The September Meeting Tuesday, September 24, 2013, 3:00 p. m. in
THE NEWSLE TTER FOR the Neal Auditorium in the Neal Colonial Center (Administration Building) Jefferson Davis Community College The Neal Auditorium is on the Blacksher Street side of the Neal
THE ESCAMBIATHE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Colonial Center with parking in the back of the building. ECHS has had to change the location of the September meeting because of a special election. The meeting room in the Thomas E. McMillan Museum will be used for voting. NEWSLETTER AND JOURNAL FOR AND JOURNAL NEWSLETTER ECHOES Escambia Escambia The Program
THE "United States Operations in Antarctica" Presenters will be: Billy Blackwelder, a retired Navy helicopter pilot who was active in the US Antarctica Research program in the THE ESCAMBIA COUNTYHISTORICAL SOCIETY 1970's and Conrad "Gus" Shinn who became the first person to land a plane at the South Pole in 1956.
Meet Our Speakers: symbol of U.S. presence in Conrad “Gus “ Shin and Antarctica. Billy Blackwelder However, his career goes Conrad "Gus" Shinn, back to 1946 when he was pictured at the right, is most assigned to test and develop famous for being the first skis for the R4D. These skis pilot to land at the South Pole made it possible for the air- on Oct. 31, 1956, establish- craft to land in the field and ing the base that today is the (Continued on page 2)
Contents The October ECHS Meeting
First Plane Lands at South Pile 2 The Date: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 It Was a Magnificent Airplane 5 The Program: “Show and Tell” 6 Little America The Place: The Meeting Room in News and Announcements 8 the Thomas E. McMillan Museum Snapshots of August Meeting 10 Jefferson Davis Community College Snapshots of Fort Mims 12 Lt. Commander Gus Shinn Commemoration Come and Bring a Favorite Item or & Que Sera Sera Our Business Members 13 Picture, Anything that Brings Back
Memories to Share with the Group
Volume 40, Number 9 Railroad Junction Day 14 September 2013 VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 1 Meet Our Speakers: Conrad “Gus “ Shin and Billy Blackwelder
(Continued from page 1) Combat Support Squadron TWO located in Lake- hurst, New Jersey which included a nine month opened up the Arctic and Antarctic for thorough and combat cruise in the Gulf of Tonkin aboard the USS efficient scientific investigation and exploration. INTREPID. He then served an additional tour as a In 1947, Gus flew an R4D from the USS Philip- flight instructor with HT-8, a tour on the staff of pine Sea into Little American and from there flew Training Air Wing FIVE at the Naval Air Station several long range aerial mapping flights, photo- Whiting Field and two tours with Antarctic Devel- graphing over 200,000 square mils of unexplored opment Squadron SIX. During his tours with VXE- territory. He also flew several flights with Admiral 6, operating our of Christchurch, New Zealand, he Richard E. Byrd, the leader of this expedition. worked extensively with officials of the National After a tour flying the Berlin Airlift, Gus was se- Science Foundation and with many members of the lected as the first pilot for Operation Deep international scientific community. Freeze, He participated in Operation Deep Freeze I, During his tour at Training Air Wing FIVE, he II, and III and essentially "wrote the book" on polar twice served on additional duty as commander of a flight operations. He not only made the first landing Military Assistance Team located in Jakarta, at the Pole but led the next five flights there, ferry- Indonesia where he was responsible for training In- ing the men and equipment for building the first donesian Air Force pilots and maintenance person- South Pole Station in his air- nel. In appreciation for his work craft Que Sera Sera. He was in- he was awarded the Indonesian Air ducted as an Honorary Member of Force Senior Pilot Wings with the American Polar Society