Florida Historical Marker Program @ Florida OCHP
Markers List | Marker Types | Application | Markers Home
You selected Leon county.
Click Here To View The Entire Listing |
Click Here To Return To The Map Of Florida
- Title: BELLE VUE
Location:in storage, 4th Fl. of R.A. Gray Bldg.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Home of Prince and Princess Achille Murat, it was named for a hotel in Brussels where they spent many happy days. Prince Murat was the son of the King of Naples and nephew of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Princess Murat was the great grandniece of George Washington. Built about 1831 by Samual Duval, nephew of Governor Duval, for his bride Ellen Willis, sister of the Princess, it was later owned by Governor Bloxham.
- Title: OLD CITY CEMETERY
Location:Old City Cemetery between Call St. & Park Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The present boundaries of the Old City Cemetery were established by the Florida Territorial Council in 1829. Many pioneers and their slaves are buried here, although some early Tallahasseans were buried several hundred feet east of this site. The cemetery
also contains graves of Confederate and Federal troops (white and Negro), some of the fatalities from the Battle of Natural Bridge, 1865, which marked the end of the ill-fated Northern attempt to seize the capital during the War Between the States.
Sponsors: In Cooperation With
Anna Jackson Chapter UDC No. 224
Susan Bradford Eppes Chapter C of CO No. 26
- Title: UNION BANK
Location:in storage - 4th floor of R.A. Gray Bldg.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built circa 1830 for William Williams and owned briefly by Benjamin Chaires, the Union Bank Building was the probable site of two earlier banks. Their charters were purchased by the Union Bank, created February 13, 1833, by the Territorial Council and formally opened January 16, 1835, with John G. Gamble as president. It was capitalized at $1,000,000 and became territorial Florida's major bank. The Panic of 1837, Indian
wars, and unsound banking practices led to its closing in 1843. It was purchased by William Bailey and Isaac Mitchell in 1847, then after the Civil War by the Freedmen's Bank. Its later uses were as a church and the site of various business enterprises.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
In Cooperation with
Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Incorporated
- Title: THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
Location: remains of maker in storage - 4th fl., R.A. Gray B
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Established March 3, 1905, by John G. Collins as "The Weekly True Democrat." Milton A. Smith bought the paper in 1908. On April 6, 1915, he made it "The Daily Democrat." Lloyd C. Griscom, became owner in 1929. It was purchased by Knight Newspapers,
Inc., March 1, 1965. This, its third plant, was occupied in 1968. Earlier ones: 115 South Adams and 100 East Call.
Tallahassee's first newspaper was the "Florida Intelligencer", founded February 19, 1825, nine months before city was incorporated. The Capital never has been without an alert,
vigorous press. Vol. 1, No. 1 of The "True Democrat" explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of The Old Time Democracy ... as distinguished from ... mischievous à fads and fallacies of the day."
Sponsors: Donated by the Tallahassee Democrat In Cooperation With Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
- Title: BATTLE OF NATURAL BRIDGE
Location: Natural Bridge State Historic Site, Natural Bridge
County: Leon
City: South of Tallahassee
Description: The first two sessions of the territorial legislature were held at St. Augustine and Pensacola. The hazards of traveling between cities 400 miles apart prompted legislators in 1824 to locate a new capital at Tallahassee, between the two cities. Log buildings that housed the government made way in 1826 for a two-story masonry structure. This was succeeded in 1845 by what is now the core of the present historic capitol. A dome and wings were added in 1902, and further additions made in 1923, 1936 and 1947. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and restored to its 1902 appearance in 1982.
Sponsors: Florida Department of State
- Title: PRINCE AND PRINCESS MURAT
Location:on Call Street, St.John's Episcopal Cemetery.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Prince Achille Murat was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and the son of General Jochaim Murat, King of Naples. He settled in Florida in 1825, and as attorney, county judge, and director of Tallahassee's Union Bank, he played an active role in public
life. Princess Catherine Willis Murat was the great grandneice of George Washington. Their plantations, "Lipona" and "Econchatti," were centers of social activity. Twin marble
obelisks mark their graves in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery. The Murat seal is on the surrounding wall.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
In Cooperation With
Florida Society Colonial Dames XVII Century
- Title: TALLAHASSEE, CAPITAL OF FLORIDA
Location:S.R. 263, Municipal Airport Tallahassee
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: DeSoto wintered here (1539-40). In 1633, the Spaniards established a chain of forts and missions to convert Apalache Indians. These were destroyed by the British in 1704 and the
area reverted to wilderness. This site was selected as the capital of the Territory of Florida in 1824, and Congress granted Lafayette a township for his service during the Revolution.
