Timeline of Pensacola history

Pensacola, Florida has had a rich and colorful history dating nearly 450 years, being the first European settlement in the continental United States (1559) and controlled by five countries. Pensacola's location has caused great turmoil, with many buildings destroyed by wars, and by numerous major hurricanes. The location, south of the original British colonies, and as the dividing line between French Louisiana and Spanish Florida, along the Perdido River, has caused the possession of the city to change multiple times. Pensacola has been under the possession of the Spanish, French, British, United States and Confederate States, and has remained a part of the United States since the end of the American Civil War.

1500s

• 1515 – Ponce de Leon 'discovers' Florida.
• 1516 – Miruelos enters what may be Pensacola Bay.
• 1525 – Panfilo de Narveaz explores Florida.
• 1539 – Hernando de Soto explores Florida.
• June 11, 1559 – Members of Luna's expedition embark at Vera Cruz, Mexico, for their journey to establish Pensacola.
• August 14, 1559 – Luna's expedition enters Pensacola Bay.
• August 19, 1559 – A hurricane strikes Pensacola Bay, virtually destroying Luna's fleet.
• March 16, 1561 – Villafane arrives at Pensacola for relief for Luna's expedition after the hurricane of 1559.
• April 9, 1561 – Villafane becomes governor of Florida.
• 1565 – St. Augustine, on Florida's east coast, is founded by the Spanish, becoming the first permanent European settlement.

1600s

• April 6, 1682 – La Salle claims Louisiana for France.
• 1684 – Sieur de la Salle descends the Mississippi River and makes a failed attempt to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi.
• February 2, 1686 – An expedition under the command of Juan Enriques Barroto (Juan Jordan Reina) enters Pensacola Bay.
• June 26, 1692 – Conde de Galve, viceroy of Mexico, is given instructions by the Spanish king to explore the Gulf Coast.
• April 7, 1693 – Admiral Andres de Pez's expedition enters Pensacola Bay.
• June 13, 1694 – The King of Spain (Charles II?) gives the go ahead to settle Pensacola.
• November 6, 1698 – An expedition under Juan Jordan de Reina sails from Havana, Cuba, to settle Pensacola.
• November 17, 1698 – An expedition under the command of Juan Jordan Reina arrivs at Pensacola.
• November 21, 1698 – An expedition under the command of Andres de Arriola, arrived in Pensacola from Vera Cruz, Mexico.

