In The News

From Pensacola New Journal April 24, 2023

Regret and hope vie for attention in Pensacola's Tanyard neighborhood

Kamal Morgan

Marilynn Wiggins has been living in the Tanyard neighborhood for over 50 years.

The founding member and former president of the Tanyard Neighborhood Association, Wiggins helped raise funds to put a sign on the intersection of West Garden Street and DeVilliers Street to introduce people into the neighborhood.

Recently, the sign was temporarily taken down because of construction in the area, and somehow it got lost in the process.

It's hard not to find symbolism in the mishap.

The Tanyard neighborhood, on the outskirts of Pensacola's booming downtown, is changing rapidly as the growth along Palafox Street seeps outward and brings new businesses, homes and developments to the surrounding neighborhoods. There are undoubtedly benefits to the growth, but some residents fear the Tanyard's identity will be lost in the process.

The Tanyard is transforming and current residents, old and new, are grappling with its identity and trying to balance Pensacola's development with holding on to the history and the richness of their beloved neighborhood.

What is Pensacola's historic Tanyard neighborhood?

The Tanyard is a neighborhood whose boundaries depend on who you speak to, their age and connection to the neighborhood. The City Neighborhood Association Presidents of Pensacola (CNAPP) places its boundaries as far north as West Garden Street, farthest south to West Main Street, farthest east to South Reus Street and west to South Pace Boulevard.

The area has long been a melting pot with generations of Black, Creole, Italian, Greek, Indigenous and other people calling it home.

Many long-time residents see the area transforming and homogenizing into a place where they aren't sure there will be a place for them.

“A lot of poor people ended up being affected by the rich coming in and poor people (become) affected and (they're) no longer here,” Wiggins said about the changing neighborhood. “So I don't feel any kind of way, because I'm not going to be pushed nowhere. I’m not gonna be pushed around, I'm not gonna be pushed out or none of that. I'm gonna be here until I get ready to decide I wanna go.”

The area has long been a melting pot with generations of Black, Creole, Italian, Greek, Indigenous and other people calling it home.

Many long-time residents see the area transforming and homogenizing into a place where they aren't sure there will be a place for them.

“A lot of poor people ended up being affected by the rich coming in and poor people (become) affected and (they're) no longer here,” Wiggins said about the changing neighborhood. “So I don't feel any kind of way, because I'm not going to be pushed nowhere. I’m not gonna be pushed around, I'm not gonna be pushed out or none of that. I'm gonna be here until I get ready to decide I wanna go.”

The growth doesn't scare Wiggins, but she worries about the respect and dignity of those who have called the Tanyard their home for generations.

Wiggins moved there when she was 11 years old and attended the now-closed Blount Middle School. She said all the neighbors not only knew each other but loved one another. Growing up, she played at the Corinne Jones Center on 600 W. Government St. where they would sell food and have games for children.

It was a time when you knew your neighbors by name and your children came up together through school. These days, thanks to the proliferation of homes being converted to short-term rental units like Airbnbs, you're lucky if you see the same faces next door week to week.

Wiggins said the rise of Airbnb has made it hard to find housing for families who actually want to live in the neighborhood and not just visit. Wiggins said she doesn't mind people making money, but when every new apartment or home becomes an Airbnb it comes at the cost of affordable housing for current and future residents.

"I still feel like people who are part of a residential area, people shouldn't just be pushed out because of the Airbnb situation," Wiggins said. "In other states they don't allow you to do a certain amount of Airbnbs, but this city here they are lost on what is really going on."

Former resident Teresa Taylor, 61, lived on Donelson Street and she remembers how diverse the community was with Indigenous people, Italians and Greeks residing in the area. As a child she would climb trees, play baseball, basketball, skate and go to Bruce Beach, which was the Black community swimming pool during segregation. They even went fishing at Bruce Beach and always had fish in their home because people came by to sell whatever they caught.

Taylor, unfortunately, saw the downturn of the community as it happened. The swimming pool was closed in the '70s, the neighborhood was home to Main Street Sewage Treatment Plant and a Escambia County Mosquito Treatment Facility, and families started to move out.

