Pensacola (Florida)

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Pensacola
Nickname : The City of Five Flags
Pensacola US Courthouse
Pensacola US Courthouse
County and state location
Escambia County Florida Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Pensacola Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1559
State : United States
State : Florida
County : Escambia County
Coordinates : 30 ° 26 ′  N , 87 ° 12 ′  W Coordinates: 30 ° 26 ′  N , 87 ° 12 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 53,779 (as of 2016)
485,684 (as of 2016)
Population density : 914.6 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 102.7 km 2  (approx. 40 mi 2 ) of
which 58.8 km 2  (approx. 23 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 31 m
Postcodes : 32501-32592
Area code : +1 850
FIPS : 12-55925
GNIS ID : 0294117
Website : www.cityofpensacola.com
Mayor : Ashton J. Hayward

Pensacola [ ˌpɛn.sə.ˈkoː.lə ] is a city and the county seat of Escambia County in the US state of Florida with 53,779 inhabitants (as of 2016). It is the largest settlement in the metropolitan region of the same name, Pensacola .

geography

Geographical location

Pensacola is located in the far northwest of Florida near the border with Alabama and has a seaport in Pensacola Bay, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico . The naval aviation base ( Naval Air Station Pensacola ) is, among other things, the home of the naval air show team Blue Angels . The US Navy Research Laboratory is also located in Pensacola.

Pensacola is around 300 km west of Tallahassee . Jacksonville is 350 miles, Tampa 700 km, Orlando 710 km and Miami 1,060 km from Pensacola.

climate

The highest temperatures of up to 28 ° C are measured in May to October, the coldest months are December to February with an average of only 8 ° C. Snowfall is very rare in the region.

history

Surname

The name goes back to an Indian tribe who lived nearby. It means long-haired people in the Choctaw language and is derived from panshi = hair and kla = people.

Early years

Spanish troops storm the fortifications of Pensacola

Pensacola was the first European settlement in what is now the United States and was founded in 1559 by Don Tristan de Luna and his Spanish settlers, who docked with seven ships and around 1550 soldiers. Shortly afterwards, the place was destroyed by a strong storm. Because of this, many people consider St. Augustine , Florida to be the first place in the US to be settled by Europeans.

During the war of the Quadruple Alliance , the city of Pensacola was occupied by France, but after the war ended , the city was returned to the Spanish. In 1763 the city passed to the British. In the following years the port was expanded further. In 1781, during the Battle of Pensacola during the American War of Independence , the city was conquered by the British by Spanish troops under the command of Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid .

In 1784 the first privately financed dock was completed and trade with England began. In 1821, John Quincy Adams ordered the construction of several forts and a shipyard to build warships. This led to an enormous boom in wood procurement and processing. In 1851 the first cargo of timber left the port on behalf of a third party.

In 1835 construction began on the Florida, Alabama & Georgia Railroad , which would connect the port of Pensacola with Montgomery , Alabama and enable the transportation and shipment of cotton from Alabama. However, the company went bankrupt during the economic crisis of 1837 and the project remained unfinished.

The Pensacola area is home to three historic forts: Fort Pickens , Fort Barrancas, and Fort McRee . Fort Pickens was completed in 1834. When Florida broke away from the Northern States on January 10, 1861, the Confederates came from the evacuated Fort Pickens and held it until May 1862. From 1885 to 1887 the chief of the Apaches Geronimo was imprisoned in Fort Pickens.

From 1875 to 1895, Pensacola was one of the most important timber handling centers. During this time about 1.1 billion linear meters of wood left the port. Other noteworthy export goods were cotton, phosphates, grain, tobacco, flour, resin, turpentine as well as coal and iron.

Pensacola 1885

In 1882 the railway line to Jacksonville was completed, and the goods produced could also be sent overland, which brought about a further boom. At that time the city already had 13,000 inhabitants.

Since 1900

Due to the stock market crash in 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression , Pensacola and the port lost their economic importance, which only changed again in 1941, when the demand for coal for the allies increased during World War II . In 1942, the grocer Calvin Todd managed to put the port, which had been private until then, into public ownership, which was accomplished in 1943 when the port authority was established. In 1948, 1955 and 1958 three major fires destroyed large parts of the docks. The complete renovation of the port was decided in the same year.

In 1960 all trade with Cuba , which until then was the most important trading partner, broke off. In 1965 this crisis was also overcome, and 98% of all timber traded was exported through the ports of Florida, 63% of the peanuts exported were exported through Pensacola.

Before Tallahassee, Pensacola was the government capital of Florida for a short time.

