addition to 1500 Apalachees, the Mission was home to the Deputy Governor, soldiers, friars and Spanish settlers. On July 31,1704, two days before Colonel James Moore and a column of Carolina militiamen and Creek warriors reached Talimali, the mission, town and fort were evacuated and burned to keep the enemy from using them. Colonel Moore destroyed many mission villages and enslaved thousands, forever ending Apalachee’s Fransiscan missions. Apalachee descendants now live in Louisiana and remain Roman Catholic. The State of Florida purchased the Mission San Luis site in 1983 to protect it for future generations.
Sponsors: THE COLONIAL DAMES

NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.w. corner2.3 mi. west n.e. corner 3.7 mi. east

Location:U.S. 319 (see comments)
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General Lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thirty-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. Side 2: General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Congress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to Florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.

OLD CAPITOL OF FLORIDA

Location:400 S. Monroe St. In front of Old Capitol
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The first two sessions of the territorial legislature were held at St. Augustine and Pensacola. The hazards of traveling between cities 400 miles apart prompted legislators in 1824 to locate a new capital at Tallahassee, between the two cities. Log buildings that housed the government made way in 1826 for a two-story masonry structure. This was succeeded in 1845 by what is now the core of the present historic capitol. A dome and wings were added in 1902, and further additions made in 1923, 1936 and 1947. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and restored to its 1902 appearance in 1982.
Sponsors: Florida Department of State

OLD CITY CEMETERY

Location:Old City Cemetery between Call St. & Park Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The present boundaries of the Old City Cemetery were established by the Florida Territorial Council in 1829. Many pioneers and their slaves are buried here, although some early Tallahasseans were buried several hundred feet east of this site. The cemetery also contains graves of Confederate and Federal troops (white and Negro), some of the fatalities from the Battle of Natural Bridge, 1865, which marked the end of the ill-fated Northern attempt to seize the capital during the War Between the States.
Sponsors: In Cooperation With Anna Jackson Chapter UDC No. 224, Susan Bradford Eppes Chapter C of CO No. 26

OLD FORT BRADEN SCHOOL

Location:1500 Blountstown Hwy.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Fort Braden was established in 1839 as a military outpost during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). At the end of the war the fort was abandoned, but the small farming community that had developed nearby continued. A school in the Fort Braden area was first mentioned in an 1847 Tallahassee Floridian article reporting tax collections at the Fort Braden schoolhouse. Early education in rural Leon County was provided at small, one-room schools. The education these schools offered was inferior to that of urban areas. Yet over the next 80 years, many of these schools were built in Fort Braden and around the county. Consolidation of the schools was proposed at the turn of the 20th century, but did not start until the 1920s when motorized school buses and improved roadways made it possible to transport students to a centralized location. In 1926, the four-classroom Fort Braden School was constructed, featuring an inset entrance and double doors with molded accents. The school served as an education facility and community center for the next 66 years until 1993 when the new Fort Braden School replaced it. Today, the Old Fort Braden School continues to serve the citizens of Fort Braden as a community center.
Sponsors: LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

OLD PISGAH

Location:on CR-151 (Moccasin Gap Road).
County: Leon
City: North of Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: Missionaries sent by the South Carolina Conference of theMethodist Episcopal Church held services for the Centreville community settlers at this site in the early 1820's. John Slade, known as the "Father of Methodism in Florida," organized the "Society" at Pisgah on May 3, 1830, with thirty-four charter members. During the Ante-Bellum period, Pisgah became one of the leading churches in Middle Florida. Charter members Jacob Felkel and his wife Rose Anne deeded seven acres to the church's trustees on December 12, 1858, for $125.00. Under the leadership of presiding elder Simon Peter Richardson and the pastor, Robert Hudson Howren, the present building was erected at that time at a cost of $5,200. Side 2: Pisgah is one of the oldest remaining church structures in Florida. Architecturally significant, it is representative of early church design. Special features include hand-hewn box pews and galleries lighted by clerestory windows. The new sanctuary was dedicated on May 1, 1859, by the Reverend Richardson, who returned in 1863 to serve as pastor. While at Pisgah he was elected Captain of the Centreville "Old Guard" the local home defense unit. Pisgah has served as a cultural center for the community hosting political rallies, temperance meetings, musical programs and lectures as well as religious services. Since 1924, an annual homecoming has been observed on the first Sunday in May with state-wide educational, political, or religious leaders conducting the service.
Sponsors: Sponsored by Old Pisgah United Methodist Church In Cooperation With Department of State