Tallahassee became the antebellum center of the Florida cotton belt and was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not taken in the War. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A.&M. University (1887).
- Title: BELLE VUE - HOME OF THE PRINCESS MURAT
Location:Rankin Avenue on grounds of Tallahassee Museum of
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Former home of Catherine Daingerfield Willis, great-grandniece of George Washington and widow of Archille Murat, Prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon. During the Second French Empire she was recognized as a princess and financially assisted by Napoleon
III, whose court she visited. She lived in this house from 1854 until shortly before her death, on August 6, 1867. The house, moved to this site in 1967 from its original location on the Jackson Bluff Road, is an excellent example of indigenous Southern architecture.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
In Cooperation With Murat House Association, Inc.
- Title: SAINT CLEMENT'S CHAPEL CHURCH OF THE ADVENT
Location:Piedmont Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Built in the town of Lloyd in 1890, this Episcopal chapel was dedicated as St. Clement's Church on June 14, 1895, by Edwin Gardner Weed, 3rd Bishop of Florida. William Betton of Tallahassee designed and built the structure at a cost of $3,500. The furnishings are the original ones, including the pine pews and reed organ. The Bishop's Chair, oldest in Florida, dates from 1838 and is the only one in existence that the first five Bishops of Florida all used. The chapel was moved to this site and rededicated on November 29, 1959, by Edward Hamilton West, 5th Bishop of Florida.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials
In Cooperation With The Church of the Advent
- Title: THE MISSION OF SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO DE PATALE
Location:North CR-158 at the site of the Patale Mission.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1633, the province of Apalachee in Spanish Florida received its first full-time resident missionaries. The Franciscan Mission of San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale which was located about one hundred yards north of this marker was one of the first missions with a resident priest to be established in the region after that date. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, this outpost of Spanish domination was designed to convert and "civilize" the Indians. It also served as a center for the civil and military authority of Spain on the frontier. Archeological investigations at the site in 1971 revealed the structural remains of the mission church and other buildings and a cemetery for the burial of Christians containing some 64 graves.
The mission of Patale evidently continued as an important segment of the mission system until its destruction in June, 1704. By that time, the colonial rivalry between Spain and England had become very keen. In 1703-1704, Colonel James Moore of South Carolina led an English expedition to destroy the Spanish Apalachee missions. On June 23, 1704, Patale was attacked and captured by the English who then used the mission as a base of
operations. A counterattack by the Spanish and their Indian allies in July resulted in another victory for the English. After this, the Patale mission site seems to have been abandoned. But during the decades of its existence, it played an integral part in the military, political, and religious background of the Tallahassee area.
Sponsors: Sponsored by Fred O. Dickinson, Jr.
In Cooperation With Department of State
- Title: OLD PISGAH
Location:on CR-151 (Moccasin Gap Road).
County: Leon
City: North of Tallahassee
Description: Missionaries sent by the South Carolina Conference of theMethodist Episcopal Church held services for the Centreville community settlers at this site in the early 1820's. John Slade,
known as the "Father of Methodism in Florida," organized the "Society" at Pisgah on May 3, 1830, with thirty-four charter members. During the Ante-Bellum period, Pisgah became one of the leading churches in Middle Florida. Charter members Jacob Felkel and his wife Rose Anne deeded seven acres to the church's trustees on December 12, 1858, for $125.00. Under the leadership of presiding elder Simon Peter Richardson and the pastor, Robert Hudson Howren, the present building was erected at that time at a cost of $5,200.
