District 1: Jennifer Brahier District 2: Charles Bare District 3: Casey Jones District 4: Jared Moore District 5: Teniadé Broughton District 6: Allison Patton District 7: Delarian Wiggins
The area was originally inhabited byMuskogean-speaking peoples.[citation needed] ThePensacola people lived there at the time of European contact, andCreek people frequently visited and traded from present-day southernAlabama andMississippi and southeast ofLouisiana. Spanish explorerTristán de Luna founded a short-lived settlement in 1559.[11] In 1698, the Spanish established apresidio in the area, from which the modern city gradually developed. The area changed hands several times, as European powers competed in North America. During Florida'sBritish rule (1763–1781), dilapidated Spanish-built fortifications were repaired and strengthened.[12]
It was nicknamed "the City of Five Flags", due to the five governments that have ruled it during its history: the flags of Spain (Castile),France,Great Britain, theUnited States of America, and theConfederate States of America. Other nicknames include "World's Whitest Beaches" (due to the white sand of Florida panhandle beaches), "Cradle of Naval Aviation", "Western Gate to the Sunshine State", "America's First Settlement", "Emerald Coast", "Redneck Riviera", and "P-Cola". Its latest nickname is "The Upside of Florida."
The original inhabitants of thePensacola Bay area wereNative American peoples. At the time of European contact, aMuskogean-speaking tribe known to the Spanish as thePensacola, lived in the region. This name was not recorded until 1677, but the tribe appears to be the source of the name "Pensacola" for the bay and thence the city.[13]Creek people, also Muskogean-speaking, came regularly from present-day southern Alabama to trade, so the peoples were part of a broader regional and even continental network of relations.[14]
The best-known Pensacola culture site in terms ofarcheology is the large Bottle Creek site, located 59 miles (95 km) west of Pensacola north ofMobile, Alabama. This site has at least 18 large earthwork mounds, five of which are arranged around a central plaza. Its main occupation was from 1250 to 1550 CE. It was a ceremonial center for the Pensacola people and a gateway to their society. This site would have had easy access by adugout canoe, the main mode of transportation used by the Pensacola.[15]
The area's written recorded history begins in the 16th century, with documentation bySpanish explorers, who were the first Europeans to reach the area. The expeditions ofPánfilo de Narváez in 1528 andHernando de Soto in 1539 both visited Pensacola Bay, the latter of which documented the name "Bay of Ochuse".[16]
On August 15, 1559,Tristán de Luna y Arellano landed with some 1,500 people on 11 ships fromVeracruz, Mexico.[18][16][19][20] The expedition was to establish an outpost, ultimately calledSanta María de Ochuse by Luna, as a base for Spanish efforts to colonizeSanta Elena (present-dayParris Island, South Carolina), but the colony was decimated by ahurricane on September 19, 1559,[18][16][20] which killed an unknown number of sailors and colonists, sank six ships, grounded a seventh, and ruined supplies.
The survivors struggled to survive, most moving inland to the region of modern central Alabama for several months in 1560 before returning to the coast, but in 1561 the effort was abandoned.[18][20] Some of the survivors eventually sailed to Santa Elena, but another storm struck there. Survivors made their way to Cuba and finally returned to Pensacola, where the remaining 50 at Pensacola were taken back to Veracruz. The viceroy's advisors thus concluded the region too dangerous to settle, ignoring it for centuries.[18][20]
In the late 17th century, the French began exploring the lowerMississippi River, with the intention of colonizing the region as part ofNew France. Fearful that Spanish territory would be threatened, the Spanish founded a new settlement in western Florida. In 1698, they established a fortified town near what is nowFort Barrancas, laying the foundation for permanent European-dominated settlement of the modern city of Pensacola.[21] The Spanish built three presidios in Pensacola:[22]
Presidio Isla de Santa Rosa (1722–1752): This next presidio was on westernSanta Rosa Island near the site of present-dayFort Pickens, but hurricanes battered the island in 1741 and 1752. The garrison was moved to the mainland.[22]
Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola (1754–1763): The final presidio was built about 5 miles (8 km) east of the first presidio; the present-day historic district of downtown Pensacola, named from "Panzacola", developed around the fort.[22]
During the early years of settlement, atriracialcreole society developed. As a fortified trading post, the Spanish had mostly men stationed here. Some married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek, orAfrican women, both slave and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population ofmestizos andmulattos. The Spanish encouragedfugitive slaves from theSouthern Colonies to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion toCatholicism. Most went to the area aroundSt. Augustine,[23] but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola.
