Pensacola Real Estate News – East Pensacola Heights – Part 2 – History In Fact and Some Story
December 18th, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Real Estate News, Southeast Pensacola
Welcome to Part 2 of a 3 part series on East Pensacola Heights. In this part I will give some random facts and stories that were told during the presentation.
For Part 1 of the story, click on Pensacola Real Estate News – East Pensacola Heights – Part 1.
For Part 2 of the story, click on Pensacola Real Estate News – East Pensacola Heights – Part 3.
- East Pensacola Heights was first developed in the late 1800s and was connected to the city of Pensacola by 2 wooden bridges. These bridges were destroyed in the hurricane of 1926.
- After the bridges were destroyed, many of the kids would swim across Bayou Texar over to Bayview Park.
- The East Pensacola Heights doctor claimed the water in Bayou Texar was so contaminated that over half of his patients who were children needed care because of ear infections from swimming in Bayou Texar (and we thought it was bad today). Somebody needs to tell the dogs about it.
- The A. K. Suter Elementary School was built in 1921 by volunteers. They had to work during their time off on weekends to get the school built.
- Up until the 1940s, East Pensacola Heights was considered rural country land. Most of the residents were very poor. Every home had livestock in the yard.
- Favorite activities were fishing, crabbing and swimming. No wonder, as they had Escambia Bay to the east and south, and Bayou Texar to the west.
- It was common to chase cows, pigs and goats around the streets, and even sometimes through the houses.
- Many a pig got stuck under a house and had to be tediously rooted out from the crawl spaces. Apparently it was no secret that they were stuck. You could hear them for blocks around.
- It was common to hear guns being shot all the time. Remember, this was the country. Hunting and target practice were typical activities.
- Businesses began to flourish in the 1940s when Highway 90 (Scenic Hwy – Cervantes) was rerouted through East Pensacola Heights
- East Pensacola Heights was annexed into the city of Pensacola in 1954. Many residents fought this annexation, preferring to keep their simple country lifestyle.
- Standard lot sizes were 25′ wide by 100′ deep.
- Most homes had cattle dippers. These were ditches that the people filled with “dip” and walked the cows through. This killed the fleas and ticks on the cows.
- Every night you could see the hobos riding empty box cars down the railroad track along Escambia Bay. The residents referred to them as “knights of the road“. They were mostly headed for Jacksonville Florida. Apparently the railroad did not mind giving them a lift. In the picture below you can see the railroad track running along Escambia Bay towards downtown Pensacola. The gravel road winds back to some beautiful waterfront Pensacola real estate.
- The IGA grocery store was built around the concept of community. Whenever someone in the community had a family tragedy, the IGA would send a free bag of groceries to the home. Apparently, the current owner still carries on that tradition.
- The store is now called Apple Market. If you ever shop there, you feel the warm and friendly atmosphere the minute you walk in the door. It is rare to find a grocery store that treats its customers so well. Check out their web site at http://www.applemarketpensacola.com/ and visit the store for an old fashioned friendly shopping experience.
In part 3 of the series on East Pensacola Heights, we’ll take a look at East Pensacola Heights today and the real estate values in the area.
Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a list of articles indexed by category.
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I found your site through Google and although I can not find exactly what I was looking for, compliments for the great job done….
I appreciate your Web Site. I just love Pensacola and I use to work in real estate down there. I first fell in love with Pensacola in 1987 when I visited there on my way back from Destin. It felt like home to me right away. Then I went back to Pensacola and got my real estate licence in 1989. I worked for JME Realtly and the area I loved the best was East Hill & Pensacola Heights. I almost bought a little house at that time in East Hill on the corner of E 17th street and three or four blocks north of Cervanites for $35,000. I sure do wish I did. Now back in Atlanta, I sure do appreciate your info on all the subdivisions. It brings back so many memories.
Thanks again,
Shirley