Pisgah is one of the oldest remaining church structures in Florida. Architecturally significant, it is representative of early church design. Special features include hand-hewn box pews
and galleries lighted by clerestory windows. The new sanctuary was dedicated on May 1, 1859, by the Reverend Richardson, who returned in 1863 to serve as pastor. While at Pisgah he was elected Captain of the Centreville "Old Guard" the local home defense unit. Pisgah has served as a cultural center for the community hosting political rallies, temperance meetings, musical programs and lectures as well as religious services. Since 1924, an annual homecoming has been observed on the first Sunday in May with state-wide educational, political, or religious leaders conducting the service.
Sponsors: Sponsored by Old Pisgah United Methodist Church
In Cooperation With Department of State
- Title: EASTERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.e. corner 3 mi. north s.e. corner 3 mi. south
Location:
Former location: U.S. 90 near Lafayette Vineyards; now reported missing
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description:
During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion.
General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
- Title: NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.w. corner2.3 mi. west n.e. corner 3.7 mi. east
Location:Former location along U.S. 319 -- now reported missing
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion.
General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
- Title: SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT S.w. corner 1.4 mi. west s.e. corner 4.6 mi east
Location:Former location on the Apalachee Parkway -- now reported missing
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion.
General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
- Title: SELECTION OF FLORIDA'S CAPITAL
Location:Tallahassee, Monroe and Apalachee Parkway on Capit
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Under Spanish rule Pensacola was the capital of West Florida, while East Florida's capital was St. Augustine. In 1821 the U.S. took possession and in 1822 William P. Duval succeeded Andrew Jackson as territorial governor. Dr. William H. Simmons, St.
Augustine, and John Lee Williams, Pensacola, were appointed to select a central location for a capital. They explored the area around St. Marks and chose the old Indian village, Tallahassee. Shortly thereafter, the land was surveyed and the town incorporated.
- Title: THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
Location:Magnolia Drive in front of the Tall. Democrat Bldg
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Florida's capital has never been without an alert, vigorous press. Tallahassee's first newspaper, the Florida Intelligencer, was founded on February 19, 1825, nine months before the city was incorporated. The Tallahassee Democrat traces its ancestry to March 3, 1905, when John G. Collins founded his Weekly True Democrat. He explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of the Old Time Democracyàas distinguished fromàmischievousàfads and fallacies of the day." Collins sold the newspaper to Milton A. Smith in 1908. On April 6, 1915, Smith changed its name to the Daily Democrat. Lloyd C. Griscom became owner in 1929, and Knight Newspapers, Inc., purchased it on March 1, 1965. The structure you see is the newspaper's third plant, opened in May, 1968. Earlier plants were located at 115 S. Adams and 100 E. Call St.
Sponsors: sponsored by the tallahassee democrat
in cooperation with department of state
- Title: THE APALACHEE MISSIONS
Location: On Mission Road at San Luis Archaeological Site
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: From 1633 until 1704, Franciscan monks established and operated a chain of missions and attempted to convert Florida Indians to Christianity. Apalachee missions also served as Spanish Florida's western defense network. In 1633, about 10,000 Indians lived in Apalachee Province: present-day Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla counties. There were eighteen Franciscan missions in Apalachee Province, though all did not exist at the same time. Each mission had two principal structures, a church and a convent, which were constructed of a wooden framework plastered with clay. The mission buildings were constructed by local Indian labor. A priest served each mission, and soldiers were garrisoned at the nearby fort of San Luis de Talimali. In 1704, Colonel James Moore led a force of 1,500 whites and Yamassee Indians from the British colony of South Carolina into Apalachee Province. This army killed several priests, destroyed their missions, and enslaved many Indians. Few people remained in the area after Moore's raid, and Spain soon abandoned her province of Apalachee.
Sponsors: SPONSORED BY THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: THE FORT WALTON CULTURE
Location:R.A. Gray Building, 4th Floor North Storage
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Seven hundred years ago, the rolling country around Tallahassee was the seat of one of the most advanced Indian cultures of Eastern North America. The society was organized into classes, the highest of which consisted of chiefs and their families. The main chief lived at the place now called Lake Jackson Indian Mounds. Less important chiefs lived at smaller sites, one of which was located directly across the lake from here on Rollins Point. The Indians constructed large flat-topped earthen mounds at places like these, then built their important structures on top. The ordinary people in society were farmers, who grew corn, beans, and squash. They lived in houses near their fields, but they visited the chiefs from time to time in order to participate in religious ceremonies and to donate food or labor. The Indians of this area traded with people as far away as the Great Lakes. Chiefs used some trade items, such as embossed copper plates and carved shell pendants, as badges of office. The descendants of these people still lived nearby and called themselves Apalachee when Desoto passed through this area in 1539.
