Tallahassee

Lynn M. Homan, Thomas Reilly

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9780738541792
• eBook ISBN: 9781439633342
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Hope you are having as nice weather as we are. It and the people are grand. Tourists enjoying their Florida vacation might have written that message. Perhaps an elected official at the state capitol during a legislative session penned the sentiment. Maybe a student attending one of Tallahassees several colleges intended to reassure anxious parents back home. Written on a postcard from Tallahassee in 1908, the words, whatever their purpose, still hold true.

One

THE LOCAL SCENE

What could be a more appropriate way to begin than with a postcard that notes, “No tour of Florida is complete unless you see Tallahassee.” Thus reads the wording on this postcard illustration of the city’s municipal flag, the design for which was adopted by the city council in 1915. The card went on to state that a meeting in 1823 between two commissioners, Dr. William H. Simmons of St. Augustine and John Lee Williams of Pensacola, led to the decision to locate the territorial capital in Tallahassee the following year. Tallahassee’s location in the gently rolling countryside of Florida’s panhandle region surrounded by seven hills gave rise to the city’s nickname of “the Hill City of Florida.” (Authors’ collection.)

Almost from the beginning, Tallahassee was not just somewhere on the way to someplace else, but rather a destination in and of itself. Pictured in this early postcard view of a dusty Jefferson Street, pedestrians as well as those in horse-drawn carriages may be en route to the Leon County Courthouse. (State Archives of Florida.)

East Park Avenue presented a similar view of life in Tallahassee around the turn of the 20th century. Reminiscent of the old song about the surrey with the fringe on top, a carriage drawn by two lively horses provides transportation while a woman dressed in the fashions of the era attempts to keep her long skirts from dragging in the dirt on the unpaved street. (State Archives of Florida.)

Tallahassee’s Seaboard Air Line Depot on Railroad Avenue not only provided the subject matter for this card by Valentine and Sons Publishing Company of New York, but it was also the arrival point for thousands of visitors. The many years of service between its construction in 1858 through its more recent use as an Amtrak station made it one of Florida’s oldest active passenger train terminals. (State Archives of Florida.)

An oxcart could also serve as a means of transportation. Whether the postcard artist employed by publisher E. C. Kropp Company was portraying an actual scene or was just engaging in a whimsical exercise is unknown. With the card’s estimated age in excess of 90 years, it seems highly unlikely that the mystery will ever be solved. (Authors’ collection.)

Published prior to 1910, this postcard offers an early look at Park Avenue on the way into town. There is little hint of the development that would eventually transform the gently meandering road into an elegant residential neighborhood. Lined with beautifully restored homes, Park Avenue and Call Street today comprise one of Tallahassee’s historic districts. (State Archives of Florida.)

Twenty years can make a vast difference in a growing community. Adams Street presented a much more urban appearance than the previous view of Park Avenue. Fields had given way to manicured lawns. Stately trees draped in Spanish moss offered shade in what had become a residential neighborhood. (State Archives of Florida.)

Comfortable two-story houses lined College Avenue as it approached the entrance to what was then called Florida State College for Women (above). Moving to the east a few years later, a 1930s view of College Avenue in the downtown business district showed that it was home to such corporate landmarks as the State Theatre and Moon Jewelry Company. (Authors’ collection and...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• One - THE LOCAL SCENE
• Two - SEEING THE SIGHTS
• Three - A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
• Four - SCHOLARLY PURSUITS
• Five - MOTHER NATURE
• Six - POLITICALLY MOTIVATED