Gateway to Florida’s History

Built in 1907 during a downtown building boom, Pensacola’s former City Hall is the earliest example of Mediterranean Revival architecture in the city. In 1985, a new City Hall on Main Street replaced it, and the old building was donated to the State of Florida to house the vast collection of local historian, entrepreneur, and politician T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Wentworth never refused a donation and could tell people something about each of the more than 150,000 items in his collection, making his museum a must-see attraction in Pensacola. Nearby, the Pensacola Children’s Museum offers play spaces including the Panton and Leslie Trading Post, colonial Lavalle Cottage, a fort with a guard tower, a Native American chickee, the Galveston, a toddler play area, and a birthday party room. The Colonial Archeological Trail explores Pensacola’s past from 1752 to 1821 through a self-guided walking tour of ruins and structures including wells, kitchens, officers’ quarters, the British Government House, Saint Michael’s Cemetery, and Fort George, site of a Revolutionary War battle. The Museum of Commerce recreates Palafox Street as it looked between 1890 and 1910 and includes an exhibit on newspapering and printing in northwest Florida, while the Museum of Industry presents permanent exhibits on brick-making, fishing, lumbering, and railroads.

Pensacola, Florida · United States