in Chief of Staff's Star. His awards 1999. include the Air Medal, two Merito- Lt. Cmd. Billy Blackwelder, rious Unit Citations, two Navy pictured at the right, entered the Unit Citations, Navy Expedition- Navy as a Naval Aviation Cadet in ary Medal, National Defense, Ant- 1958. Following flight training he arctic Service Medal, Armed was commissioned as an ensign Forces Expeditionary Medal, and and designated a naval aviator in several Vietnam Campaign rib- 1959. Following a tour of duty with Helicopter An- bons. He later worked as Director, Midshipmen In- tisubmarine Squadron SEVEN at Norfolk, Vir- doctrination School, Naval Aviation Schools Com- ginia, he returned to Pensacola as a flight instructor mand in March 1977. He retired in June 1981. He with Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT. Follow- is married to Joyce, a school teacher and has one ing this tour he served for two years Helicopter son, John, who is also a school teacher. €
First Plane Lands At South Pole The following article by Maurice Cutler, United tion. Press Staff Correspondent appears online at < leaks- A United States Navy R4D (Dakota DC-3) made a ville.com/first_plane_lands_at_south_pole.htm >. successful landing four miles from the presently Leaksville is a community near Spray, North Caro- known location of the South Pole at 2034 hours New lina, which is Gus Shinn’s home town. Zealand time (0834 GMT Wednesday). With a long One Thousand Feet Above the South Pole, Oct. 31 - vapor trail stretching miles behind it, I saw the small - (UP) I have just witnessed the historic first landing ski-equipped Dakota, named Que Sera Sera, grind to of an aircraft at the South Pole and the first person a halt, throwing a wake of snow in its path. setting foot there since Scott's ill-fated 1912 expedi- Overhead, a United States Air Force C-124 Globe- (Continued on page 3)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 2 First Plane Lands At South Pole
(Continued from page 2) Glacier outpost. After topping off its fuel master carrying this corre- tanks, the aircraft then spondent circled the area made its way back across in brilliant sunshine, leav- the Ross Ice Shelf to ing crisscrossing vapor McMurdo Sound. trails. It carried emer- Adm. Dufek's participa- gency supplies that would tion was appropriate be airdropped should the given the fact that he has small plane be unable to been a member of all U.S. take off from the 10,000- Antarctic expeditions foot Polar since he navigated Admi- plateau. ral Richard Byrd's flag- Que Sera Sera--what This photo of Que Sera Sera by Lt, John R. ship USS Bear in 1939- will be, will be--landed Swadener appeared in the 31 December 1956 issue 41. safely in a temperature of of Time magazine with the caption: "It was like going into around 60 below zero “Dufek’s Party at the Pole another world," Dufek From eleven bottles, a wrench and a Fahrenheit. The honor of told correspondents after stagger…” being the first person at Quoted from http://www.southpolestation. his return, referring to the Pole in 44 years went com/trivia/igy1/que1.html the severe temperatures. to Operation Deep Freeze After three minutes, he commander Rear Admiral George Dufek of Rock- noted that the face of Navy VX-6 Squadron com- ford, Ill. mander, Capt. Douglas L. Cordiner of Washington, In a message to our plane, Adm. Dufek said he D.C., "was white with frostbite." Members of the raised the Stars and Stripes for the first time at the small group on the Dakota kept looking at each South Pole. After 50 minutes on the desolate polar other to detect frostbite. plateau--a flat, white A Time magazine article describes the takeoff The Pole landing party landmass stretching miles thus: said they were heartened to the horizon- -the Da- "Then, with frostbite already showing on to hear the Globemaster kota commanded by [RADM] Dufek's nose, the party stomped back commander Major C.J. Lieutenant-Commander into the airplane, its