After years of settlement, the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763 as a result of an exchange following British victory over both France and Spain in theFrench and Indian War (the North American theater of theSeven Years' War), and French cession of its territories in North America. The British designated Pensacola as the capital of their new colony ofWest Florida. From 1763, the British strengthened defenses around the mainland area of fortSan Carlos de Barrancas, building the Royal Navy Redoubt.George Johnstone was appointed as the first British governor, and in 1764, acolonial assembly was established.[24][25] The structure of the colony was modeled after the existingBritish colonies in America, as opposed toFrench Canada, which was based on a different structure. West Florida was invited to send delegates to theFirst Continental Congress, which was convened to present colonial grievances against the British Parliament toGeorge III, but along with several other colonies, including East Florida, they declined the invitation. Once theAmerican War of Independence had broken out, the colonists remained overwhelmingly loyal to the Crown. In 1778, theWilling Expedition proceeded with a small force down the Mississippi, ransacking estates and plantations, until they were eventually defeated by a local militia. In the wake of this, the area received a small number of British reinforcements.
British military resources were limited and Pensacola ranked fairly low on their list of priorities. So, only small token number of British military forces were ever sent to defend Pensacola. This was in contrast to colonies such as South Carolina, where large numbers of British soldiers were sent.[26] After Spain joined theAmerican Revolution in 1779 on the side of the rebels, Spanish forces captured the city in the 1781Siege of Pensacola, gaining control of West Florida.[19] After the war, the British officially ceded both West Florida andEast Florida to Spain as part of the postwarpeace settlement.
In 1785, many Creek from southern Alabama andGeorgia came to trade, and Pensacola developed as a major trade center. It was a garrison town, predominantly males in the military or trade.[14] Americans made raids into the area, and settlers pressured the federal government to gain control of this territory.
In the final stages of theWar of 1812, American troops launched anoffensive on Pensacola against the Spanish and British garrisons protecting the city, which surrendered after two days of fighting. Pensacola was conquered again by the US in 1818. In 1819, Spain and the United States negotiated theAdams–Onís Treaty, by which Spain recognized the American control over Florida in exchange of the American recognition of Spanish control overTexas.[19] A Spanish census of 1820 indicated 181 households in the town, with a third being ofmixed blood. The people were predominantly French and Spanish Creole. Indians in the area were noted through records, travelers' accounts, and paintings of the era, including some by George Washington Sully andGeorge Catlin. Creek women were also recorded in marriages to Spanish men, in court records or deeds.[14]
In 1821, withAndrew Jackson as provisional governor, Pensacola became part of the United States.[19] The city was officially incorporated as a municipality in 1822.[2] The Creek continued to interact with European Americans and African Americans, but the dominant Whites increasingly imposed their binary racial classifications: white and black ("colored", within which were includedfree people of color, including Indians). However, American Indians and mestizos were identified separately in court and Catholic church records, and as Indians in censuses up until 1840, attesting to their presence in the society. After that, the Creek were not separately identified as Indian, but the people did not disappear. Even afterremoval of manySeminole to Indian Territory, Indians, often of mixed race, but culturally identifying as Muskogean, lived throughout Florida.[14]
St. Michael's Cemetery was established in the 18th century at a location in a south-central part of the city, which developed as the downtown area. Initially owned by the Church of St. Michael, it is now owned and managed by St. Michael's Cemetery Foundation of Pensacola, Inc.[27] Preliminary studies indicate that it has over 3,200 marked burials, as well as a large number unmarked.[27]