Sponsors: sponsored by department of state
- Title: CAPITOL OF FLORIDA
Location: Monroe St. and Apalachee Parkway, on Capitol grounds
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Capitol site was selected before Tallahassee was founded. Three log buildings housed the government in 1824. A wing of the permanent Capitol, financed by sale of city lots, was built in 1826 but was later torn down. Another building was completed in
1845. Added in 1902 were the Capitol dome and the north and south extensions. The east and west wings were dedicated in 1922, the north wing in 1937, and the south wing in 1947.
- Title: OLD CAPITOL OF FLORIDA
Location: In front of Old Capitol on Monroe St. at Apalachee Parkway
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The first two sessions of the territorial legislature were held at St. Augustine and Pensacola. The hazards of traveling between cities 400 miles apart prompted legislators in 1824 to locate a new capital at Tallahassee, between the two cities. Log buildings that housed the government made way in 1826 for a two-story masonry structure. This was succeeded in 1845 by what is now the core of the present historic capitol. A dome and wings were added in 1902, and further additions made in 1923, 1936 and 1947. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and restored to its 1902 appearance in 1982.
Sponsors: Florida Department of State
- Title: THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Location: West end of Copeland Street, Westcott Building,
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Florida State University campus is the oldest continuously used site of higher education in the state of Florida. In 1851, the Florida Legislature authorized the establishment of two state seminaries, on east and one west of the Suwannee River. Eager to attract the western seminary, the city of Tallahassee, under the leadership of Intendent (Mayor) Francis Eppes, offered to donate four city lots on which to locate the school and provide $2,000 a year for its operation. The site chosen for the new institution was the crest of "Gallows Hill," located about a half mile west of the center of town. The West Florida Seminary opened in 1857, the first classes being held in a wood frame building erected by the city. Eppes, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, served for eight years as president of the seminary's governing board. In 1901, the name of the school was changed to Florida State College and in 1909 it became the Florida State College for Women. The Florida Legislature transformed the college into a fully coeducational institution in 1947, creating The Florida State University.
Sponsors: florida heritage landmarksponsored by the florida state universityand florida department of statesandra b. mortham, secretary of state
- Title: LEON COUNTY
Location:in front of County Courthouse, across street from
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Originally part of Escambia and later Gadsden Counties, Leon was created by the territorial legislature in 1824. Named for Juan Ponce de Leon, discoverer of Florida, it became antebellum Florida's most prosperous and populous county, Cotton thrived in
its fertile soil. Tallahassee, the county seat, has been the state capital since 1824. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A&M University (1887).
Sponsors: In Cooperation With Leon County Commissioners
- Title: FIRST CHRISTMAS SERVICE
Location:North of Tallahassee off U.S. 27 near Lake Jackson
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In this vicinity was the Indian village of Anhayea. Here the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men spent the fall and winter of 1539-40. Since twelve priests accompanied the Spaniards, it is probable that the first Christmas service in the United States was celebrated here.
Sponsors: In Cooperation With Leon County Commissioners
- Title: LEWIS BANK
Location:South Monroe St. at the Lewis State Bank Bldg.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1856 by B.C. Lewis as a private banking business, the oldest bank in Florida has grown with the city and section, in size and services rendered. Since its founding, sons have followed fathers in the profession.
Sponsors: In Cooperation With Lewis State Bank
- Title: DALE MABRY FIELD
Location:Tallahassee, Appleyard Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In October 1940, hundreds of laborers began clearing swampland for temporary quarters for Dale Mabry Army Air Base, named in honor of a young Tallahassee dirigible pilot who died in 1922 after serving in World War I. In 1941, America entered World War II. The need for a place to train pilots prompted the federal government to set a 90-day completion deadline. Eventually, the base became a nearly self-sufficient city, with several runways, barracks, officers’ quarters, mess hall, hangers, a hospital, a church and a bowling alley. Some sections of the base’s asphalt runway are still visible, as are several concrete tie-down pads. Over 8,000 pilots from Europe, China and the United States trained here in P-39s, P-40s, P-47s and P-51s. This marker is at the edge of the NW/SE runway near the point where planes took off or landed. Over a dozen pilots died in accidents while learning how to fire at targets such as a giant, plywood “bull’s eye” at Alligator Point to the south. During 1943, 79,000 family members came to Tallahassee, then a town of 16,000, to visit pilots-in-training. The base was deactivated in 1945 and served as a commercial airport until 1961, when Tallahassee Regional Airport opened.
