City of Pensacola annexations

The City of Pensacola has expanded its city limits through annexation on multiple occasions since the original area of 9.75 square miles was laid out by Andrew Jackson in 1822.

A 1937 state law applicable only to Pensacola made large-scale annexation possible only by approval of two-thirds of city voters and two-thirds of voters within the territory to be annexed. This was long considered an insurmountable obstacle to expanding the city limits. In the 1940s, proponents of annexation tried to convince residents in unincorporated areas that joining the city would lower their insurance costs. Also, at that time, homesteads valued up to $5,000 were exempt from city property taxes. Nevertheless, a November 19, 1949 referendum to annex East Pensacola Heights resulted in a 3-to-1 defeat.

Furthermore, in 1949, a push was made to incorporate the Brownsville suburb, which had at the time 8,000-10,000 residents, into its own municipality: the "City of West Pensacola." The proposed boundaries were Avery Street to the north, the Pensacola city limits to the east, Bayou Chico to the south, and the Frisco Railroad tracks to the west. State Senator Philip D. Beall, Jr. introduced a bill on May 20 calling for an election to incorporate the area, but it was vetoed by Governor Fuller Warren on June 10.

List of annexation petitions & referenda

Date	Area(s) to annex	Size	Residents	Votes
				For	Against
November 29, 1949	East Pensacola Heights			173	531
November 10, 1953	Granada easterly around head of Bayou Texar and Municipal Airport, south (through modern Cordova Park) to 15th Street	2,688 acres		160	73
November 17, 1953	East Pensacola Heights	448 acres
February 7, 1956	West Pensacola			153	251
June 21, 1956	Woodland Heights, Springdale and Springdale First Addition west of Carpenter's Creek	240 acres		16	0
1957	Mallory Heights	839 acres
April 23, 1957	Highland Terrace	462 acres	482 registered voters	233	49
1957	Fontanel Place	110 acres
January 16, 1958	West Pensacola business district (centered on Cervantes between O and V Streets)	<20 acres		petition
1958	Area north and east of the airport	662 acres
1958	Area east of the airport	469 acres
October 21, 1958	Scenic Hills-Gull Point area	1,040 acres	149 registered voters	60	19
December 9, 1958	Warrington			1,532	2,036
1959	Section of Baars & Kirchmaier	249 acres
1959	Portion of Abb's subdivision	226 acres
1959	Ferry Pass Heights	485 acres
1962	Nobles, south of Dunmire	125 acres
1962	Area west of Ferry Pass Highway	40 acres
August 14, 1962	"Old Aviation Field" south of Goulding Road and Herman Avenue and east of Palafox	343 acres	3,114	224	303
1963	Eau Claire Estates	100 acres
January 19, 1965	Warrington, portions of Brownsville, Ensley and Brent, Ferry Pass and others	17.2 square miles	36,000	1,393	7,126
1966	Morris Courts		1,100
October 11, 1966	Area generally north of West Lee Street, south of Brainerd Street, east of J Street, and west of M and N Streets	28.7 acres	1,100	73	81
December 23, 1969	Five schools: Pensacola High, Washington High, Brown-Barge Elementary, Workman Junior High and Holm Elementary	105 acres		requested by Escambia County School Board
June 7, 1971	Area generally south of John Carroll Road, east of Beauclair Road, west of Allyn Way and north of Toni Street	11.8 acres	over 100	petition
November 8, 1988 (article)	Cordova Mall area and areas northeast of the Airport Boulevard/9th Avenue intersection			186	178
	Areas around Woodchuck Avenue, Baywoods Drive, and Whisper Way			102	353

Notes & references

• Cecil Foister. "Annexation Defeat Reason Cloudy." Pensacola News, November 29, 1967.