engines still turning over. Ellen of Raleigh, N.C., Conrad (Gus) Shinn of But when Pilot Conrad Shinn gunned his en- tell them, "if you can't get Spray, N.C., took off at gines and fired four JATO (jet assist) bottles off, we'll crash-land be- 2123 hours local time. It for takeoff, the R4D stuck fast, its skis frozen to side you, so you'll have a was headed for the sup- the icy surface. Only by blasting off his eleven house." port base near the Liv remaining JATO bottles did Shinn wrench the Dufek said that when Glacier and the Duncan plane loose and stagger into the thin air at well he and Cordiner Mountains. below normal takeoff speed." attempted to plant the However, shortly after Also (according to RADM Dufek's book, the flag, "we really had to dig takeoff from the Pole, the R4D with out pickaxes." Dur- Dakota reported engine carried 15 and Gus fired 4 at a time, then the ing this activity one of trouble. Our Globemaster last 3 before he got off deck. Cordiner's hands became then reduced speed and All of the above quoted from the source numb in a very few min- accompanied it down the
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 3 First Plane Lands At South Pole
“THE LUCKY SEVEN, the first Americans to ever set foot on the South Pole to plant the Stars and Stripes beside the cross of Norway and the Union Jack. Left to right, John P. Strider, AD2, crew chief; RADM George J. Dufek. C.O. Task Force 43; LCDR Conrad (Gus) Shinn, pilot; Lieu- tenant John R. Swadener, navigator; William A. Cumbie, Jr., AT2, radioman; Captain William Hawkes, copilot; and Captain Douglas Cordinor, observer; an all-Navy team for the occasion.” Photo and Caption courtesy of Don Leger at
(Continued from page 3) "I made my first flight when I was 17, the other two when I was 18," Barger said. He explained that he Dakota pilot Shinn said the flight was "operationally celebrated his 18th birthday on Oct. 29, two days be- quite simple," but he was concerned when he started fore the historic Polar landing. the take-off run at the Pole. The severe temperatures at the Pole prompted Adm. "I pushed the throttle fully forward and nothing Dufek to postpone further landings and the air-drop happened. I then fired four jet-assist bottles and still of construction equipment for the proposed South nothing. I fire another four and got slight movement, Pole station. then four more, followed by another three and we "I had hoped conditions at the Pole would have more or less staggered into the air," Shinn said. been less harsh. Under the circumstances we experi- During the takeoff, Shinn and his co-pilot could not enced yesterday, we are going to have to wait. It is see through their windshield and had to use instru- humanly impossible to do outside construction work ments. under such conditions. I'm not going to put anyone in Crewman John P. Strider of Kearneysville, W Va., there until temperatures improve." € said his only difficulty was "my coffee wouldn't per- colate at 12,000 feet." Youngest expedition member Civil Air Patrol cadet Robert Barger of Peoria, Ill., was aboard the Globemaster, his third polar flight within six days.
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 4 It Was a Magnificent Airplane
At left, Photo of Que Sera Sera taken in July, 2012 by Greg Mattix at the Pensacola US Navy Museum.
“The R4D-5 ‘Charlene’ sits with engines running on the Liv Glacier. Eddie Frankiewicz and Jim Waldron spent hours wait- ing there, prepared to help Gus Shinn if he ran into any trouble on his historic flight to the Pole.” Photo courtesy of Jim Waldron.
“An aircraft commander at Little America Five digs the "Que Sera Sera" out from under a winter's worth of snow in August, 1957. The previous summer Gus Shinn landed the plane at the South Pole.” Photo courtesy of Jim Waldron
The following material as well as the pictures and he said. captions above are quoted from the website "It was a magnificent airplane," Frankiewicz said.