PLANTATION CEMETERY AT BETTON HILLS

Location:Betton Rd. between Trescott Dr. and W Randolph Cir.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The site is all that remains of a much larger cemetery for African Americans dating from the pre-Civil War era through the 1940s. It was the main burial ground for black slaves and servants from the Betton Plantation as well as other surrounding plantations. The plantation system grew in North Florida as cotton plantations to the north depleted their soil from overuse. Prominent early plantations in this region included Goodwood, Waverly, and Live Oak. Turbett Betton was a prominent Tallahassee merchant who purchased roughly 1,200 acres from the Lafayette estate, lying between Thomasville and Centerville Roads. Shortly after Betton’s death in 1863, the land was purchased by Guy Winthrop. The emancipation of the slaves ruined the cotton industry and many planters turned their land into quail hunting plantations. In 1945, the Winthrop family began subdividing the property for a new housing community called Betton Hills. Henry Watson, buried at the back of the lot with his wife, was one of Winthrop’s servants. However, most of the burials were marked with a simple wooden cross or flowers, and so no longer remain. Evidence of a burial site is marked by elongated depressions in the earth covered with altered vegetation.
Sponsors: Betton Hills Neighborhood Association and the Florida Department of State

PRINCE AND PRINCESS MURAT

Location:on Call Street, St.John's Episcopal Cemetery.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Prince Achille Murat was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and the son of General Jochaim Murat, King of Naples. He settled in Florida in 1825, and as attorney, county judge, and director of Tallahassee's Union Bank, he played an active role in public life. Princess Catherine Willis Murat was the great grandneice of George Washington. Their plantations, "Lipona" and "Econchatti," were centers of social activity. Twin marble obelisks mark their graves in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery. The Murat seal is on the surrounding wall.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials In Cooperation With Florida Society Colonial Dames XVII Century

SAINT CLEMENT'S CHAPEL CHURCH OF THE ADVENT

Location:Piedmont Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built in the town of Lloyd in 1890, this Episcopal chapel was dedicated as St. Clement's Church on June 14, 1895, by Edwin Gardner Weed, 3rd Bishop of Florida. William Betton of Tallahassee designed and built the structure at a cost of $3,500. The furnishings are the original ones, including the pine pews and reed organ. The Bishop's Chair, oldest in Florida, dates from 1838 and is the only one in existence that the first five Bishops of Florida all used. The chapel was moved to this site and rededicated on November 29, 1959, by Edward Hamilton West, 5th Bishop of Florida.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with the Church of the Advent

SELECTION OF FLORIDA'S CAPITAL

Location:Tallahassee, Monroe and Apalachee Parkway on Capit
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Under Spanish rule Pensacola was the capital of West Florida, while East Florida's capital was St. Augustine. In 1821 the U.S. took possession and in 1822 William P. Duval succeeded Andrew Jackson as territorial governor. Dr. William H. Simmons, St. Augustine, and John Lee Williams, Pensacola, were appointed to select a central location for a capital. They explored the area around St. Marks and chose the old Indian village, Tallahassee. Shortly thereafter, the land was surveyed and the town incorporated.

SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT s.w. corner 1.4 mi. west s.e. corner 4.6 mi east

Location:Apalachee Parkway
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General Lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thirty-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. Side 2: General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Congress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to Florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.

