John Appleyard

Pensacola History

In recent months, News Journal accounts have reported on concerns over jobs, coming and going, being preserved or pursued by international actions and more. Such stories are news, thus what occurred on Pensacola's waterfront beginning Nov. 21, 1959 was historically typical, especially as the community examines the before and after events which altered a part of the city's economy.

That story's beginning related to the fire which devastated the docks and warehouses, which until recently had been operated by the L&N Railroad. The facilities, transferred in May of 1957 to the Pensacola Port Authority, were leveled by fire by the November nighttime blaze. Port Authority members, city officials and the Chamber of Commerce all quickly assumed positions of hope that the lost buildings and equipment could be replaced in months. Things turned out quite differently.

Through the late 1950s, port traffic had enjoyed a strong improvement as the Authority's 12 members exercised influence which brought new companies and new cargoes into play. The region's recently established manufacturers were becoming larger port users.

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Industrial papers, nylon, chemical were all passing across the docks regularly. The port itself, with more than 100 longshoremen, and community officers like the harbor master, custodian of timbers, pilots and the manager, was an employer of reasonable size. There also were modest-sized enterprises which supported cargo product storage and loading.

To make the point, these were among those businesses active in November 1958: four stevedore companies; six freight forwarders; two ship chandlers; two towing companies (operating tug-barge operations); four steamship line agents; two ship repair concerns; a marine surveyor; and a half-dozen firms whose work was, generally, in supplying incoming vessels.

Big ships bring big business to Port of Pensacola

It is not possible to identify the total of the supply items which several companies provided by order from the ships. Each of those firms had significant staffing, many of whose members would be seen regularly on the docks or on board the visiting ships. As a group, members of these firms had a certain solidarity, for they had seen and participated in the surge of shipping (and profits) that had come with the Port Authority's management. Into 1958, the port was becoming a worthy economic engine.

The fire generated a huge (and immediate) change. The docks-warehouses had been a total loss. To sustain cargo movements, all of these had to be scheduled through the western (Frisco Railroad) docks, which also had come under Authority ownership-management in 1957. Day to day there were optimistic statements from the Authority members, and from some of the ancillary agencies. However, within just days it was obvious that the destroyed facilities had rested on a forest of support pilings, some of the poles half a century old and deeply embedded in the port soil. Just removing them would be a long, difficult task.

Then came reality that to design a modern version of the lost docks — and to pay for the construction — would be time consuming and expensive. The Authority had little money, and no bonding credibility. It would be months before the Authority and city formed a unit to seek bond issuance. This did come, but its pace was discouragingly slow.

It came to appear that activities through the port were sure to slow — significantly. One by one the firms which had been the backup muscles to shipping reduced force or shut down entirely. It would be February 1962 before the first elements of a new port terminal were dedicated. By then a large portion of the high-cargo traffic of the 50s had sought shipping services elsewhere. That February, it was not difficult to determine how many of the smaller support firms were still functioning. Fewer than 20 percent of their number attended the dedication ceremonies. And, as years passed and a new port and shipping profile developed, the loss of those businesses proved permanent.

Thus as history had shown many times, loss of a significant economic factor can — and often will — generate much allied loss. If one searched local 2017 business information, he would find very few remains of what had served the port when the fire broke out. Their loss was part of the economic ashes.