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 5 Little America
Map of Antarctica showing Little America
The following information on Little America is from the original base accessed via tunnel. This base was Wikipedia as is the map above briefly set adrift in 1934, but the iceberg fused to the
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 6 Little America
(Continued from page 6) Antarctica - Some statistics
♦ There are no permanent 1941 season some 6 miles to residents in Antarctica. the north. ♦ There has never been a In 1940 a huge, extraordi- nary, exploration vehicle, native population. the Antarctic Snow Cruiser, ♦ Antarctica is 1.4 times as was brought to Little Amer- large as the United States. ica III. Unfortunately the ve- ♦ Receives about 30,000 hicle was found to have a summer tourists per year. number of design and techni- ♦ 58 times bigger than the cal weaknesses and was little United Kingdom. used. Abandoned, it became buried in the snow. It ♦ Antarctica has 90% of the world's ice. was last rediscovered in 1958, but has subsequently ♦ Lowest recorded temperature at Vostok Station - been lost once again: either under the snow; or under 128.6 F. the waters of the Southern Ocean. ♦ Antarctica is the best place to find meteorites. The site of Little America III was carried to sea in ♦ If Antarctica's ice sheets melted, all the world's 1963. oceans would rise over 200 feet Little America IV These Statistics area taken from Little America V was established on January 3,
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 7 News and Announcements Old Sullivan Community Cemetery Dedication West Florida Genealogical Society Meeting The Dedication of the Cemetery as an Historical Date: October 5, 2013 - Saturday Cemetery will take place on Saturday, Place: West Florida Genealogy Library. 5740 N. 9th October 19, 2013 at 3:00 p. m. This Recognition Ave, Pensacola, FL. 850-494-7373 comes from the Alabama Historical Commission. Time: 10:00 AM The Cemetery is located at Nokomis, Alabama. To Speaker: Margo Stringfield reach the cemetery. from Atmore, drive 6 miles West. Topic: St. Michael's Cemetery: Crossroads of Pensa- on HWY 31. At HWY Marker #35, turn right onto cola's Past from Spanish Times to Today James Road and drive 1/4 mile to the cemetery. Mrs. Stringfield is a research archaeologist at UWF with a special interest in the history and ar- *************** chaeology of Colonial West Florida. She is the Bushy Creek Methodist Church principal archaeologist for historic St. Michael's Cemetery and the author of Historic The Bushy Creek Homecoming will be Saturday, Penscola published in 2009. October 5, 2013 at 11:00 a. m. The Church and Contact Cynthia Dean 850-432-7072 cemetery were established in 1850.
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VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 8 Snapshots of ECHS August 2013 Meeting
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 9 Snapshots of ECHS August 2013 Meeting (continued)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 10 Snapshots of Fort Mims Commemoration
Snapshots from the Fort Mims Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Attack on the Fort On display are artifacts from the Fort such as the item above. To the right, the pistol suggests the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek which precipitated the assault on FT. Mims.
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 11 Our Business Members
Remember to support our Business Members
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 12 The ECHS Journal Section Railroad Junction Day
Flomaton Passenger Station April 8, 1968 J. D. Lachaussee Photograph
The following article is by Jerry Simmons. It was tion was a railroad into the interior of the country. written in conjunction with the second annual Flomaton Several routes were suggested, some were planned, Railroad Junction Day, which will be September 28, and some went so far as to have surveys and right-of- 2013. way cleared. Construction was even begun on one route toward Columbus, GA through the Escambia River It’s been asked, “Why should we have a Flomaton swamp into Santa Rosa County. One prospective com- Railroad Junction Day celebration?” It’s quite simple, pany had materials and rolling stock purchased and really. If it were not for the railroad, Flomaton as we shipped to the port. know it would not exist. It started with the first railroad However, finances, more often than not, fell through talk in Pensacola in the 1830s. and little was accomplished until the charter for the Ala- In the 1850s the city of Pensacola had bama-Florida Railroad was approved in about grown about as much as it could. It was an 1856. A few years later, in 1861, the Mobile and isolated community with little opportunity to Great Northern Railroad was almost completed have any significant growth. “Growth” in the from Montgomery to Pollard before the Ala-Fla minds of Pensacola businessmen actually line was finished from Pensacola to there. A meant “more