TALLAHASSEE, CAPITAL OF FLORIDA

Location:S.R. 263, Municipal Airport Tallahassee
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: DeSoto wintered here (1539-40). In 1633, the Spaniards established a chain of forts and missions to convert Apalache Indians. These were destroyed by the British in 1704 and the area reverted to wilderness. This site was selected as the capital of the Territory of Florida in 1824, and Congress granted Lafayette a township for his service during the Revolution. Tallahassee became the antebellum center of the Florida cotton belt and was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not taken in the War. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A.&M. University (1887).

THE APALACHEE MISSIONS

Location:San Luis city park.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: From 1633 until 1704, Franciscan monks established and operated a chain of missions and attempted to convert Florida Indians to Christianity. Apalachee missions also served as Spanish Florida's western defense network. In 1633, about 10,000 Indians lived in Apalachee Province: present-day Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla counties. There were eighteen Franciscan missions in Apalachee Province, though all did not exist at the same time. Each mission had two principal structures, a church and a convent, which were constructed of a wooden framework plastered with clay. The mission buildings were constructed by local Indian labor. A priest served each mission, and soldiers were garrisoned at the nearby fort of San Luis de Talimali. In 1704, Colonel James Moore led a force of 1,500 whites and Yamassee Indians from the British colony of South Carolina into Apalachee Province. This army killed several priests, destroyed their missions, and enslaved many Indians. Few people remained in the area after Moore's raid, and Spain soon abandoned her province of Apalachee.
Sponsors: sponsored by department of state

THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Location:West end of Copeland Street, Westcott Building,
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Florida State University campus is the oldest continuously used site of higher education in the state of Florida. In 1851, the Florida Legislature authorized the establishment of two state seminaries, on east and one west of the Suwannee River. Eager to attract the western seminary, the city of Tallahassee, under the leadership of Intendent (Mayor) Francis Eppes, offered to donate four city lots on which to locate the school and provide $2,000 a year for its operation. The site chosen for the new institution was the crest of "Gallows Hill," located about a half mile west of the center of town. The West Florida Seminary opened in 1857, the first classes being held in a wood frame building erected by the city. Eppes, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, served for eight years as president of the seminary's governing board. In 1901, the name of the school was changed to Florida State College and in 1909 it became the Florida State College for Women. The Florida Legislature transformed the college into a fully coeducational institution in 1947, creating The Florida State University.
Sponsors: florida heritage landmarksponsored by the florida state universityand florida department of statesandra b. mortham, secretary of state

THE FORT WALTON CULTURE

Location:No longer exists
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Seven hundred years ago, the rolling country around Tallahassee was the seat of one of the most advanced Indian cultures of Eastern North America. The society was organized into classes, the highest of which consisted of chiefs and their families. The main chief lived at the place now called Lake Jackson Indian Mounds. Less important chiefs lived at smaller sites, one of which was located directly across the lake from here on Rollins Point. The Indians constructed large flat-topped earthen mounds at places like these, then built their important structures on top. The ordinary people in society were farmers, who grew corn, beans, and squash. They lived in houses near their fields, but they visited the chiefs from time to time in order to participate in religious ceremonies and to donate food or labor. The Indians of this area traded with people as far away as the Great Lakes. Chiefs used some trade items, such as embossed copper plates and carved shell pendants, as badges of office. The descendants of these people still lived nearby and called themselves Apalachee when Desoto passed through this area in 1539.
Sponsors: sponsored by department of state

THE JOHN GILMORE RILEY HOUSE

Location:419 E. Jefferson St.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: John Gilmore Riley was born in 1857, the son of Sarah and James Riley. He was not formally educated, but was instructed by his Aunt Henrietta. Riley became principal of Lincoln Academy, Tallahassee’s first local high school for African Americans in 1893 and served until retiring in 1926. He was a life-long member of St. James CME Church and Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons of Florida. He owned a significant amount of property in Tallahassee near the Capitol Center. Riley died in 1954, the same year that the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was rendered. Records indicate that the site on which the Riley House sits was sold to John Gilmore Riley by Aaron Levy on August 17, 1885 for $125. The two-story wood fame house was built in 1890. It was the home for the Riley family until 1973 when they sold it to the City of Tallahassee. The house was placed on t he National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and was restored with joint funding from the City of Tallahassee and the Department of the Interior. In 1982 the Florida NAACP partnered with the Riley Foundation to purchase the house.
Sponsors: THE JOHN G. RILEY FOUNDATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