Even as the plants and facilities have left and amid the push to revitalize Bruce Beach and improve housing in the Tanyards, it has become too expensive to live in the area anymore, she said.

Taylor, who moved out of the Tanyards when she was in her 20s, now lives just outside of Pensacola and worries about those who still remain.

Tanyard was a community of diversity and history

The Tanyard was a neighborhood mainly populated by the Creoles, which generally refers to people of mixed race who have African descent and usually European or Native American heritage.

It was a working class neighborhood that got its name in the early 1800s from the tanning yards where laborers would skin and dry animal skin until the industry fizzled in the late 1800s. It was operated by the Panton, Leslie & Company, a company of Scottish merchants who traded with the local Indigenous communities in the southeastern United States.

The neighborhood had a rich history of labor movement since it was close to the waterfront resulting in a diverse workforce that included the stevedores − waterfront manual laborers involved in loading and unloading ships.

It also featured the infamous red light district indulged in by sailors and port workers

The Tanyard became a governmental center district where in the 1970s when city leaders decided the area was a good place to house government buildings. It also meant any demolition or new development in the district must be approved by the city’s Architectural Review Board to protect any historic properties.

Historic houses that survived were moved over to what is now Historic Pensacola Village, including the Julee Patton Cottage. While other houses survived through the development but eventually were demolished, such as the John Sunday house, to make room for townhouses.

The Creole cottages and shotgun houses are some of the significant markers that made up the neighborhood. Now slow developments from dog parks to new apartment complexes are changing the landscape of the area.

Joe Vinson, associate director of digital media strategy at the University of West Florida’s Office of Institutional Communications, understands the thing that makes Pensacola downtown attractive is its personality, and the Tanyard had a very singular personality in its heyday. The decades of historic preservation simultaneous with city growth has made it a neighborhood filled with nostalgia that residents want to see preserved.

“I think we should cherish the buildings that still remain that are down in the Tanyard,” Vinson said. “There aren't a lot of them and rapid growth often leaves a lot of regret, once you look at what you've lost.”

Tanyard residents want to keep the old and the new of its culture

Joe Lennon is the current president of the Tanyard Neighborhood Association who moved to the neighborhood from Gulf Breeze along with his wife two years ago.

Lennon was captivated by the vibrancy of the community and its history as one of the oldest neighborhoods in Pensacola. The close knit feel of being neighbors with families who have been here for generations right beside a new generation of families, while being close to the growth of downtown, was a strong selling point.

He loves the additions to the community but doesn’t want the new pushing out the old, particularly houses. According to Lennon, it's difficult to keep affordable housing in an area experiencing growth, and the best way to keeps costs down is rehabbing already existing structures instead of building new buildings.

Lennon wants to make sure growth is done the right way where there is a mixture of young and older generations of families who can meld together and bring out new thoughts and ideas to breathe new life into the Tanyard.

“We don't want to get too far where we're making it not as comfortable for people who have grown up here and spent generations here and that's why we need that balance, and I see a lot of that in the people I meet at the neighborhood association,” Lennon said. “They're very cognizant of that. They realize it's something special that we have an opportunity to be part of, and we want to make sure as that association grows that it's reflective of everyone in the Tanyard, not just the people that are our members now. As this continues to grow, it needs to reflect the entire Tanyard district.”

Currently, the city of Pensacola is working with the neighborhood association to get a new sign to replace the one that went missing on West Gardenand DeVilliers streets.

Wiggins recently stood at Corinne Jones Park, which stands in the middle of where the Main Street Sewage Treatment Plant and Escambia County Mosquito Treatment Facility were located, watching kids climbing on the playground set and playing basketball. This is the clean and fun environment she wants to see continue for every generation after her.

She wants her city representatives to help create affordable homes and repurchase property where they can build back the neighborhood for residents, and not become taken over by companies buying land and pushing longtime residents out.

“It should not be the way that they set it up to be, only for people that got big dollars, because working class people deserve to be part of a quiet residence like everyone else. They deserve it,” Wiggins said. “Whether gentrification comes in and takes control or not, people have a right to live where they want to live, but they have to create affordable homes down here in the Tanyard.”