20. MASONIC LODGE NO. 16 5158 Pike Street Organized with six members in 1846, the Santa Rosa 16 F.A.M. built this Greek Revival style lodge in 1855 on Canal Street where the School Board is

now located. The lodge was moved to its current site in 1915 to make room for the new school. The lodge has been used continuously since 1855 except during the Civil War years of 1862 to 1865 when the presence of Union troops made gatherings unsafe.

21. CHAFFIN HOUSE 6825 Oak Street This Greek Revival style house was built by County Sheriff Isaiah Cobb in 1854. Cobb enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 and was wounded in battle near Atlanta and died from his wounds in 1864. He left behind a wife and four children. He is buried in an unmarked grave near Stone Mountain, Georgia. Purchased from the Cobb

Family in 1856, this house was the family home of mill owner James Chaffin for more than 50 years. The house currently houses business offices.

22. OLD MILTON HIGH SCHOOL/ SCHOOL BOARD 5086 Canal Street Built in 1915, this handsome brick building was home to Milton High School until it relocated to its present site in 1952. In the late 1960s, the building was scheduled for demolition until Pensacola Junior College opened as the Milton campus. In the mid-1980s, the Santa Rosa County School Board reopened the building for use as offices. Etched above the doorway is the Latin phrase “Sit Lux,” meaning “let the light shine.” The phrase is still Milton High School’s motto nearly 100 years later.

23. COLORED ODD FELLOWS HALL 5049 Canal Street This two-story building was built as the Colored Odd Fellows Hall in 1891 for the black population in Milton. Odd Fellow organizations were once

common in many areas and were established to protect and care for their members and communities at a time when there was no welfare state, trade unions or any public health services. It was sold in 1925 and turned into a boarding house. The building now serves as apartments.

24. OLLINGER HOUSE 6829 Pine Street Built in 1871 by Joseph Ollinger whose brother William built the area’s first floating drydock in Bagdad, this Gulf Coast cottage has modified Gothic detailing with a central tower and decorative elements making it a unique architectural masterpiece to Milton. The Ollingers were prominent Gulf Coast merchants and shipbuilders.

27. MT. PILGRIM AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH 5103 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Mt. Pilgrim African Baptist Church was organized in 1865 at the end of the Civil War when African-Americans were establishing independent communities and places of worship. Designed by architect Wallace A. Rayfield, an appointee of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute’s architecture school, the historic church was hand-built by church members in 1916. The church’s distinctive architectural features and stained glass windows are unique to the local area.

25. L&N Depot - 5003 Henry Street Built in 1909 after a fire destroyed the original 1882 structure, the L&N Depot was closed in the late 1960s and was in serious disrepair when the Santa Rosa Historical Society acquired the building in 1976. The site now serves as a museum complex showcasing a living history museum, a model railroad, a miniature outdoor railway, a garden railroad, and a gift shop. Open Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. FREE ADMISSION.

26. T.W. JONES HOUSE 4966 Henry Street Built in the 1870s as a Creole Cottage, this house was altered by T.W. Jones in 1922 with removal of the second-story and addition of wrap-around porches. The house’s property was

once part of a large antebellum shipyard. Clerk of the Court T.W. Jones and his wife, Alice, were popular for their collection of heirloom camellias that are still on the property. The house now serves as an education center.

Photos by Teresa Dreher. Design by Longleaf Consulting Group.

© 2010 Main Street Milton, Inc.