THE MISSION OF SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO DE PATALE

Location:North CR-158 at the site of the Patale Mission.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: In 1633, the province of Apalachee in Spanish Florida received its first full-time resident missionaries. The Franciscan Mission of San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale which was located about one hundred yards north of this marker was one of the first missions with a resident priest to be established in the region after that date. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, this outpost of Spanish domination was designed to convert and "civilize" the Indians. It also served as a center for the civil and military authority of Spain on the frontier. Archeological investigations at the site in 1971 revealed the structural remains of the mission church and other buildings and a cemetery for the burial of Christians containing some 64 graves. Side 2: The mission of Patale evidently continued as an important segment of the mission system until its destruction in June, 1704. By that time, the colonial rivalry between Spain and England had become very keen. In 1703-1704, Colonel James Moore of South Carolina led an English expedition to destroy the Spanish Apalachee missions. On June 23, 1704, Patale was attacked and captured by the English who then used the mission as a base of operations. A counterattack by the Spanish and their Indian allies in July resulted in another victory for the English. After this, the Patale mission site seems to have been abandoned. But during the decades of its existence, it played an integral part in the military, political, and religious background of the Tallahassee area.
Sponsors: Sponsored by Fred O. Dickinson, Jr. In Cooperation With Department of State

THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

Location:No longer exists-replaced with F-298
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Established March 3, 1905, by John G. Collins as "The Weekly True Democrat." Milton A. Smith bought the paper in 1908. On April 6, 1915, he made it "The Daily Democrat." Lloyd C. Griscom, became owner in 1929. It was purchased by Knight Newspapers, Inc., March 1, 1965. This, its third plant, was occupied in 1968. Earlier ones: 115 South Adams and 100 East Call. Tallahassee's first newspaper was the "Florida Intelligencer", founded February 19, 1825, nine months before city was incorporated. The Capital never has been without an alert, vigorous press. Vol. 1, No. 1 of The "True Democrat" explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of The Old Time Democracy ... as distinguished from ... mischievous fads and fallacies of the day."
Sponsors: The Tallahassee Democrat in Cooperation with Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials

THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

Location:Magnolia Drive in front of the Tall. Democrat Bldg
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Florida's capital has never been without an alert, vigorous press. Tallahassee's first newspaper, the Florida Intelligencer, was founded on February 19, 1825, nine months before the city was incorporated. The Tallahassee Democrat traces its ancestry to March 3, 1905, when John G. Collins founded his Weekly True Democrat. He explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of the Old Time Democracyàas distinguished fromàmischievousàfads and fallacies of the day." Collins sold the newspaper to Milton A. Smith in 1908. On April 6, 1915, Smith changed its name to the Daily Democrat. Lloyd C. Griscom became owner in 1929, and Knight Newspapers, Inc., purchased it on March 1, 1965. The structure you see is the newspaper's third plant, opened in May, 1968. Earlier plants were located at 115 S. Adams and 100 E. Call St.
Sponsors: sponsored by the tallahassee democrat in cooperation with department of state

UNION BANK

Location:Apalachee Pkwy near Monroe
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built circa 1830 for William Williams and owned briefly by Benjamin Chaires, the Union Bank Building was the probable site of two earlier banks. Their charters were purchased by the Union Bank, created February 13, 1833, by the Territorial Council and formally opened January 16, 1835, with John G. Gamble as president. It was capitalized at $1,000,000 and became territorial Florida's major bank. The Panic of 1837, Indian wars, and unsound banking practices led to its closing in 1843. It was purchased by William Bailey and Isaac Mitchell in 1847, then after the Civil War by the Freedmen's Bank. Its later uses were as a church and the site of various business enterprises.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Incorporated