Sponsors: TALLAHASSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: FLORIDA A AND M UNIVERSITY
Location:At Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. near Palmer Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Founded in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored Students, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is the only historically state supported educational facility for African Americans in Florida. It has always been co-educational. In 1890, the second Morrill Act was passed. This enabled the school to become the Black Land Grant College for the State of Florida. In 1891, the college was moved from its original location west of town to its present location, which was once the site of “Highwood,” Territorial Governor W.P. Duval’s slave plantation. It is on one of the highest hills in Tallahassee. The school was known as Florida A & M College from 1909 until 1953, when it attained university status. On May 6, 1996, the historic Florida A and M College campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places based on the school’s historic significance and the architectural style of its buildings. The designation also recognized the national achievements and contributions of FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff. In 1997, in national competition, FAMU was named “College of the Year” in Time Magazine’s Princeton Review.
Sponsors: The Black Archives, Research Center and Museum at FAMU and the Florida Department of State
- Title: PLANTATION CEMETERY AT BETTON HILLS
Location: Tallahassee
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: THE PLANTATION CEMETERY AT BETTON HILLS
The site is all that remains of a much larger cemetery for African Americans dating from the pre-Civil War era through the 1940s. It was the main burial ground for black slaves and servants from the Betton Plantation as well as other surrounding plantations. The plantation system grew in North Florida as cotton plantations to the north depleted their soil from overuse. Prominent early plantations in this region included Goodwood, Waverly, and Live Oak. Turbett Betton was a prominent Tallahassee merchant who purchased roughly 1,200 acres from the Lafayette estate, lying between Thomasville and Centerville Roads. Shortly after Betton’s death in 1863, the land was purchased by Guy Winthrop. The emancipation of the slaves ruined the cotton industry and many planters turned their land into quail hunting plantations. In 1945, the Winthrop family began subdividing the property for a new housing community called Betton Hills. Henry Watson, buried at the back of the lot with his wife, was one of Winthrop’s servants. However, most of the burials were marked with a simple wooden cross or flowers, and so no longer remain. Evidence of a burial site is marked by elongated depressions in the earth covered with altered vegetation.
A FLORIDA HERITAGE SITE
SPONSORED BY BETTON HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION,
RILEY HOSUSE HEREITAGE MUSEUM,
AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Character count: 1,234 1999
Sponsors: BETTON HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: CHAIRES HISTORIC DISTRICT
Location:
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The community of Chaires was established in the 1820s during Floridas Territorial Period (1821-1845). The community is named after Green Hill Chaires, who, along with his two brothers, Benjamin and Thomas Peter, came from Georgia and established vast plantations in Eastern Leon County. Chaires plantation eventually grew to 20,000 acres with a home on Lake Lafayette. It was later destroyed and his wife, two of his children and several of his slaves were massacred in 1839 during the Second Seminole Indian War (1835-1842). He then built a house called Evergreen and his brother, Thomas Peter, built a house called Woodlawn. In 1851, Green Chaires built the states first plank road, which connected upland plantations to the Gulf Coast shipping communities of Newport and St. Marks. The establishment of Railroad Station #1 in 1857 and the Chaires Post Office in 1858 contributed to the sense of community. By the turn of the century, Chaires was the commercial hub for the area, with a cotton gin and packinghouse, public schools, stores and churches. Today, Chaires retains much of its turn-of-the-century character. In December 2000, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sponsors: THE LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSS AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: VILLAGE OF MICCOSUKEE
Location:
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1778 the British mapped this once thriving community, originally called Mikasuki, with sixty houses, a square, 28 families and 70 gunmen. The village was first settled by Native Americans of Creek descent who were often in armed conflict with white settlers. In 1818 Andrew Jackson and his men invaded, defeating the forces of village leader Kinhagee. Most of the Native Americans fled, but the areas fertile soil drew settlers and the area was soon resettled. A U.S. Post Office was built in 1831, as were churches, schools, and general stores. The town became a prime location for some of the areas largest cotton plantations. After the Civil War, agriculture remained the mainstay, and by 1887 a railroad served the community. In the 1890s, wealthy northern industrialists began purchasing large tracts of land to use as winter quail hunting estates, taking thousands of acres of land out of agricultural production. Yet the community continued to thrive until the boll weevil insect infestation of 1916 and the Great Depression (1929-1935) destroyed Leon Countys agricultural base. The rail line ceased operations by the mid-1940s, leaving the Miccosukee community of today rich in turn-of-the-century charm.