Religions

In Pensacola there are currently 243 different churches from 25 different denominations. Among the churches belonging to a denomination, the Baptist congregation is most strongly represented with 99 churches. There are also 16 churches that do not belong to any denomination (as of 2004).

Pensacola is considered the starting point of a charismatic revival movement of the modern age and gave it its name.

Pensacola has been the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee since 1975 . The mother church of the diocese is the Sacred Heart Cathedral (Herz-Jesu).

Demographic data

Population development
Census Residents ± in%
1850 2164 -
1860 2876 32.9%
1870 3347 16.4%
1880 6845 104.5%
1890 11,750 71.7%
1900 17,747 51%
1910 22,982 29.5%
1920 31,035 35%
1930 31,579 1.8%
1940 37,449 18.6%
1950 43,479 16.1%
1960 56,752 30.5%
1970 59,507 4.9%
1980 57,619 -3.2%
1990 58,165 0.9%
2000 56,255 -3.3%
2010 51,923 -7.7%

According to the 2010 census, the then 51,923 inhabitants were distributed over 26,848 households. The population density was 883 inhabitants / km². 66.3% of the population identified themselves as whites, 28.0% as African American , 0.6% as Indians and 2.0% as Asian Americans . 0.8% said they belonged to another ethnic group and 2.3% to several ethnic groups. 3.3% of the population was made up of Hispanics or Latinos .

In 2010 children under the age of 18 and 29.6% of all households lived in 23.8% of all households with persons at least 65 years of age. 55.3% of households were family households (consisting of married couples with or without offspring or one parent with offspring). The average household size was 2.17 people and the average family size was 2.85 people.

22.0% of the population were younger than 20 years, 25.1% were 20 to 39 years old, 28.6% were 40 to 59 years old, and 24.4% were at least 60 years old. The mean age was 43 years. 47.4% of the population were male and 52.6% were female.

The median annual income was $ 44,628, with 16.3% of the population living below the poverty line.

In 2000, English was the first language of 94.79% of the population, 2.43% spoke Spanish and 2.78% had another mother tongue.

crime

The crime rate in 2010 was 411 points (US average: 266 points) in the average range. There were three murders, 36 rapes, 112 robberies, 269 assaults, 519 break-ins, 1939 thefts, 87 car thefts, and four arson.

Culture and sights

Attractions

The following properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places :

sports clubs

Parks and sports facilities

There is a wide range of different city parks as well as several sporting facilities, as well as playgrounds and opportunities for camping. Sports options include softball, baseball, football, basketball, soccer and swimming.

Economy and Infrastructure

The port and the companies located there are the largest employers in Pensacola. The other branches of employment are: education, health and social affairs: (25.3%), trade / retail: (12.6%), arts, entertainment, food, restaurants: (11.3%).

military

The Naval Air Station Pensacola is the largest naval aviation base of the US Navy in Pensacola. 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian employees are employed there.

traffic

Pensacola is traversed by Interstates 10 and 110 , US Highways 90 and 98 and Florida State Roads 196 , 289 , 290 , 291 , 292 , 295 , 296 , 742 and 750 .

Until 2005, the Pensacola station was a station of the Sunset Limited of the Amtrak railway company from Orlando to Los Angeles . However, after the effects of Hurricane Katrina , the line was shortened to the New Orleans - Los Angeles route. Since then, the only rail transport has consisted of goods transports, which are operated on the west-east corridor by the CSX Transportation company and to the north by the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway .

The city's airport is Pensacola International Airport , which offers flights to destinations within the United States.

education

Further educational opportunities

  • University of West Florida (approx.10,400 students)
  • Pensacola State College (approximately 11,000 students)
  • Pensacola Christian College (approx. 4,700 students)
  • George Stone Technical Center

Libraries

Pensacola has a public library, the West Florida Regional Library, with around 360,000 books, 36,000 audio and 14,000 video documentation.

Town twinning

Sister cities of Pensacola are

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Pensacola, Florida  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Duane Champagne: The Native North American Almanac: A Reference Work on Native North Americans in the United States and Canada , 2001, p. 160.
  2. ^ William Alexander Read: Florida place-names of Indian origin and Seminole personal names , 1934, p. 30.
  3. ^ Gregg Turner: A Short History of Florida Railroads. Arcadia Publishing , Mount Pleasant 2014, ISBN 978-1-439642-54-2
  4. ^ Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 . United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  5. ↑ Language distribution 2000 . Modern Language Association . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Pensacola-Florida.html
  7. ^ Florida - Escambia County. National Register of Historic Places , accessed July 26, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Naval Air Station Pensacola
  9. ↑ Sister Cities International - Pensacola, Florida ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 1, 2018 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sistercities.org