VILLAGE OF MICCOSUKEE

Location:Veterans Memorial Pkwy between Cromartie Rd. and Murray Ln.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1778 the British mapped this once thriving community, originally called Mikasuki, with sixty houses, a square, 28 families and 70 gunmen. The village was first settled by Native Americans of Creek descent who were often in armed conflict with white settlers. In 1818 Andrew Jackson and his men invaded, defeating the forces of village leader Kinhagee. Most of the Native Americans fled, but the area’s fertile soil drew settlers and the area was soon resettled. A U.S. Post Office was built in 1831, as were churches, schools, and general stores. The town became a prime location for some of the area’s largest cotton plantations. After the Civil War, agriculture remained the mainstay, and by 1887 a railroad served the community. In the 1890s, wealthy northern industrialists began purchasing large tracts of land to use as winter quail hunting estates, taking thousands of acres of land out of agricultural production. Yet the community continued to thrive until the boll weevil insect infestation of 1916 and the Great Depression (1929-1935) destroyed Leon County’s agricultural base. The rail line ceased operations by the mid-1940s, leaving the Miccosukee community of today rich in turn-of-the-century charm.
Sponsors: LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

1963 CIVIL RIGHTS PROTEST JAIL OVERFLOW SITE

Location:441 East Paul Russell Road
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: Throughout the 1950s-1970s, large-scale, nonviolent demonstrations by audacious students attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Florida State University, and the University of Florida, as well as local high school students and Leon County residents, played important roles in the dangerous fight for racial equality. Hundreds of students were arrested in 1960 for participating in sit-in demonstrations at the Woolworth’s and McCrory’s lunch counters in Tallahassee. Priscilla and Patricia Stephens, FAMU students and founding members of Tallahassee’s Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); siblings John and Barbara Broxton; William Larkins; Angela Nance; Merritt Spaulding; Clement Carney; and high schooler Henry Steele chose to serve a 60-day jail sentence instead of posting bail, staging America’s first student-led jail-in protest. Three years of constant protest ensued. From September 14-16, 1963, over 350 demonstrators, mostly FAMU students, were arrested for mass picketing, trespassing, and disturbing the peace. On September 14th, 200 students picketed the segregated Florida Theatre. Police arrested 157. Later that evening, about 100 protesters gathered at the county jail and 91 were arrested. Side Two: The jail overflowed as arrest numbers swelled to 248. Covered quarters at the Leon County Fairgrounds, normally used for cattle and other animals, were converted to temporary jails. On September 15th, 250 FAMU students, led by ministers C.K. Steele, David Brooks, and E.G. Evans, resumed protesting at the county jail downtown. No arrests were made. On September 16th, some 250 students protested at the jail again, and 100 were arrested. Besides imprisonment, Civil Rights foot soldiers and student leaders such as Reuben Kenon, Calvin Bess, Roosevelt Holloman, John Due, Julius Hamilton, FAMU Student Government Association President Prince McIntosh, and many others suffered arrest records, threats, physical attacks, school suspensions, and delayed graduations. Most students remained in the crowded, unsanitary fairground facilities for many days, and slept on floors with blankets provided by jail officials. Black and white citizens, FAMU employees, CORE, NAACP, and the Inter-Civic Council raised money for bails, fines, and attorney fees. The Leon County Fairgrounds is a historic site of the Civil Rights Movement because of its significance in one of Florida’s and the nation’s largest student-led, jail-in demonstrations.
Sponsors: Leon County Commission, Commission Bill Proctor, Florida A&M University, The Carrie Meek-James N. Eaton Southeastern Regional Black Archives