Sponsors: LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
- Title: OLD FORT BRADEN SCHOOL
Location:
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Fort Braden was established in 1839 as a military outpost during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). At the end of the war the fort was abandoned, but the small farming community that had developed nearby continued. A school in the Fort Braden area was first mentioned in an 1847 Tallahassee Floridian article reporting tax collections at the Fort Braden schoolhouse. Early education in rural Leon County was provided at small, one-room schools. The education these schools offered was inferior to that of urban areas. Yet over the next 80 years, many of these schools were built in Fort Braden and around the county. Consolidation of the schools was proposed at the turn of the 20th century, but did not start until the 1920s when motorized school buses and improved roadways made it possible to transport students to a centralized location. In 1926, the four-classroom Fort Braden School was constructed, featuring an inset entrance and double doors with molded accents. The school served as an education facility and community center for the next 66 years until 1993 when the new Fort Braden School replaced it. Today, the Old Fort Braden School continues to serve the citizens of Fort Braden as a community center.
Sponsors: LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
- Title: JACKSONVILLE, PENSACOLA AND MOBILE RAILROAD
Location:
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company Freight Depot, built in 1858, is one of the oldest railroad buildings in Florida and the oldest still used as a passenger rail station. The one-story depot was built when Tallahassee was the center of Floridas cotton trade. By 1885 the two-story addition was added. Middle Florida (now North Florida), with its rich agriculture lands, grew rapidly in the 19th century. By 1890, Leon County was the top producer of livestock, sweet potatoes, corn and cotton in the state. With cotton in great demand, Tallahassee was the regions commercial hub, shipping 16,686 bales of ginned cotton in 1860. Wagons brought the cotton from local plantations to be processed. It then went by rail to the coast for shipping. A new rail line between Pensacola and Jacksonville provided access to ports and made transporting both freight and passengers easier. In 1905 a passenger station was built across from the original one. It was used continuously until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service ended. Tallahassee was a freight only stop until 1992 when passenger services resumed, with the old freight depot used as the passenger station.
- Title: GOVERNOR W.D. BLOXHAM HOUSE
Location: 410 North Calhoun Street
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Side 1: This Federal-style building was constructed in 1844 by Richard A. Shine, a prominent builder and mason who constructed the south wing of Floridas Capitol in 1845. In 1881, Mary C. Bloxham, Governor Bloxhams wife, acquired the property. Governor Bloxham, the owner of a plantation west of Tallahassee, used the house as a town residence during his two terms as governor, 1881-1885 and 1897-1901. The house was used by Governor Edward A. Perry, 1885-1889. In 1911, when Governor Bloxham died, Gertrude M. Bloxham, his second wife, became its owner and in 1913 sold it. A number of ownerships and uses followed, including as a rooming house and hotel. In 1977, the Florida Heritage Foundation purchased the property and developed plans for restoration of the house, but was unable to raise sufficient funds. In 1979, one of its members, Frances Cushing Ervin, purchased the property and restored the house to its original architectural style and elegance.
Side 2: Governor Bloxhams career of public service was extensive and included representing Leon County in the Florida House of Representatives, serving as Floridas Secretary of State and Comptroller and as United States Surveyor-General for Florida. He was a popular war veteran, having organized an infantry company in Leon County in 1862 and served as its commander throughout the Civil War. Governor Bloxham, Floridas first native-born governor, is remembered for founding the Florida Normal and Agricultural College for Colored Students, now Florida A & M University, and for restoring to fiscal solvency Floridas Internal Improvement Trust Fund by selling four million acres in the Everglades. He was governor during the Spanish-American War when Florida served as a principle staging area and its ports were major embarkation points for United States military activities in Cuba.