WALKING TOUR GUIDE

Provided for you by

Main Street Milton, Inc. P.O. Box 821, Milton, FL 32572

www.MainStreetMilton.org

Provided for you by

Main Street Milton, Inc. P.O. Box 821, Milton, FL 32572

www.MainStreetMilton.org

Blackwater

River

Discover Historic Downtown

MILTON

FLORIDA on the Beautiful Blackwater River

WALKING TOUR

Historic Downtown Milton

Walking Tour Map

WALKING TOUR STOPS

1. SANTA ROSA COUNTY COURTHOUSE 2. FISHER-HAMILTON BUILDING 3. OLD MILTON DRUG STORE 4. IMOGENE THEATRE 5. KRENTZMAN’S DEPT. STORE 6. JOSEPHSON’S STORE 7. OLD WOLFE-LEWIS FUNERAL HOME 8. FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 9. COLLINS HOUSE/ METHODIST OFFICES 10. MILLIGAN-WHITMIRE HOUSE 11. W.J. WILLIAMS HOUSE 12. D.T. WILLIAMS HOUSE 13. McWHORTER-LYNN HOUSE 14. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 15. ALLEN HOUSE 16. EXCHANGE HOTEL 17. OLD POST OFFICE 18. FAIRCLOTH-CARROLL HOUSE 19. ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 20. MASONIC LODGE NO. 16 21. CHAFFIN HOUSE 22. OLD MILTON HIGH SCHOOL 23. COLORED ODD FELLOWS HALL 24. OLLINGER HOUSE 25. MT. PILGRIM AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH 26. L&N DEPOT/ WEST FL RAILROAD MUSEUM 27. T.W. JONES HOUSE

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1. SANTA ROSA COUNTY COURT HOUSE 6865 Caroline Street Long a centerpiece in downtown Milton, the Santa Rosa County Court House was opened on July 4, 1927. Originally identical on four sides with the county jail on top of the building, in the 1960s, the jail was removed and additions were added. This site has held a courthouse since 1877. During WWII metal drives were held on the lawn. The court house square witnessed frontier law and order with hangings and shoot-outs. SEE COVER OF BROCHURE FOR PICTURE OF COURTHOUSE.

2. FISHER & HAMILTON BUILDING – 5206 Willing Street Built in the 1877 and possibly the oldest brick structure between Pensacola and Marianna, this building was the largest mercantile in town until 1903, when it became a saloon and a pool hall. When the county went dry in 1907 it became Fisher & Hamilton Hardware closing in early 1960s. The building now serves as the public defender’s office.

3. OLD MILTON DRUG STORE – 5216 Willing Street Built in 1910 after a downtown fire destroyed the original building, the Milton Drug Store served generations of Milton families. Damaged by fire in 1987, the building was renovated and turned into offices. The soda fountain is now in the Local History Museum.

4. IMOGENE THEATRE – 6866 Caroline Street

Designed in the Renaissance Revival style, this theatre was built as a vaudeville theatre in 1912. The Theatre was named after Imogene Gooch whose parents purchased the building in 1921. The walls are four bricks thick and the floors are

steel reinforced concrete. The only three-story building in Milton, it was severely damaged in 2009 when a fire destroyed surrounding buildings. The downstairs originally housed the Milton Post Office until 1940 when a new post office and federal building was opened nearby. The theater floor was vacant for more than forty years until the Santa Rosa Historical Society purchased the building in 1986. For more than 20 years, the downstairs housed the museum of local history until the fire in 2009 forced it to close. The Society is currently restoring the building through insurance money, grants and contributions.

5. KRENTZMAN’S DEPARTMENT STORE - Willing Street Built after the 1909 fire, Krentzman’s Department Store served Milton for nearly half a century. The store now serves Polka-dots Toys & Gifts and the Boomerang Ballroom.

6. JOSEPHSON’S STORE –5234 Willing Street

Most likely the oldest building on North Willing Street, the I.M. Josephson Store was built after the 1892. Josephson was an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and operated in this building from 1898 until the 1920s after which time it became Elsie’s Beauty Salon. The

building now serves as a temporary local history museum.

7. OLD WOLFE-LEWIS FUNERAL HOME – 5243 Willing St. Built around 1910 by Rabbi I.M Josephson, this house served as a Temple for Milton Jewish community. The building eventually became the Wolfe-Lewis Funeral Home in the late 1920s, closing in the 1970s. The building now serves as a mixed-use facility, including a retail store, beauty salon and coffee shop.

8. FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 6830 Berryhill Street The original First Methodist Church building was located on Conecuh Street and burned in 1904. Rebuilt in 1905 on the same site, the next church building was much larger and ornate, often used for town meetings, but burned during a Christmas Eve celebration in 1932. During the fire, parishioners saved what they could, including the grand piano now in the Penfield Center. During the Depression, church services were held in the courthouse until the church completed its present sanctuary in 1936.