business, more money.” short stretch between Pollard and Tensaw had to have a The remote location of Pensacola was the cause of the special appropriation from the State of Alabama for the stifling of growth. The only outlet for the exporting of M&GN to be completed in late 1861. importing of goods that the city had was the ocean. Sis- In 1859 the first railroad to run into Pensacola, Florida ter city Mobile had rivers nearby that was finally ready for construction from that city to Pol- were navigable for ships for miles inland, while Pensa- lard, Alabama, and was to intersect the Mobile and cola’s Escambia River was too small to support similar Great Northern Railroad from Montgomery. Chartered river traffic. Forests and wilderness and a sparse popula- as the Alabama & Florida railroad, the line was com- tion surrounded the city on three sides, so the only op- (Continued on page 14)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 13 The ECHS Journal Section Railroad Junction Day
(Continued from page 13) look to the left and imagine that as how pleted to Pollard in the countryside was early 1861, just in in the late 1800s: time for the War nothing but marsh Between the States. and thick vegetation. Because Pensa- The first building cola was soon occu- near the junction pied by Union was a rough upright forces, the railroad plank affair Reuter was hardly used so built to serve as a the Confederacy had depot. A person it dismantled, mostly wanting to purchase to keep the Union a ticket or transact from using it, much freight business had to the chagrin of to slosh through Florida officials. mud and slush to The ties and rails Train at the Flomaton Station get to the depot to were shipped to The top of the station can be seen above the train to the left. do so. other parts of the When the junction region to be used was first connected there, some say to Canoe to build sidings. at Pollard in 1861, that town had about six saloons in it, In 1869, Colonel R. Reuter contracted to rebuild the since every store in those days sold whiskey. So a Mrs. A&F road (which by then was called the Pensacola & Wiser, who lived there, decided she would move to a Louisville RR) over the same rail bed to Pollard. It was new place and put up her own store. She chose right at restored to within about two miles south of the state line the intersection of what are now Palafox and Railroad when funds and material became nearly exhausted, and Streets, with the workers wading around in the mud till there was still a 2,000-foot long trestle that had yet to be they got her a small shack built and she opened up a built over the Escambia River (as Big Escambia Creek store. The problem was there was nobody yet there to was then called). Reuter, seeing that the railroad to Pol- buy because she was actually the lone inhabitant of the lard would not be possible, turned the road a bit to the town! But business got much better since logs were being west. This formed the junction with the M&GN (which floated down the creek and the loggers gave her business. became the L&N in 1880) at the site of what’s now According to R. W. Brooks, those “men got good Flomaton, then called “Pensacola Junction.” wages and they liked their liker [sic] and spent it The place at that time was hardly anything but a wil- freely and soon the lady was taking in shekels enough to derness. The junction was almost directly in the middle build her a good store and she kept it up for years and of a “bottom” with a hill on either side. In the later other people came and other stores located there and Flomaton Centennial Scrapbook, a writer in 1938, R. W. see what it is today.” Brooks, was quoted as saying, when talking about the The logs and timbers floating down the creek to the nice looking depot at Flomaton, “… if the people that is Escambia River (and eventually Pensacola) provided em- [sic] in Flomaton could see the car load after car load of ployment to a great many people and there were more sand and gravel and cinders, anything that [would] fill that were directly or indirectly involved in this up, they certainly would be astonished at the amount of sort of business. Farming was unknown and unthought of stuff that is under that nice looking station.” – not many folks in the town even having as much as a One might today drive from Palafox Street onto Rail- garden spot under cultivation. In a short time, however, road Street a few hundred yards toward the creek and (Continued on page 15)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 14 The ECHS Journal Section Railroad Junction Day