Sponsors: THE TALLAHASSEE TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
- Title: MISSION SAN LUIS
Location: 2020 Mission Road
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Mission San Luis, established by Spanish members of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), served the Apalachee Indians located in present day Leon and Jefferson Counties. Its name may have been a tribute to Luis Horruytiner, the governor who began the mission effort. San Luis was established shortly after 1633 at Xinayca near the present State Capitol and the Hernando de Soto winter campsite of 1539-40. The mission was moved in 1656 to Talimali, an important Apalachee town. For three generations, Mission San Luis was the religious and military administrative center for the Apalachee region. In addition to 1500 Apalachees, the Mission was home to the Deputy Governor, soldiers, friars and Spanish settlers. On July 31,1704, two days before Colonel James Moore and a column of Carolina militiamen and Creek warriors reached Talimali, the mission, town and fort were evacuated and burned to keep the enemy from using them. Colonel Moore destroyed many mission villages and enslaved thousands, forever ending Apalachees Fransiscan missions. Apalachee descendants now live in Louisiana and remain Roman Catholic. The State of Florida purchased the Mission San Luis site in 1983 to protect it for future generations.
Sponsors: THE COLONIAL DAMES
- Title: THE JOHN GILMORE RILEY HOUSE
Location:419 E. Jefferson St.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: John Gilmore Riley was born in 1857, the son of Sarah and James Riley. He was not formally educated, but was instructed by his Aunt Henrietta. Riley became principal of Lincoln Academy, Tallahassee’s first local high school for African Americans in 1893 and served until retiring in 1926. He was a life-long member of St. James CME Church and Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons of Florida. He owned a significant amount of property in Tallahassee near the Capitol Center. Riley died in 1954, the same year that the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was rendered. Records indicate that the site on which the Riley House sits was sold to John Gilmore Riley by Aaron Levy on August 17, 1885 for $125. The two-story wood fame house was built in 1890. It was the home for the Riley family until 1973 when they sold it to the City of Tallahassee. The house was placed on t he National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and was restored with joint funding from the City of Tallahassee and the Department of the Interior. In 1982 the Florida NAACP partnered with the Riley Foundation to purchase the house.
Sponsors: THE JOHN G. RILEY FOUNDATION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: KNOTT HOUSE
Location:301 E. Park Ave.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: Evidence points to George Proctor, a free black man, as the probable builder of this structure in 1843.The house was a wedding gift for Catherine Gamble, the bride of attorney Thomas Hagner. In 1865 the house was used as a temporary Union Headquarters by Brigadier General McCook. On May 20, 1865, McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation from the front steps of the house, declaring freedom for all slaves in the Florida Panhandle. After the Civil War a locally prominent physician, George Betton, bought the house, bringing with him a young buggy driver named William Gunn, a former slave. When Gunn expressed an interest in learning medicine, Betton funded his study at medical school and helped him establish a practice in Tallahassee. Gunn became Florida’s first black physician. In 1928 the Knott family acquired the house, had the front columns added and lived here until 1985. William Knott served the State of Florida for over 40 years as its first State Tax Auditor, as Comptroller, and Treasurer. His wife Luella Knott was an artist, musician, and poet. She named hr home “ The House That Rhymes,” and filled it with Victorian era furnishings. Almost every piece is adorned with a poem narrating history and moral lessons, written with charm and wit. Luella was also a political activist. The sale of alcohol was banned in the state’s capital for over fifty years, in part because of Mrs. Knott’s involvement with the temperance movement.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: JOHN W. MARTIN HOUSE
Location:1001 DeSoto Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: John Martin was born in Plainfield, Marion County, Florida on June 21, 1884. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1914. He joined the Democratic Party and toured the state making speeches in support of President Woodrow Wilson before and during World War I. From 1917 until 1923 Martin served three terms as Mayor of Jacksonville. In 1924 he ran and was elected Florida’s 24th Governor, serving from January 1925 until January 1929, during the height and collapse of the Florida Real Estate Boom. Martin was the first candidate to solicit the women’s vote. At the bottom of his political advertisements was the phrase “The Ladies are Especially Invited.” During his administration he proposed a change in the state constutitujion to allow the state to provide direct assistance to public elementary schools. This was ratified by the voters in 1926. Wildlife conservation programs were also begun in the state, with the restocking of quail and deer and the establishment of fish hatcheries. Martin’s house, called Apalachee,” was constructed in the early 1930’s on his 27 acres. It is of the Georgian Revival style. In 1941, Martin sold the property to local developers who incorporated all but approximately six acres into a new subdivision called Governor’s Park. Martin moved back to Jacksonville where he lived until his death in January 1958.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: DE SOTO WINTER ENCAMPMENT SITE 1539-1540