Tensions between the White community and Indians tended to increase during the removal era. In addition, an increasing proportion of Anglo Americans, who constituted the majority of Whites by 1840, led to a hardening of racial discrimination in the area.[14] Disapproval arose of White men living with women of color, which had previously been accepted. In 1853, the legislature passed a bill prohibiting Indians from living in the state, and provided for capture and removal to Indian Territory.[14]
Confederate battery north of Fort McRee at Pensacola, Florida
While the bill excluded mixed-race Indians and those already living in White communities, they went "underground" to escape persecution. No Indians were listed in late 19th- and early 20th-century censuses for Escambia County. People of Indian descent were forced into the White or Black communities by appearance, and officially, in terms of records, "disappeared". This pattern was repeated in many Southern settlements. Children of White fathers and Indian mothers were not designated as Indian in the late 19th century, whereas children of Blacks or Mulattos were classified within the Black community, related to laws during the slavery years.[14]
In 1907–1908, 116Creeks in Pensacola applied for theEastern Cherokee enrollment, thinking that all Indians were eligible to enroll. Based on Alabama census records, most of these individuals have been found to be descendants of Creeks who had migrated to the Pensacola area from southern Alabama after Indian removal of the 1830s.[14]
Pensacola is located on the north side ofPensacola Bay. It is 59 miles (95 km) east ofMobile, Alabama, and 196 miles (315 km) west ofTallahassee, the capital of Florida. Although the incorporated city limits of Pensacola are relatively small, numerouscensus-designated places (CDPs) are located immediately outside of the incorporated city limits that are widely considered to be Pensacola. Due to their proximity to the city limits, their mailing addresses are listed as Pensacola, with a lack of independent government services apart from the City of Pensacola and Escambia County. While residents of these CDPs have rejected incorporation into the City of Pensacola in previous referendums, they largely identify as residents of Pensacola. Examples of these CDPs includeGoulding,Ferry Pass,Ensley,Bellview,Myrtle Grove,Warrington,Brent, andWest Pensacola.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.127 square miles (106.52 km2), of which 22.773 square miles (58.98 km2) is land and 18.354 square miles (47.54 km2), or 44.62%, is water.[4]
The land is sloped up northward from Pensacola Bay, with most of the city at an elevation above that at which a potential hurricane storm surge could affect.[32]
Weather statistics since the late 20th century have been recorded at the airport. The city has seen single-digit temperatures (below 10 °F; −12 °C) on three occasions: 5 °F (−15 °C) onJanuary 21, 1985; 7 °F (−14 °C) onFebruary 13, 1899; and 8 °F (−13 °C) on January 11, 1982.[33] According to theKöppen climate classification system, Pensacola has ahumid subtropical climate[34] (Köppen:Cfa), with short, mild winters and hot, humid summers. Typical summer conditions have highs in the lower 90s °F (32–34 °C) and lows in the mid-70s °F (23–24 °C).[35] Afternoon or evening thunderstorms are common during the summer months. Due partly to the coastal location, temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) are relatively rare and last occurred in June 2011, when two of the first four days of the month recorded highs reaching the century mark.[36]The highest temperature ever recorded in the city was 106 °F (41 °C) on July 14, 1980.[35]
In the 1991–2020 climate normals, the daily average temperature in January is 53.2 °F (11.8 °C). Freezing temperatures occur an average of 11 days per winter, with the average first and last dates for a freeze being December 12 and February 14, giving Pensacola an average growing season of 301 days. However, the relatively recent winter season of 2018-19 did not record a freeze, the median first and last freeze dates are earlier and later than the averages of December 12 and February 14, and the median number of freezes per season is 11 or fewer.[37]The mean coldest temperature reached in a given winter season is about 24 °F (−4.4 °C), although the median is slightly higher, at no colder than 25 °F (−3.9 °C) most years, placing Pensacola in USDA zone 9b. Temperatures below 20 °F (−6.7 °C) are very rare and last occurred on January 8, 2015,[38] when a low of 19 °F (−7.2 °C) was seen.[39] The lowest temperature ever recorded in the city was 5 °F (−15 °C) onJanuary 21, 1985.[35]