1700s

• 1702 – French, under d'Iberville, found Mobile, Biloxi, and Dauphin Island.
• 1702 – Spanish settlers at Pensacola suffer a severe epidemic, probably yellow fever.
• 1704 – Pensacola receives its first women settlers.
• 1707 – Creek Indians, under the urging of the British, attack and burn Spanish Pensacola.
• 1707 – Creek Indians lay siege to Fort San Carlos at Pensacola, but withdraw.
• 1719 – Spanish recapture Pensacola.
• May 13, 1719 – French from Mobile sail to Pensacola in an attempt to capture the town.
• May 16, 1719 – The French fleet, under Jean Baptiste Le Moyne and his brother Sieur de Bienville, enter Pensacola Bay, fire on Fort San Carlos, and capture Pensacola.
• September 18, 1719 – French recapture Pensacola.
• 1720 – France and Spain make peace.
• 1722 – France burns Pensacola in a scorched earth policy. Spanish secure return of Pensacola from France and reoccupy, November 25. Spaniards build on Santa Rosa Island — the "Second Pensacola."
• 1723 – Spanish build a village on Santa Rosa Island.
• 1723 – French leave Pensacola.
• 1743 – The first timber export leaves Pensacola by the Havana Company.
• 1753-1763 – Spanish garrison at Pensacola.
• 1754 – Hurricane destroys the village of Pensacola on Santa Rosa Island. Survivors move to the mainland.
• December 23, 1757 – King Ferdinand VI issues royal orders naming settlement near San Miguel mission (near today's Seville Square) 'Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola,' or Panzacola — the "Third Pensacola."
• 1760 – A hurricane strikes Pensacola.
• 1763 – Spanish leave Pensacola as a result of the Treaty of Ghent, which gave Florida to the British.
• February 10, 1763 – The Spanish and British sign the Treaty of Paris, resulting in Spain ceding Florida to the British.
• July 10, 1763 – Colonel Augustine Prevost sails from Havana, Cuba with four ships and 350 men on their way to accept the transfer of Florida from Spain to Great Britain.
• August 5, 1763 – Lieutenant Colonel Augustine Prevost arrived in Pensacola with 350 men to accept the transfer of Florida from Spain to Great Britian.
• August 6, 1763 – Lieutenant Colonel Augustin Prevost and troops take command of Pensacola for the British.
• September 3, 1763 – The Spanish leave Pensacola.
• 1764 – First meeting of West Florida Council, November. Begins by declaring all titles purchased from departing Spaniards void. Surveyor Elias Durnford prepares a plan for the city. Divides town into building and garden lots with the dviding line being present day Garden Street.
• October 21, 1764 – George Johnstone arrives in Pensacola as West Florida's first British governor.
• November 24, 1764 – The first British council is convened.
• 1767 – George Johnstone is relieved as governor of West Florida and succeeded by Monfort Browne.
• 1769 – John Eliot arrives in Pensacola as the new governor.
• May 2, 1769 – John Eliot, governor of West Florida, hangs himself.
• July 31, 1769 – Elias Durnford is named acting Lieutenant Governor.
• 1770 – Peter Chester arrives in Pensacola as the new British governor.
• 1770 – Bernardo de Galvez is appointed governor of Spanish Louisiana.
• August 10, 1770 – Peter Chester arrived in Pensacola as governor of West Florida.
• 1773-1774 – Botanist William Bartram explores Florida across what is now known as the Bartram Trail.
• October 24, 1774 – Continental Congress writes to the Assembly in Pensacola, but is suppressed by Governor Chester.
• 1775-1783 – Revolutionary War, Florida remains loyal to England.
• January 1, 1777 – Don Bernardo de Galvez becomes the acting Governor of Louisiana.
• June 21, 1779 – Spain declares war on England, threatening peace in Florida.
• 1780 – Elias Durnford surrenders Mobile to Galvez.
• January 28, 1780 – Bernardo de Galvez sails from New Orleans in an abortive attempt to capture Pensacola.
• 1781 – The land now called St. Michaels Cemetery is designated a burying place.
• February 28, 1781 – Bernardo de Galvez sails again from New Orleans with an invasion force headed for Pensacola.
• March 9, 1781 – Bernardo de Galvez enters Pensacola Bay and lays siege to the British.
• May 7, 1781 – Bernardo de Galvez begins his siege of the British Fort George, located just north of Pensacola.
• May 8, 1781 – British General John Campbell surrenders Pensacola to Galvez after a shot from the Spanish cannon (mortar) destroys the British powder magazine.
• May 9, 1781 – British soldiers leave their fort at Pensacola, officially ending the British presence in Florida.
• 1783 – Florida given to Spain by England in exchange for Bahamas and Gibraltar. Most British settlers leave.
• 1784 – Spanish census of Pensacola. Population: 593 persons.
• 1785 – Panton, Leslie & Company is established in Pensacola.
• 1792 – Francisco Moreno is born in Pensacola.
• August 10, 1794 – Jackson Morton is born.
• 1795 – Spain yields its claim to the northern part of West Florida. The United States and Spain sign the Pickney Treaty establishing the borders between the United States and Spanish Florida.
• 1798 – William H. Chase is born in Massachusetts.