SITE OF THE PITTMAN BOARDING HOUSE/ WILLIE AND CARRIE PITTMAN

Location:1447 South Bronough Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: In 1947, Willie and Carrie Pittman purchased this lot at 1447 South Bronough Street from Fred and Clara Carrol for the price of $10. Soon after, the Pittmans built a two-story, 13-room, wood-frame house on the property. The house served as a temporary home for scores of female African American students unable to attain dormitory rooms at Florida A&M College (University). Students occupied the seven bedrooms on the upper level of the house, while Pittman, his wife, and their children occupied the six bedrooms on the lower level. From the late 1940s to the late 1960s, the house was known by the college community and area residents as the "Pittman Boarding House." Mere steps away from FAMC/FAMU, the home was a symbol of ingenuity, creative economics, pride, and prosperity to area residents. It was one of over 50 businesses owned and operated by African Americans in the once bustling neighborhood called “Allen Subdivision." The house was the childhood home of Florida’s first female African American State Senator, Carrie Pittman Meek, the youngest of the Pittmans' twelve children. Meek attributed much of her success to her parents' determination to send her to college and ensure a better life for all their children. Side Two: Willie Pittman's mother was born a slave and lived for over 100 years. In 1908, Pittman married Carrie Tansy Green in Lilly, Georgia. They rented a three-bedroom farmhouse in Lilly, near the fields where Pittman worked as a sharecropper. By 1914, the couple had moved to Tallahassee. Due to Jim Crow era prejudice, they experienced racial discrimination and financial difficulty. Following construction of their home in the late 1940s, Willie maintained properties for Fred Carrol. Carrie managed the boarding house. Known locally as "Mama Carrie" or "Big Mama," she made all of her children's clothes, and ran a home laundry for white families. With Willie and her children, Carrie maintained a vegetable garden and raised chickens on the property. The children also kept the front dirt yard swept and clean. Carrie sold cakes and preserved fruits and vegetables from the family garden. Carrie was a devout congregant of the Philadelphia Primitive Baptist Church, and often fed the hungry nearby. In 1955, Willie died in a car accident in Tallahassee, and Carrie died in 1966 in Miami. The Pittmans’ determination to ensure a better future for their children, their collective skills and ingenuity was noteworthy.
Sponsors: South Bronough Street Neighborhood Association

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT BUILDING/ HISTORIC EVENTS AND LANDMARK CASES

Location:500 S. Duval Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side One: From 1845-1912, justices on the Florida Supreme Court met in two locations in the Old Capitol Building. In 1912, the court moved into the Whitfield Building, named for long-serving Supreme Court Justice James Whitfield, which it shared with the Florida Railroad Commission until 1949. The Whitfield Building was demolished in 1978 to expand the Capitol complex. In order to modernize the court, a new Supreme Court Building was planned. Completed in 1948, this building was the fourth meeting place of the Florida Supreme Court. It featured elements of Jeffersonian Greek Revival style architecture, most notably the dome, and was the second building in Tallahassee to be fully air-conditioned. Considered expensive at the time, it cost $1.7 million to construct, which stirred public controversy. During the dedication ceremony on December 29, 1948, a time capsule containing historical documents and photographs was deposited in the cornerstone. It is marked "1948" in the lower right front corner. In 1949, the court moved into the building, which also housed the State Library and Archives until 1976. The building doubled in size in 1990 with the addition of two new wings that were built as part of extensive renovations. Side Two: Since moving to its current location in 1949, the Florida Supreme Court has been the scene of several significant events, including the investitures of Florida’s first African American, Hispanic, and female justices. From this location, justices have made decisions in landmark cases that include the Virgil Hawkins law school integration and Groveland Four wrongful conviction cases during the 1940s-1960s, the Gideon v. Wainwright right-to-counsel case in 1961, and the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case in 2004. The court issued an opinion in 1979 that allowed cameras in Florida courtrooms, and began live broadcasts of oral arguments in 1997. Many high-profile cases have been heard in the courtroom, but none more so than the disputed presidential election cases in the fall of 2000, known as Bush v. Gore. The courtroom was the scene of two historic oral arguments, on November 20 and December 7, 2000. A mesmerized world watched as lawyers argued over how to decide who would become the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush or Albert Gore, Jr. These two presidential election cases were the first appellate court oral arguments in U.S. history broadcast live in their entirety to a global audience.