Snow is rare in Pensacola, but does occasionally fall. The most recent snowfall event occurred onJanuary 21, 2025, which produced record-breaking accumulations of up to 9.4 inches (24 cm) within the city limits and near-blizzard conditions.[40][41] The snow event previous to it occurred onDecember 9, 2017.[42] The city receives 68.31 inches (1,740 mm) of precipitation per year, with a slightly more rainy season in the summer. The rainiest month is July, with 7.89 inches (200 mm), with May being the driest month at 3.90 inches (99 mm).[35] In June 2012 over one foot (300 mm) of rain fell on Pensacola and adjacent areas, leading to widespread flooding.[43] OnApril 29, 2014, Pensacola was drenched by at least 20 inches of rain within a 24-hour period, causing the worst flooding in 30 years.[44]
The city suffered a major blow on February 23, 2016, when alarge EF3 wedge tornado hit the northwest part of Pensacola, causing major damage and several injuries.[45]
Climate data for Pensacola, Florida (Pensacola Int'l), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1879–present
Damage fromHurricane Ivan at bayou near Naval Air Station, 2004
Pensacola's location on theFlorida Panhandle makes it vulnerable to hurricanes. Hurricanes which have made landfall at or near Pensacola since the late 20th century includeEloise(1975),Frederic(1979),Juan(1985),Erin (1995),Opal (1995),Georges (1998),Ivan (2004),Dennis (2005), andSally (2020). In July 2005, Hurricane Dennis made landfall just east of the city, sparing it the damage received from Ivan the year before. However, hurricane and near-hurricane-force winds were recorded in downtown, causing moderate damage.
Pensacola received only a glancing blow fromHurricane Katrina in 2005, resulting in light to moderate damage reported in the area. The aftermath of the extensive damage from Katrina was a dramatic reduction in tourism coming fromLouisiana,Mississippi, andAlabama.
On September 16, 2004,[47] Pensacola and several surrounding areas were devastated by Hurricane Ivan. Pensacola was on the eastern side of theeyewall, which sent a largestorm surge intoEscambia Bay; this destroyed most of the I-10Escambia Bay Bridge. The storm knocked 58 spans off the eastbound and westbound bridges and misaligned another 66 spans, forcing the bridge to close to traffic in both directions.[48] The surge also destroyed the fishing bridge that spanned Pensacola Bay alongside the Phillip Beale Memorial Bridge, locally known as the Three Mile Bridge.[49]
Over $6 billion in damage occurred in the metro area and more than 10,000 homes were destroyed, with another 27,000 heavily damaged. 105,000 households inNorthwest Florida were impacted in some way by the storm, and 4,300 businesses in the area permanently closed as a result of Hurricane Ivan.[50]NASA created acomparison image to illustrate the massive damage. This widespread destruction of property caused a temporary lack of affordable housing in the Pensacola real estate market, andHurricane Dennis andHurricane Katrina contributed to a general scarcity of construction labor and resources along theGulf Coast.[50]
In September 2020, Pensacola suffered heavy damage fromHurricane Sally. Damages in Escambia County were estimated by local officials at $29 million. Downtown Pensacola was flooded.[51]
As of the 2023American Community Survey, there are 24,979 estimated households in Pensacola with an average of 2.14 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $72,699. Approximately 12.4% of the city's population lives at or below thepoverty line. Pensacola has an estimated 61.6% employment rate, with 42.7% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 92.7% holding a high school diploma.[53]
The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (93.7%), Spanish (2.3%), Indo-European (1.9%), Asian and Pacific Islander (1.8%), and Other (0.3%).