9. COLLINS HOUSE – 6819 Berryhill Street Built in 1905, this craftsman bungalow currently serves as the church offices for the First United Methodist Church.

10. MILLIGAN-WHITMIRE HOUSE 6824 Berryhill Street This folk Victorian house was built in 1889 by Capt. Rufus Milligan, confederate veteran and part owner of the lumber-milling firm of Milligan, Chaffin & Co. When the partnership dissolved in 1885, Rufus Milligan took charge of the sawmill town of “Chaffin,” and renamed it “Milligan.”

11. W.J. WILLIAMS HOUSE – 6810 Berryhill Street Built in 1887 by William J. “Wiley” Williams, Sr., Santa Rosa County’s Tax Collector this fashionable Victorian takes its name from the bow veranda that wraps around the front, much like the deck of a riverboat. Its original high-gabled roof and second floor were lost to a fire in 1928, and the home was renovated as a one-story house with many bungalow features.

12. D.T. WILLIAMS HOUSE - 6780 Berryhill Street

Built in 1913 by D.T. Williams, a prominent and longtime merchant in downtown, this house has served as a home, a legislative office, and is now a dentist’s office.

13. McWHORTER-LYNN HOUSE – 6760 Berryhill Street This Greek Revival house was built around 1857 by George McWhorter, a railroad and lumber company lawyer. In 1876, he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where he served as Speaker of the House. In 1884, he served as an elector for President Grover Cleveland. McWhorter later served as the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. He died in the house in 1891.

14. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH – 5203 Elmira Street The First Presbyterian Church of Milton is the oldest known church building in Santa Rosa County. Built just after the Civil War, this historic church was “modernized” in the 1920s with removal of its steeple, the addition of Sunday School rooms, and the addition of an exterior brick veneer over the original wooden frame. The church’s interior is ornamented mostly with curly virgin pine, a top quality building material in the late 19th Century.

15. R.J. ALLEN HOUSE – 5194 Elmira Street

Built in 1917 by a downtown merchant, this American Bungalow is unusual because it was constructed with bricks and is claimed to be the first brick house in Milton. The fence is one of the last remaining brick and pipe fences left in downtown – a once popular local design for fences and porch railings.

16. EXCHANGE HOTEL 5185 Elmira Street Built in 1914 by the same architect who designed the Imogene Theater and Old High School (Santa Rosa County School Board building), this building was intended to be used as the telephone exchange. However, shortly after it was built, the exchange moved into a building next door and the Exchange Hotel opened. It now serves as offices.

17. OLD POST OFFICE 6825 Caroline Street When the town outgrew the post office located in the Imogene Theatre, this building was commissioned to be built as a WPA project, bringing many jobs to the area at a time when the lumber mills closed and jobs were scarce. Opened in 1940, the building served as Milton’s post office until it closed in 1984 when a new post office was built. The building was vacant until it was reopened in 2008 as Old Post Office Antiques & Piano Café.

18. FAIRCLOTH-CARROLL HOUSE – 5188 Escambia Street Built in 1921 by bank president David Faircloth for his son James, this house is a classic example of bungalow architecture popular in Milton in the 1920s. The house remained in the family until 1977. The houses located behind and next door to this house were homes of Mr. Faircloth’s parents and sister. The house is now the Dragonfly Art Gallery.

19. ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH – 6842 Oak Street Built in 1877 by a group of prominent Milton families, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is a unique architectural gem of Carpenter Gothic style. Used as an example in many architectural history books, the interior of St. Mary's is almost

identical to its 19th Century appearance, including furnishings, oil lamps, and ornate stained glass windows. Famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright wrote that "Saint Mary's is a jewel created in the purest tradition of the Gothic Revival. It survives today with its pure lines intact, its muted colors untouched. Purity, it is without a blemish."

Provided for you by

Main Street Milton, Inc. P.O. Box 821, Milton, FL 32572

www.MainStreetMilton.org

WALKING TOUR GUIDE