MUNREE (FLEISCHMANN) CEMETERY OF WELAUNEE PLANTATION

Location:Edenfield Road
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Munree Cemetery was created in the early 1900s as a burial place for African Americans who lived and worked on plantations in the Welaunee area. The exact origin of the name is unknown, but may have originated from Monrief, the name of a former nearby plantation. In 1912, a New York businessman, Udo Fleischmann, acquired the Welaunee Plantation property and converted it into a bird-hunting preserve. As part of the purchase, Fleischmann acquired the land for this cemetery. The last recorded burial is dated 1946, and in 1948, Fleischmann no longer allowed the land to be used as a cemetery. Over the years following its closure, the cemetery became overgrown and details regarding its boundaries were lost. Fearing that the cemetery would be lost due to development, concerned members of the local African American community formed the Munree Cemetery Foundation in 2009 to purchase the property. They partnered with Leon County officials to survey and restore the cemetery. In 2012, archaeological investigations revealed at least 250 burials. Many graves were unmarked. To help identify them, archaeologists employed remote-sensing methods, including Ground Penetrating Radar and Human Remains Detection dogs.

TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Location:120 W. Park Avenue
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Methodists formed Tallahassee's first religious organization, which later became Trinity United Methodist Church. They first met in the Myers home on September 28, 1824. Of the ten attendees, six were white and four were black. A city block, at the corner of Bronough Street and Park Avenue, was reserved for the Methodists, and in 1825 a modest wooden church was built on that site. In 1826, part of the ceremony for the laying of the Florida capitol’s cornerstone was held there. Trinity acquired property in 1853 for African American congregants on Bronough Street, and later constructed a church building that ultimately became St. James Colored Methodist Church. In 1840, Trinity built a second church at this current site, and a third in 1893. Trinity built this church building, their fourth, in 1964. It was designed in the Colonial Revival Style by Philadelphia architect A. Hansel Fink, and included two sets of stained glass windows by the Willet Studio of Philadelphia. North of the sanctuary is the 1949 education building that provided a kindergarten program before such programs were offered in public schools. The church also began a weekday preschool in 1973, and later, a Lay Academy for adult education.

HOUSTOUN PLANTATION CEMETERY

Location:Wooded area of Capital City Country Club, just off of Country Club Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: This 19th century cemetery is one of many known abandoned cemeteries in Florida. Before 1900, 80 to 100 enslaved and formerly enslaved persons are believed to have been buried here, many of them children and post-Civil War workers. Though visible in the 1920s, the burial ground was later lost, and in the 1970s was rediscovered by state archaeologists. In 2019, archaeological research led to the identification of 23 likely unmarked graves and 14 more possible graves. Edward Houstoun’s plantation that originated in the 1830s included this cemetery. Enslaved people made up three-fourths of Leon County residents in 1860, 78 of whom were owned by Houstoun. His family farmed this area until 1906. Early 20th century residents of suburbs built around a new 9-hole golf course near this site remembered overgrown graves. Some were decorated with carved wooden crosses. Others were planted with lilies and ligustrums. The cemetery is nearly a mile from the Houstoun house site and rests on a hilltop, characteristics typical of plantation cemeteries for enslaved people in the American South. It has been within the boundaries of the golf course since the 1930s when the course was expanded to 18 holes.

JAKE GAITHER GOLF COURSE

Location:801 Bragg Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The City of Tallahassee owns and operates the Jake Gaither Golf Course. The picturesque 9-hole course sits on 120 acres on the city’s south side. It opened on Dec. 14, 1956, during the era of racial segregation, to give African Americans a place to play. Many Black golfers had learned the game by serving as caddies at Capital City Country Club, Tallahassee’s only golf course at the time. One golfer recalled, “We could caddy there, but we couldn’t play.” The Tallahassee City Commission named the course for Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither, a well-known citizen and legendary head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU). In the 1960s, it was the home course of the FAMU Golf Team. Black golfers from the course’s early years, known as “Legends of the Links,” taught and mentored women and kids to grow access and interest in the sport. The City completed a modernization of the course in 2022, while maintaining many of the historically significant elements. On August 9, 2022, Jake Gaither Golf Course was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the nation's historic sites worthy of preservation. The Jake Gaither Golf Course stands as a pillar of the community and a course for everyone.