Pensacola, Florida – racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2020 census, there were 54,312 people, 24,748 households, and 13,470 families residing in the city.[57] Thepopulation density was 2,395.7 inhabitants per square mile (925.0/km2). There were 27,892 housing units at an average density of 1,230.3 per square mile (475.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 66.16%White, 22.41%African American, 0.43%Native American, 2.47%Asian, 0.09%Pacific Islander, 1.39% from some other races and 7.05% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 5.23% of the population.[58]
As of the2010 census, there were 51,923 people, 23,592 households, and _ families residing in the city. The population density was 2,303.5 inhabitants per square mile (889.4/km2). There were 26,848 housing units at an average density of 1,191.1 per square mile (459.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 66.34%White, 27.98%African American, 0.56%Native American, 2.00%Asian, 0.12%Pacific Islander, 0.70% from some other races and 2.30% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.30% of the population.
As of the2000 census, there are 56,255 people, 24,524 households, and 14,665 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,478.7 inhabitants per square mile (957.0/km2). There are 26,995 housing units at an average density of 1,189.4 per square mile (459.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 64.91%White, 30.58%African American, 0.52%Native American, 1.77%Asian, 0.06%Pacific Islander, 0.54% from some other races and 1.61% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.07% of the population.
There were 24,524 households out of which 24.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.7% are married couples living together, 16.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.2% are non-families. 32.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.27 and the average family size is 2.92.
In the city the age distribution was 22.9% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,779, and the median income for a family was $42,868. Males had a median income of $32,258 versus $23,582 for females. Theper capita income for the city was $21,438. 16.1% of the population and 12.7% of families were below thepoverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 26.2% were under the age of 18 and 9.2% were 65 or older.
The city has been referred to as "the Cradle of Naval Aviation".[61]Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) was the first naval air station commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1914. Tens of thousands naval aviators have received their training there, includingJohn H. Glenn, USMC, who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, andNeil Armstrong, who became the first man to set foot on the Moon in 1969.[62] The Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, theBlue Angels, is stationed there.
TheNational Museum of Naval Aviation is located on NASP and is free to the public. The museum cares for and exhibits hundreds of vintage naval-aviation aircraft and preserves the history of naval aviation through displays, symposiums, IMAX movies, and tours.
NASP hosted the commissioning ceremony of the United States Navy's newestamphibious transport dock, theUSSRichard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29) on September 7, 2024. The ceremony featured Shana McCool, the granddaughter ofRichard M. McCool Jr.; Shana served as the ship's sponsor. Notable attendees included thesecretary of the Navy and thechief of naval operations. LPD 29 is the 13th ship of theSan Antonio-class to be commissioned in the United States Navy and is the first vessel to be the namesake of Richard M. McCool Jr.[63][64]
Pensacola is home to a number of annualfestivals, events, historic tours, and landmarks. The Pensacola Seafood Festival and the Pensacola Crawfish Festival have been held for nearly 30 years in the city's historic downtown. TheGreat Gulfcoast Arts Festival is held annually in November in Seville Square, and often draws more than 200 regional and international artists. The Children's Art Festival, also held in Seville Square, displays art by local schoolchildren.Pensacon is a comic convention held each February, with nearly 25,000 attendees from around the world. The Pensacola Interstate Fair is held each fall.[65]
Scuba diving anddeep-sea fishing are a large part of Pensacola's tourism industry. TheUSSOriskany was purposefully sunk in 2004 to create an artificial reef off the shores of Pensacola.[66]
Several walking tours of restored 18th-century-era neighborhoods are in Pensacola.
There are a number of performance venues in the Pensacola area, including thePensacola Bay Center (formerly the Pensacola Civic Center),[70] often used for big-ticket events, and theSaenger Theater, used for performances and mid-level events. Other theatres used for live performances, plays, and musicals include the Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola State College, University of West Florida, Vinyl Music Hall, and Loblolly Theatre. Pensacola is also home to thePensacola Opera, Pensacola Children's Chorus, Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Pensacola Civic Band, Pensacola Bay Concert Band, and the Choral Society of Pensacola, as well as Ballet Pensacola, as well as thePalafox Place entertainment district.