1800s

• 1801 – William Panton, co-owner of Panton, Leslie & Company, dies at sea
• 1803 – Louisiana Purchase. Capital of Spanish West Florida moves from New Orleans to Pensacola.
• 1804 – Panton, Leslie & Company changes its name to John Forbes & Company.
• 1805 – Population: 1,398 persons.
• 1807 – The Inneraity family assumes control of John Forbes & Company.
• 1808 – Thomas William Brent is born in Washington, DC.
• 1808 – Pensacolians rename their principal streets and plazas in honor of their deceased monarch, Ferdinand VII, and the spirited Spanish resistance movement against Napoleon.
• 1810 – Republic of West Florida proclaimed. Formal survey of St. Michaels Cemetery.
• 1810 – Population = 1,000 persons
• 1812 – Stephen Russell Mallory, future US Senator and Confederate Secretary of the Navy, was born in Trinidad
• 1812 – War of 1812, United States declares war on England, June 18. United States annexed portions of West Florida to Louisiana and to the Mississippi Territory.
• 1813 – General James Wilkinson and troops capture Mobile.
• August 30, 1813 – Fort Mims Massacre.
• March 27, 1814 – Andrew Jackson and his Tennessee Volunteers defeat the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
• November 14, 1814 – Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola and occupies it for the first time , November 7-9. He evicts British from the Spanish forts.
• June 20, 1815 – Angela Moreno (later Angela Moreno Mallory) is born.
• August 14, 1816 – John Innerarity writes James Innerarity that they expect an attack on Pensacola imminently.
• 1818 – Andrew Jackson captures St. Mark's.
• May 24, 1818 – Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola again to end Spanish supply of arms to Indians.
• February 22, 1819 – Spain and the United States signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, giving the United States possession of Florida.
• 1820 – Spanish census of Pensacola. Population: 712 persons.
• 1821 – Andrew Jackson leaves Pensacola.
• March 12, 1821 – Andrew Jackson is commissioned by President James Monroe to oversee the transfer of Florida to the United States and became Florida's first American governor.
• July 17, 1821 – The United States officially assumes control of Florida in a flag-exchange ceremony at Pensacola.
• July 17, 1821 – Jose Cavallo, Spanish governor of Florida, officially turns over Florida to Andrew Jackson, representing the United States.
• August 18, 1821 – The Floridian newspaper, published by George Tunstall and Cary Nicholas, issues its first edition.
• October 3, 1821 – A farewell party is given in honor of Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel at Austin's Tavern.
• 1821 – Florida is organized into two counties: Escambia (West Florida) and St. Johns (East Florida).
• March 30, 1822 – Florida is organized as a territory.
• July 22, 1822 – The 1st session of Florida's legislative council convenes in Pensacola.
• August 13, 1822 – The Pensacola Board of Health reports yellow fever present in Pensacola, forcing the legislative council to move elsewhere. Epidemic ultimately kills 237 people.
• 1822 – Jackson and Duval counties created, changing boundaries of Escambia and St. John's counties.
• March 13, 1824 – Pensacola Gazette and West Florida Advertiser are first published.
• May 16, 1824 – Edmund Kirby Smith, future Confederate General, is born in St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1824 – City of Pensacola incorporated.
• 1824-1826 – Road built from St. Augustine to Pensacola.
• 1825 – Paul Rosasco, father of Albert T. and William Sebastian, is born in Genoa, Italy.
• November 4, 1825 – A three-person board consisting of James Biddle, Lewis Warrington, and William Bainbridge, recommended the construction of a Navy Yard at Pensacola.
• April 20, 1826 – Commodore Lewis Warrington, United States Navy, assumes command of the Pensacola Navy Yard
• October 27, 1826 – Warrington's last day as commandant of the Navy Yard.
• November 8, 1826 – The Navy issues its first contract to area businessmen for lumber to be used in the construction of the Navy Yard.
• December 20, 1826 – Pensacola Lighthouse first illuminated.
• 1827 – The Naval Live Oaks Reservation is established on land previously owned by Henry M. Breckenridge.
• 1827''' -- 03/14/1827 – A labor strike commences in Pensacola.
• 1828 – The towns of Warrington and Woolsey are constructed for the workmen who are working at the Navy Yard.
• December 9, 1830 – Joseph Forsyth transfers half his land holdings to Andrew and Ezekiel Simpson, and together the three men built a lumber mill.
• 1830 – Florida's first Federal census. Indian removal begins.
• 1831 – Bank of Pensacola is chartered.
• 1832 – Old Christ Church is built in downtown Pensacola.
• 1833 – The first bank in Pensacola is organized.
• 1834 – Construction of Fort Pickens concludes.
• 1837 – Bank panic hits Pensacola
• 1838 – Stephen Russell Mallory marries Angela Moreno, daughter of Francisco Moreno.
• 1839 – Construction of Fort Barrancas commences.
• 1842 – Santa Rosa County is created from Escambia County.
• 1843 – Construction on Fort McRee commences.
• 1843 – Jonathon Walker is arrested on the coast of Florida while attempting to free several Pensacola slaves. He is put in jail in Pensacola, tried, sentenced to pay a fine and branded S.S. (for slave stealer) in the palm of the hand.
• 1844 – Construction of Fort Barrancas concludes.
• March 3, 1845 – Florida enters the Union as a State. Sections and townships are laid out by the General Land Office.
• March 4, 1849 – Jackson Morton takes his seat as a Whig in the United States Senate.
• 1850 – Stephen Russell Mallory is elected to the United States Senate.
• May 6, 1851 – Dr. John Gorrie patents his ice-making machine.
• 1852 – Yellow fever hits the Pensacola Area.
• 1853 – Yellow fever epidemic strikes Pensacola again.
• 1855 – Joseph Forsyth dies. His mill changes its name to Simpson & Company.
• March 3, 1855 – Jackson Morton resigns his seat in the United States Senate.
• May 16, 1856 – Construction begins on the Alabama & Florida Railroad between Pensacola and Montgomery, Alabama.