(Continued from page 14) Jacksonville, that was surely to bring even more traffic (hence “growth”) through Flomaton. The Louisville and other small store buildings Nashville Railroad was operating the original Alabama were erected and business picked up, although given any and Florida Railroad and subsequent Pensacola Railroad two stores, the total value of the goods probably would route into Pensacola from Flomaton, Alabama, forty-four not have exceeded $500. miles to the north. In 1872, the settlement had grown to such proportions as The traffic from so many trains made it difficult some- to warrant a post office. Up until this time, mail was re- times to cross the tracks, even in relatively modern times. ceived at Pollard, five miles up the track. In about 1870 A newspaper account in the 1920s made much to do with Col. Reuter had given the place his trains blocking the crossings for so long, and another name to go by, “Reuterville,” but most still referred to it newspaper article in the 1960s announced the impending as “Whiting,” “Junction” or “Pensacola Junction,” until construction of an UNDERpass to relieve the congestion. October 1875. Alas, it took until the 1970s for an OVERpass to be built The first post office was established that month, under which may have spelled the demise of the downtown area the name of “Whiting.” Old habits are hard to break, of Flomaton, since the overpass diverted and sped up ve- though, and the post office department still had to deal hicle traffic away from the downtown business district! with mail ad- Attention to the dressed to all growing impor- those other tance of the rail- names. The de- road’s effect on partment re- the town of quested another Flomaton, the name be used, L&N, under the unlike any of the auspices of Col. previous ones W. D. Chipley, given to the town general manager and in 1884, the of the Pensacola name of Floma- Division, had a ton was settled new depot built in upon. They used 1876. This one the first three let- was neat, though ters of FLOrida, small, but was the destroyed by fire last two letters of in 1901. In 1902 AlabaMA and the post office added the “ton.” So it has that depot was replaced by another more handsome and been known since. commodious building. That one burned in 1906, an explo- As time went on, more and more business took place by sion of gasoline causing the conflagration. The third one way of the railroad. People came from all over the country was built in 1907 and burned in 1911, being struck by traveling through, and some stayed in the quaint little lightning. town to make their home. There were passenger and The fourth and last one, the most handsome and com- freight trains headed east and west as well as north and modious of all and the one most today remember was fin- south. The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad was chartered ished and opened to the public August 8, 1912, with im- in 1881 to connect Pensacola with the parts of Florida east posing ceremonies. There were an estimated 600-700 of the Apalachicola River, straight across the also people present, with G. W. Sally, Flomaton’s mayor intro- sparsely-populated Panhandle. The railroad company be- ducing the principal speaker, a Rev. R. M. Hunter. Words gan construction on June 1, 1881. Since the L&N was were also spoken by expanding its services into eastern Florida all the way to (Continued on page 16)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 15 The ECHS Journal Section Railroad Junction Day
(Continued from page 15) subsidized by the government, passenger service started going into the red. Four trains survived until 1967 when R. C. Gorey, assistant master mechanic of the L&N, who the Louisville and Nashville along with other railroads said, among other things, “the L&N officials were proud lost the mail contracts. of the new depot at Flomaton, and of the road’s great in- The remnant of the streamliner "Gulf Wind," inaugu- terests in Alabama,” and he asked rated in 1949 to replace steam-powered heavy-weight all present to “say a good word for Flomaton, Escambia cars, survived until Amtrak's formation. Its last run was County and Alabama, whenever an opportunity is of- on April 30, 1971. The Gulf Wind's final fered.” years saw just token service consisting of one engine, one From a smattering of people in the 1870s, in 1911 the baggage car, one coach, and one sleeper with a diner, be- population had grown to about 800 people, with eight or tween Jacksonville and Chattahoochee only. The service ten merchandise establishments carrying a general line of had been reduced to three times a week merchandise and other stores such as a first class hard- in an attempt by the Louisville and Nashville and the Sea- ware store, an up-to-date bank, with ample capital, three board Coast Line Railroad to cut costs and to help support livery stables, one saw mill, two jewelers, one ice plant, the discontinuance petition filed with the ICC. one bakery, one bottling works, an extensive gravel plant, Beginning on April 4, 1993 Amtrak's "Sunset Limited" one cotton gin and grist provided through service mill, a barber shop, one across South Alabama meat market, one first from Los Angeles, Cali- class hotel, several board- fornia to Miami, Florida ing houses and restau- via New Orleans, Louisi- rants, and two churches ana, and Jacksonville, (Methodist and Baptist). Florida with stops at At- The Atmore Spectrum more, Pensacola and article said nothing about Crestview. The "Sunset saloons