Pensacola does not have a prominent skyline, but has several low-rise buildings. The tallest is the 15-floor Crowne Plaza Grand Hotel, at 146 feet (45 m). Other tall buildings include the Scenic Apartments (98 feet; 30 m), SunTrust Tower (96 feet; 29 m),Seville Tower (88 feet; 27 m), and the AT&T Building (76 feet; 23 m).
The Pelican Drop was aNew Year's Eve celebration that took place each year in downtown Pensacola. At the ceremony, an aluminumpelican, the city's mascot, was dropped instead of the typical New Year's ball. The event included live music and fireworks. From 2008 to 2018, The Pelican Drop was a significant attraction in the area, drawing in crowds of up to 50,000 local residents and visitors, making it one of the largestevents of its kind in theCentral Time Zone. In 2014, the event was named as one of the top-20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.[71]
The First Pelican Drop New Year's Celebration took place in 2008. ThePensacola News Journal released an article stating that the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency was planning a new kind of New Year's Eve celebration, to be held at thePlaza Ferdinand VII and broadcast live onWEAR-TV; beginning with the 2017 celebration, events were carried in simulcast on WEAR's website. Almost 45,000 people showed up for the event, including residents of Mobile, Alabama (which hosts its own competing drop, aMoon Pie),Milton, Florida,Navarre, Florida, andDestin, Florida.[72]
In December 2019, organizers announced that the Pelican Drop had been canceled due to financial issues and the burden the event had caused on local police and public services. A smaller fireworks display, which does not require the same amount of traffic disruption, would be held, instead.[73]
The pelican was made and designed by Emmett Andrews LLC.[74] Made of polished aluminum and decorated with over 2,000 lights, the bird had a 17-foot (5.2 m) wingspan and is 12 feet (3.7 m) high.[71]
Jim Spooner Field (baseball) Pen Air Field (football) UWF Field House (basketball/volleyball) UWF Soccer Complex (soccer) UWF Softball Complex (softball)
The city of Pensacola utilizes a strongmayor-council form of government, which was adopted in 2011 after citizens voted in 2009 to approve a new city charter. An elected mayor serves as the chief executive of the city government, while a seven-member city council serves as the city's governing body. A council president is selected by the council from its members, along with a vice president.
City voters approved a charter amendment on June 11, 2013, which eliminated the then-nine member council's two at-large seats; one seat was phased out in November 2014, and the other expired in November 2016. Two additional charter amendments were approved on November 4, 2014, which made the position of mayor subject to recall and provided the city council with the authority to hire staff. The currentcity hall was opened in 1986.
After theCivil War, Pensacola, like the rest of theSouth, was controlled byRepublicans during theReconstruction era (1865-1877). The Republican government had numerous African American politicians, including several county commissioners, city aldermen, constables, state representatives, and even one African American mayor—Salvador Pons. However, with the 1884 election of native Pensacolian and former Confederate generalEdward Perry, a dramatic shift occurred. Perry, aDemocrat who actually lost the Escambia County vote during the statewide election, acted to dissolve the Republican city government of Pensacola and in 1885 replaced this government with hand-picked successors, including railroad magnate William D. Chipley. The only African American to remain in city government was George Washington Witherspoon, a pastor with theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church who was previously a Republican and switched parties to the Democrats. Following Governor Perry's dissolution of the Republican government, the city remained Democratic for more than a century after theCivil War with no African Americans serving in an elected capacity for nearly a century.
Presidential election results in Pensacola's urban core[81]
This changed in 1994, when Republican attorneyJoe Scarborough defeated Vince Whibbs Jr., the son of popular former Democratic mayorVince Whibbs, in a landslide to representFlorida's 1st congressional district, which is based in Pensacola. Republicans also swept all of the area's seats in the state legislature, the majority of which were held by Democrats. Since then, Republicans have dominated every level of government, although municipal elections are officially nonpartisan.
