423 North C Street

423 North C Street is the address of an historic home located at La Rua and C Streets, in the Belmont-DeVilliers neighborhood.

Constructed circa 1890, the building was the residence of several citizens of segregated Pensacola, including livestock dealer Raymond Waters and peddler Thomas McMillian.

Since 1931 it has been the headquarters of the Pensacola Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, an organization founded in 1929 by Ella Jordan as an umbrella for similar black women's clubs, like the Royal Sixteen, Les Amies des Amies, the Elite Madames, Ladies of Distinction and Sisters of Soul Federated (the latter three all founded by Ruby J. Gainer).

The building sustained heavy damage in 2004 from Hurricane Ivan. It was cited in 2007 by the City of Pensacola's code enforcement board for structural damage, sparking a restoration project aided by Pensacola City Councilmembers Ronald Townsend (in whose district the house sits) and Jewel Cannada-Wynn.

According to Townsend, "If I'm not mistaken, this probably is one of the last significant buildings still standing that has served a useful purpose to blacks in the past. We must preserve it."

References

• "Historic home seeks funds." Pensacola News Journal, September 17, 2007.