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Palafox Historic Business District, Pensacola, Florida

On April 27, 2016 the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, added Pensacola, Florida's Palafox Historic Business District to the National Register of Historic Places (NRIS 14001085) National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

With 129 sites, the Palafox Historic Business District is the second largest historic district in Escambia County, Florida. The district is sited between the North Hill Preservation District (NRIS 83001422) and the Pensacola Historic District (NRIS 70000184). Combined, Pensacola's three National Register districts provide a contiguous grouping of nearly 600 historic structures. The National Park Service highlights the Palafox Historic District on its Features PageNational Register of Historic Places Program

History

Pensacola is the site of the first multi-year European Settlement in what is now the United States, preceding the English settlement of Jamestown by nearly half a century. From 1559 to 1561, don Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1519-1571), soldiers, slaves, Aztecs, and colonists attempted to settle the site, called Santa María de Ochuse for Spain. http://news.uwf.edu/luna/ The Spanish returned to Pensacola in the late 17th century. For a brief period, the French occupied Pensacola until they too found the area too hostile for settlement. Seeking a stronger foothold in North America to combat encroachment by other European nations, Spain returned to Pensacola in the middle of the 18th century, and remained in the vicinity until the Treaty of Paris ceded Florida to the British in 1763. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/treaty-of-paris

During the British Period, engineer Elias Durnford laid out the town in a traditional grid pattern with regular widths and lot sizes. https://www.loc.gov/item/gm71000633/ The city retains the original street pattern with Palafox Street, originally named George Street, being the north south axis. Spanish General Bernardo de Galvez re-took Pensacola during the Revolutionary War. During the Second Spanish Period, Vicente Sebastian Pintado imposed a traditional Spanish town planning concept on top of Durnford's grid pattern and set aside land for large public squares. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013585060/ Pensacola's Plaza Ferdinand and Seville Square are the result of Pintado's Plan.

The Adams Onis Treaty ceded Florida and Pensacola to the United States in 1821. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/florida Antelbellum The downtown area of Pensacola grew slowly as the area lacked good roads to the continental interior and had not railroad. The buildings in the Palafox Historic Business district were mostly built with the area's timber and locally sources bricks. Florida seceded from the union on January 10, 1861 and by May 1862, Union troops entered Pensacola. Most of the residents fled the city, leaving only around 100 people in the Union occupied town. Union troops encamped in the municipal buildings as well as in the homes of some of Pensacola's prominent citizens.

Unlike many other southern cities, Pensacola was not built on the cotton trade. During Reconstruction, the city began to grow by exploiting its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico for fishing and lumbering the abundant inland timber. Pensacola suffered from numerous fires.

The nomination was written by Cynthia Catellier when she was a graduate student at the University of West Florida. After graduation, Cynthia continued to pursue the process of garnering the necessary approvals to get the nomination on the National Register of Historic Places. First, partnering with Desiree Estabrook, state historic preservation officer. The Florida National Register Review Board acting for the state of Florida granted unanimous approval of the nomination by on September 4, 2014. Florida National Register Review Board Minutes The nomination then went to Washington, D.C. where the Palafox Historic Business District obtained Secretary of the Interior approval on April 27, 2016.