Magnolia, Florida
Encyclopedia
Wakulla County, Florida
Wakulla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 22,863. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county was 28,212 people...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, established in the 1820s and is classified as an "extinct city" by the State Library and Archives of Florida.
All that remains of the city is the run down cemetery - the last known burial was in 1859. The cemetery is on land now owned by the St. Joe Paper Company. The town was located at approximately 30°13′15"N 84°10′30"W, near the small city of St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 272 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 299 .-Geography:...
.
History
In June of 1827, only 6 years after Spain ceded Florida to the United States, four brothers from Maine- John, George, Nathanial and Weld Hamlin- founded the town of Magnolia on the St. Marks river just north of the existing town of St. Marks. The Ladd family also married into the Hamlin family and helped settle the new town of Magnolia. Their primary purpose was to establish a profitable shipping port for the export of cotton that would be delivered to the port from points north, primarily from the rail terminus in Tallahassee about 20 miles north. The Hamlins had relatives in Maine who owned and operated a large textile mill.The town experienced initial growth as lots were platted and sold. Several stores, warehouses and even a hotel that billed itself as the "best on the gulf" were established.
Imports also came through the port to supply the growing panhandle area. Such items of record include brown and loaf sugar, Canary, Malga and Claret wine, bleached osnaburg, powder, shot, lead, cordage, leans soup, foolscap sealing wax and Scotch snuff.
Although a crude road made of dirt and wooden boards was constructed to run from this area to Tallahasee, a railroad was sorely needed. (In the early 1850's an upgraded plank road was constructed). By 1835 a rail connection was launched from Tallahassee to the town of St. Marks situated a little farther south on the St. Marks river. The rail effectively by-passed Magnolia. Although the rail line was very crude and initially relied on mules to pull open cars along loosely-anchored rails, this connection gave St. Marks a transportion advantage over Magnolia.
By the late 1830's the fate of Magnolia was sealed and most of the inhabitants picked up and moved either to St. Marks or to the new town of Port Leon south of St. Marks. Some of the buildings were moved along with the people. Port Leon later suffered a devastating hurricane that destroyed the town and caused it's inhabitants to move back up closer to the original town of Magnolia and settle the town of Newport. (drawn mostly from The Ghost Towns and Side Roads of Florida, James Warnke, Roving Photographers.)
In 1829 a US customs house was established at Magnolia. Magnolia, St. Marks
St. Marks, Florida
St. Marks is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 272 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 299 .-Geography:...
and sister river port town, Port Leon
Port Leon, Florida
Port Leon, Florida was a river port town located in what is now Wakulla County, Florida, which existed for only about six years in the first half of the 19th century...
, thrived from the commerce from Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
merchants and cotton plantations of the Red Hills Region
Red Hills Region
The Red Hills Region is a unique 300,000-acre area of the southeastearn United States overlapping parts of southwestern Georgia and north Florida.-Location:...
of North Florida and South Georgia when their products were hauled south to Tallahassee and beyond. These products were shipped to the port via wagon train
Wagon train
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...
s and the 24-mile-long Tallahassee Railroad. From that point, steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s and sailing schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
s then picked up these items at the port and transported them to other ports. As Magnolia waned and St. Marks thrived, the US Customs House was transferred to St. Marks in the 1830s.
Maps show 6 named streets running northeast to southwest and 5 named streets running northwest to southeast with 34 blocks containing lots, homes, or businesses.
September 13, 1843, a dangerous hurricane hit the area with a 10-foot storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
severely damaging what was left of Magnolia as well as destroying nearby Port Leon and damaging St. Marks.
Note: There was another town named Magnolia that existed around the time of the American Civil War in Clay County, Fl on the west bank of the St. Johns River. Period maps place this town just north of present day Green Cove Springs. (Some maps (Atlas To Accompany The Official records of the Union and confederate Armies) name the location as "Magnolia Hotel & Steam Mill," but it appears in dispatches as Magnolia.)
Photo gallery
Magnolia was large enough that the US Government permitted the Bank at Magnolia to issue its own Currency from 1832 through 1838.