• October 30, 1856 – Major William H. Chase, who supervised the construction of the local forts, retires from military service.
• 1857-1859 – The USS Pensacola and USS Seminole are constructed at Pensacola.
• January 1, 1858 – The Pensacola Lighthouse goes into operation.
• June 25, 1859 – The USS Seminole is launched.
• January 5, 1861 – Florida's secession convention convenes in Tallahassee.
• January 6, 1861 – State troops seize the federal arsenal at Apalachicola.
• January 7, 1861 – State troops seized Fort Marion at St. Augustine. Adam Slemmer meets with the command of the Navy Yard as to what action should be taken in case local citizens and/or militia try to take possession of the Yard, or any of the forts.
• January 8, 1861 – First shots of Civil War fired at Fort Barrancas. Col. William Chase is authorized by Governor M. Perry to seize the forts at Pensacola.
• January 10, 1861 – Florida secedes from the Union. Adam Slemmer transfers his small artillery force from Fort Barrancas to Fort Pickens.
• January 12, 1861 – State officials demand the surrender of Fort Pickens. State troops seized the Navy Yard, Fort McRee, Fort Barrancas and Barrancas barracks
• January 15, 1861 – State officials (Col. William H. Chase) again demanded Fort Pickens surrender. Fort Pickens refuses to surrender and remains the only Union-controlled fort in the South during the Civil War.
• January 18, 1861 – State officials for a third time demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens.
• February 6, 1861 – The USS Brooklyn arrives off Fort Pickens with reinforcements.
• March 11, 1861 – General Braxton Bragg arrives in Pensacola and assumes command of all Confederate forces.
• April 12, 1861 – Confederate forces extinguish the Pensacola Lighthouse. Union troops aboard the USS Brooklyn land and reinforce artillery troops at Fort Pickens.
• April 19, 1861 – General Braxton Bragg declares martial law in Pensacola. President Abraham Lincoln issues orders that all Southern Ports be blockaded.
• September 2, 1861 – U.S. Navy boats destroy the Pensacola Navy Yard.
• September 14, 1861 – Union troops from Fort Pickens board and set fire to the Confederate ship Judah.
• October 9, 1861 – Battle of Santa Rosa Island.
• November 22, 1861 – Artillery exchanged between Fort Pickens and Confederate batteries.
• 1862 – Confederates burn the mills and many of the homes around the Bagdad area as they abandon Pensacola and the surrounding area.
• January 1, 1862 – Artillery duel between Confederates and Union
• May 9, 1862 – Confederate Forces evacuate Pensacola
• May 10, 1862 – Acting Mayor Broshaham surrenders Pensacola to Union officials after the Confederates evacuated the town.
• May 20, 1865 – Florida formally surrenders to Federal forces. Civil War over in June.
• 1867 – Perry home built by Danish-born Charles F. Boysen, currently the Scottish Rite Lodge (1922) at Palafox and Wright Streets.
• 1868 – Reconstruction in Florida ends.
• March 28, 1868 – The Pensacola & Louisville Railroad purchases the Alabama & Florida Railroad, which had gone bankrupted after the Civil War, for $55,000.
• May 25, 1868 – Florida readmitted to the Union.
• 1870 – The railroad connects Pensacola to the outside world, and the lumber boom begins.
• 1872 – Public school system established in Pensacola.
• November 9, 1873 – Stephen R. Mallory dies.
• November 20, 1874 – Jackson Morton dies.
• August 10, 1876 – First burial at St. Johns Cemetery.
• October 1, 1876 – F. C. Brent and Louis P. Knowles found the banking firm of Knowles & Brent.
• 1880 – Pensacola is Florida's third largest city.
• February 27, 1880 – Louisville & Nashville RR bought the Pensacola Railroad
• 1880s – Pensacola Gas Company founded.
• June 1, 1881 – Construction on the Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad begins.
• August 22, 1881 – Construction begins on railroad bridges over Pensacola Bay and the Choctahatchee and Apalachicola Rivers.
• 1882 – The Tarragona Street Depot is destroyed by fire.
• 1882 – Francisco Moreno dies.
• August 15, 1882 – The first passengers take a ride on the Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad.
• August 15, 1882 – The first train carrying passengers crosses the Pensacola Bay railroad bridge.
• 1883 – Opening of the Opera House, built by Daniel F. Sullivan.
• 1883 – Saunders Fish Company formed by Thomas E. Welles and Captain E. E. Saunders.
• April 11, 1883 – The Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad is completed between Pensacola and Jacksonville
• 1885 – A new court house is completed.
• May 20, 1885 – Milton's business district burns. Fire may have started in the Mayer Bros. store.
• 1886 – St Michael's Catholic Church is built.
• 1886 – Geronimo is brought to Pensacola as a prisoner.
• 1888 – First Presbyterian Church is built on Chase Street by Turner Construction Company.
• 1888 – Electric power company goes online.
• 1889 – F. C. Brent helps organize the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce.
• September 16, 1889 – The Pensacola Chamber of Commerce meets for the first time (organized) and William Dudley Chipley becomes the first president.
• 1890 – Horse drawn streetcar system becomes operational.
• 1890s – Fires sweep through Pensacola
• June 17, 1891 – Lee Square, formerly Florida Park, dedicated in memory of Jefferson Davis, Stephen R. Mallory, Edward A. Perry and the Confederate dead.
• 1892 – John A. Merritt marries the daughter of R. H. Turner
• January 23, 1892 – The First National Bank of Pensacola and the Brent's Bank merge.
• 1895 – Young Men's Business League of Pensacola founded.
• 1897 – Temple Beth-El built on Chase Street.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War erupts.
• March 21, 1898 – Pensacola Electric Railway Company goes into operation.
• c. 1898 – William D. Chipley monument erected in Ferdinand Plaza. Chipley was several times mayor of Pensacola, founder of the Florida Chautauqua and Florida State Senator. The monument is inscribed: "Soldier - Statesman - Public Benefactor."
• June 20, 1899 – Gunpowder at Fort Pickens explodes, destroying an entire bastion.