Location:De Soto Drive
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: In 1539, a Spanish expeditionary force led by Hernando De Soto landed in the Tampa Bay area. Nearly 600 heavily armed adventurers traveled more than 4000 miles from Florida to Mexico intending to explore and control the Southeast of North America. The route of de Soto has always been uncertain, including the location of the village of Anhaica, the first winter encampment. The place was thought to be in the vicinity of present day Tallahassee, but no physical evidence had ever been found. Calvin Jones’ chance discovery of 16th century Spanish artifacts in 1987 settled the argument. Jones, a state archaeologist, led a team of amateurs and professionals in an excavation which recovered more than 40,000 artifacts. The evidence includes links of chain mail armor, copper coins, the iron tip of a crossbow bolt, Spanish olive jar shards, and glass trade beads. The team also found the jaw bone of a pig. Pigs were not native to the New World and historical documents confirm that the expedition brought swine. These finds provided the physical evidence the 1539-40 winter encampment, the first confirmed de Soto site in North America. From this location, the de Soto expedition traveled northward and westward making the first European contact with many native societies. Within two centuries, most of the southeastern native cultures were greatly diminished by the affects of European contact and settlement.
Sponsors: THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: WILHELMINA JAKES AND CARRIE PATTERSON: INITIATORS OF THE TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTT
Location:On the campus of Florida A&M University
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson boarded a crowded Tallahassee city bus and sat in the only seats available, in the front next to a white female passenger. The bus driver ordered them to the back of the bus, but they refused. Outraged, the driver pulled the bus over and called the police. The two students were arrested and charged with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” The next night a cross was burned on their lawn. In response, FAMU students, led by SGA President Brodes Hartley, held a mass meeting and voted to stop riding city buses. This sparked the ten-month-long Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the second major successful economic protest of the Civil Rights Movement. Other citizens embraced the boycott. Local religious leaders and community members founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) and elected Rev. C.K. Steele, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as president. The ICC expanded the boycott, which ended in March 1957. Months of defiant walking, carpooling and legal battles and the fortitude of Jakes, Patterson and other FAMU Freedom Fighters, helped sustain America’s promise of equal rights and justice for all citizens.
Sponsors: FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITYAND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- Title: OLD BRADFORDVILLE SCHOOL
Location:3439 Bannerman Rd.
County: Leon
City: Tallahassee
Description: The Bradfordville School is a one-room school house built c. 1884-1893, where many generations of children, in elementary to eighth grade classes, received their primary education. It is an example of one-room schools once scattered throughout the area that gave rural children educational opportunities that would otherwise not have been available. The school is a wood frame vernacular structure with a whitewash exterior. The majority of the windows are six over six double hung sash wood. Now gone are two outbuildings used as restroom--one for girls and one for boys. The school was originally located at the intersection of Thomasville and Bradfordville Roads on property owned by the Lester family. In 1906 it was purchased by the Leon County Board of Public Instruction for the sum of $1.00. Declining attendance forced its closure in 1930. In 1940 ownership was transferred to the Leon County Commission. The building has been moved twice in an attempt to preserve it. The first move was in 1997 when a road expansion was planned for Thomasville Road. The second was in 2005 when the land was sold and it was moved to its present site. The building is currently used as a community center under the management of Leon County.
Sponsors: THE LEON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
.
Help Us Improve Our Website!