or liquor stores. Limited" ended a twenty- The progress in farming two year hiatus in pas- was illustrated over the senger service across same period by the exam- through Flomaton. ple that even a bale of In August 2005 Hurri- cotton was a curiosity a cane Katrina destroyed few years before, but in the main line along the 1911 over 600 bales of cot- This may have been one of the last northbound runs Louisiana and Mississippi of the Hummingbird ton were shipped by way of Gulf Coast thus ending Am- Flomaton’s railroad. trak's "Sunset Limited" and Growth in the town’s businesses and population continued passenger service in South Alabama and Northwest Flor- until the 1970s when the magnificent depot was demol- ida. ished, and signs of depression such as long-established The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad from Pensacola businesses closing became ubiquitous. Today, many toward the east coast of Florida received financial backing buildings are vacant and there are empty lots where others from the L&N during its construction in the 1800s but thrived. ceased operating as an independent line There are no more passenger trains but freight on July 1, 1885 when it was incorporated into the Louis- hauling has continued to be a sign of life in the railroad, ville and Nashville system. Ninety seven years later in even as motor vehicle traffic has increased on the high- 1982, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad merged with ways. Railroad passenger service peaked in the 1920's the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, with several trains a day calling at Flomaton. With the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, Georgia Railroad, West- coming of the automobile and airplanes that were heavily (Continued on page 17)
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 16 The ECHS Journal Section
Heading into Century from Flomaton
(Continued from page 16) “Iron Horses in the Pinelands;” and the June 2009 issue of L&N Magazine. Picture credits are Jerome La- ern Railway of Alabama, and Clinchfield Railroad to form chaussee, L&N Magazine, and Grady W. Robarts Jr. € the Seaboard System Railroad. In 1985, the Seaboard system and the Chessie system merged to form CSXT Rail System. Today the railroad is still an important part of the lives of many folks who are residents of the town, although it isn’t the influence it once was. In the Atmore Spectrum of September 12, 1912 the arti- cle was closed by this: “In the early days the place con- tained a rough element, and the Police Gazette, a sporting paper said that Pensacola Junction, Alabama, was a favor- ite resort for thieves, cut throats and murderers. Now it is considered one of the most law abiding and orderly towns in the entire state.” Flomaton may have been created as a result of the rail- road, but it is what it is today, a stable, peaceful, noble community with folks who love their town.
Text compiled from the September 12, 1912 issue of the Atmore Spectrum; information from the West Florida Flomaton Dispatcher’s Desk Railroad Museum web site; the books “Railroads of the Around 1973 Confederacy,” “Flomaton Centennial Scrapbook” and
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 17 ECHOES THE NEWSLETTER FOR FIRST CLASS MAIL THE ESCAMBIA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY DATED MATERIAL P.O. Box 276 Address correction Brewton, AL 36427 Phone: 251-809-1528 requested
E-mail: [email protected]
We’re on the web!
www.escohis.org
Books for Sale Mailed Regular Headstones and Heritage $40.00 $35.00 Escambia Historical Society Cookbook $10.00 $ 5.00 Wildflowers of The Escambia CD $12.50 $10.00 History of Brewton and E. Brewton (sc) $51.00 $45.00 Flomaton Centennial Scrapbook $46.00 $40.00 And more
Clip the following form and send to ECHS Treasurer, P.O. Box 276, Brewton, AL 36427
Date ______/____/_____ Names) ______Mailing Address ______Phone ______Email Address ______Do you prefer to get your newsletter by U.S. Mail ___ or email? ___ Dues ______($25.00/person, $35.00/two family members at same address; Lifetime, $250.00/person; $50.00/year business)
Donation ______(Business members get a business-card sized advertisement in 11 issues of the Amount enclosed ______newsletter. Larger sized ads are available) ECHOES, The newsletter for the Escambia County Historical Your interests ______Society, a 501 (c) (3) corporation, is published monthly except November. Comments are welcome. You may email the Society ______at [email protected] or call 251-809-1528. OFFICERS TRUSTEES President, Tom McMillan
You will help with ______Vice-President, Sally Finlay Ann Biggs-Williams Secretary, Jacque Stone Ranella Merritt ______Treasurer, Susan Crawford Tom McMillan Echoes Editor, Ranella Merritt Sallie Finlay Dues are to be paid at the beginning of the Asst. Editor, Jerry Simmons Darryl Searcy, Alternate year. Christmas is coming—give a member- Librarian, Barbara McCoy Publicity, Ann Biggs-Williams ship as a gift! Historian/Curator, Carolyn Jennings
VOLUME 40, SEPTMEBER 2013 Page 18