1900s

• 1900 – Baars, Dunwoody & Company established.
• 1900 – St. Anthony's Hospital established.
• 1900]] – Pensacola Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company established.
• 1900 – American National Bank established
• 1900 – Alger-Sullivan Company begins operation in Century.
• 1901 – Thiesen Building is constructed, named for Danish-born Chris Thiesen.
• 1902 – Pensacola establishes its first streetcar system.
• 1902 – Navy Yard receives a dry dock.
• 1904 – William, Albert, and Peter Rosasco buy the Bay Point Mill Company.
• 1905 – The last yellow fever epidemic in Pensacola.
• January 1, 1905 – F. C. Brent retires as the president of the First National Bank.
• November 1, 1905 – Fire erupts in downtown Pensacola destroying several buildings and prompting construction of the new Blount and Brent Buildings.
• 1906 – A category 3 hurricane hits Pensacola, 134 dead. The Navy Yard dry dock is destroyed.
• 1908 – New Pensacola City Hall built, current site of T. T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum.
• 1910 – Hotel San Carlos opens.
• October 20, 1911 – The United States Government closes the Pensacola Navy Yard and it is abandoned.
• November 17, 1913 – FDR arrives in Pensacola to announce plans for a Naval Air Station at Pensacola.
• January 20, 1914 – The first naval flight school was established at the Navy Yard.
• February 2, 1914 – The First National Bank of Pensacola collapses when a Liverpool-based timber firm goes bankrupt, marking the beginning of a Pensacola depression.
• 1915 – Pensacola Hospital (later Sacred Heart Hospital) opens on 12th Avenue by Daughters of Charity.
• 1916 – A hurricane hits Northwest Florida, destroying much of Pensacola and Milton.
• 1916 – The Newport Company, a naval stores industry, was established in Pensacola.
• 1917 – A hurricane hit Pensacola, destroying the Pensacola Opera House.
• 1918 – A flu epidemic strikes Pensacola.
• 1919 – Another serious influenza epidemic strikes Pensacola.
• 1920 – Ten cases of bubonic plague epidemic in Pensacola which includes 6 deaths.
• 1921 – The Newport Company closes.
• 1925 – Saenger Theatre built at current location on Palafox Street.
• 1926 – WCOA AM radio goes on the air.
• 1926 – A category 4 hurricane hits Gulf Coast, 134 dead.
• 1929 – The stock market crashes.
• 1930 – Warrington, a civilian community named for Capt. Lewis Warrington, moves from Naval Air Station to present site across Bayou Grande.
• 1930 – H. Clay Armstrong produces the History of Escambia County.
• 1931 – Bridges are built across Santa Rosa Sound and Pensacola Bay.
• 1936 – Spearman Brewery opens.
• 1938 – Pensacola's first public library opened for white residents of the community.
• January 24, 1939 – A post office is established in Gulf Breeze.
• 1941 – Pensacola Pulp & Paper Company opens, becomes St. Regis and then Champion International.
• December 7, 1941 – The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II.
• 1948 – Escambia General Hospital opens, becomes University Hospital.
• 1951 – Baptist Hospital opens.
• August 10, 1961 – Gulf Breeze's first mayor and city council are officially sworn into office.
• August 17, 1961 – The Gulf Breeze City Council holds its first official meeting.
• 1963 – University of West Florida founded, opens in 1967.
• October 5, 1995 – Hurricane Opal hits Pensacola.