Palafox Place is a major commercial area in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, United States. It comprises three blocks of South Palafox Street, south of Garden Street and north of Government Street, which was formerly the main downtown shopping district. Palafox Place has been labeled an "

entertainment district An entertainment district is a type of arts district with a high concentration of movie theaters, theatres or other entertainment venues. Such areas may be officially designated by local governments with functional zoning regulations, as well as ...

" due to the location of venues such as the Saenger Theater. Various dining places are also found there, contributing to Palafox Place's popularity as a historic center for leisure and

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

activities.

History

1700s

During British rule of the colony of

West Florida West Florida () was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. Great Britain established West and East Florida in 1763 out of land acquired from France and S ...

(1763-1783), what is now Palafox was called Gorge Street, after a British

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, Allies Stanforn, surveyed the city. After the re-capturing of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

by the Spanish Empire in 1783, the street was renamed Calle de Palafox or Palafox Street. It stretched from the gardens today known as Garden Street to the waterfront where Main Street runs today. Palafox was a center of commercial activity.

1800s

Before and after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

(1861-1865), Pensacola's deepwater harbor was a port of domestic and foreign shipping for the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

, and Palafox Street was the commercial hub for much of the

Florida Panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

. Exports included

yellow pine In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...

lumber,

naval stores Naval stores refers to the industry that produces various chemicals collected from conifers. The term was originally applied to the compounds used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships. Presently, the naval stores industry are used to ...

, and fish from nearby waters, including the famous red snapper. From 1880 onward, the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

, and from 1928, the Frisco Railroad, carried passengers, mail, express, and freight between Pensacola's busy docks at the foot of Palafox Street and all other points in the United States.

1900s

By the turn of the 20th century, Palafox Street was lined with

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...

, restaurants, offices and the city's first street lights. Most banks, insurance companies, and professionals such as attorneys, had offices on or near Palafox Street, in proximity to city and county offices as well as city, county, state, and federal courthouses located nearby. Office buildings, banks, hotels, restaurants, cafes, churches, grocery stores, and movie theaters, along with numerous small businesses, lined Palafox and adjacent streets from the 1920s to the 1960s, when it was the center of community and commercial life. Major national retailers located on South Palafox Street included Sears, Roebuck, J. C. Penney, Woolworth's, and a

Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...

drug store, among others. In the mid-1950s, Town and Country Plaza, the first large, modern, open-air shopping center, was built several miles north of downtown. Thereafter, an increasing number of suburban

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

s, and in the 1970s enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

s, with acres of free, convenient parking, drew more and more shoppers and businesses away from the downtown area with its

parking meter A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to Parking, park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by Municipality, municipalities as a tool for enforcing their i ...

s and traffic congestion.

2000s

Palafox Place, a marketing term devised around the turn of the 21st century, houses restaurants, clubs, entertainment, marketing firms and more.

New Year's Eve

The Pensacola Pelican Drop is the New Year's Eve Celebration that takes place in Palafox Place. The first dropping of the

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

happened December 31, 2008 as announced in the

Pensacola News Journal The '' Pensacola News Journal'' is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely read daily. The ''News Journal'' is owned by Gannett, a national media holding company t ...

. The Celebration is held with the dropping of a 12 foot tall, 2 1/2 ton aluminum

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

wrapped with 2,000 lights. In 2010 the third edition was reported to be the biggest New Year's Eve Celebration in the

Central Time Zone The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...

and the 2011 again grew.

Notable landmarks

References

{{reflist

External links

Downtown PensacolaPalafox Market
Pensacola, Florida