The main campus ofPensacola State College is in the City of Pensacola. TheUniversity of West Florida (UWF) operates a campus in downtown Pensacola. Its main campus, located north of the city, has the largest library in the region, theJohn C. Pace Library. UWF is the largest post-secondary institution in the area.
The largest daily newspaper in the area is thePensacola News Journal, with offices on Romana Street in downtown; theNews Journal is owned by theGannett Company. There is an alternative weekly newspaper,Inweekly.
Pensacola Magazine, the city's monthly glossy magazine, andNorthwest Florida's Business Climate, the only business magazine devoted to the region, are published locally. TheNews Journal also publishesHome & Garden Weekly magazine as well as the monthlyBella, devoted to women.
Pensacola was first connected by rail withMontgomery, Alabama, via theAlabama and Florida Railroad, completed in 1861 just before the start of theCivil War. During the war, most of the rails between Pensacola and the Alabama state line were removed to construct other railroad lines urgently needed elsewhere in theConfederacy. The line to Pensacola was not rebuilt until 1868, and was acquired by theLouisville and Nashville Railroad in 1880. In 1882, thePensacola and Atlantic Railroad was completed from Pensacola toChattahoochee, Florida, linking Pensacola with the rest of the state. This line was also acquired by the L&N.
By 1928, a number of short lines built northward from Pensacola toKimbrough, Alabama, were acquired by theFrisco Railroad, giving it access to the port of Pensacola.[86][87] Some thirty years later, retired Frisco steam engine 1355 was donated to the city and stands in the median of Garden Street, near the site of the now-demolished Frisco passenger station.[88]
Frisco passenger service to Pensacola ended in 1955, and L&N passenger service, including the streamlinedGulf Wind, ended in 1971 with the advent ofAmtrak. However, from early 1993 through August 2005 Pensacola was served by the tri-weeklyAmtrakSunset Limited, but service east ofNew Orleans toJacksonville andOrlando was suspended due to damage to the rail line ofCSX duringHurricane Katrina in 2005.[89]
In the 21st century, freight service to and from Pensacola is provided by L&N successorCSX as well as Frisco successorAlabama and Gulf Coast Railway, ashort line. On June 1, 2019, the newly formedFlorida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, aClass III railroad headquartered inTallahassee, acquired the CSX main line from Pensacola toBaldwin, Florida, nearJacksonville, becoming thePanhandle's only east–west freight hauler. A news report on the new railroad in mid-2019 noted that Amtrak indicated that the Panhandle had a "near-zero chance" of seeing passenger service restored.[90] Pensacola and Tallahassee are the two largest metropolitan areas in Florida without any passenger rail service.
The local bus service is theEscambia County Area Transit.[91] ECAT operates fixed route bus service and paratransit service. The ECAT system currently provides fixed-route bus service, as well as the seasonal Pensacola Beach trolley and University of West Florida on-campus trolley.[91] There is a website and an app for bus times called moovit.[92] The app can be downloaded from this site, which also shows the service area and lists the routes.[93]
Pensacola also has a ferry service owned by the National Park Service. It has stops in Downtown Pensacola, Pensacola Beach and Fort Pickens.
Hospitals in Pensacola include Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital, Baptist Hospital, Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, HCA Florida West Hospital, and Select Specialty Hospital.[95]
^Howard, Clinton N. (March 5, 1947). Koontz, L. K.; Bjork, D. K.; Howard, C. N. (eds.).The British Development of West Florida: 1763–1769. Vol. 34. University of California Publications in History. pp. 14–15.
^Sheppard, Jonathan C. (2012).By the noble daring of her sons : the Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press. p. 16.ISBN9780817317072.
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^Team, National Weather Service Corporate Image Web."National Weather Service Climate".w2.weather.gov.Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. RetrievedOctober 29, 2015.
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