Press Release: Pensacola State College invites the community to the unveiling of a Florida Heritage Site Historical Marker honoring the original home of the college.
The ceremony is 9 a.m. June 30 in Lee Square on North Palafox Street – across from the college’s initial location. With 136 students and under the direction of James L. McCord, what was then Pensacola Junior College began classes Sept.13, 1948, at the Aiken Boarding House on the corner of Palafox and Cervantes streets.
“We hope that everyone who attended classes in the old boarding house will join us,†says Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows. “We have been very pleased with the number of students who were in those first few classes that have come forward to support this project, and we hope to see all of them there for the unveiling of this historical marker.â€
Former college Board of Trustees member and Pensacola dentist Clement Barfield is excited about the event. His father, the late Jessie Barfield, was one of the college’s original administrators and faculty members – the Pensacola campus administration building bears his name.
“I grew up around the corner from the old boarding house, and I knew everyone – Margaret Andrus, Lou Ross, James L. McCord and others who worked there before it was torn down in 1956,†Barfield recalls. “My dad taught a class while standing in a closet, with students seated in what had been a bedroom.â€
Pensacola State College was the first public junior college created by the Florida Legislature under the Minimum Foundation Program Act of 1947 – authored by Florida Sen. LeRoy Collins and signed into law by Gov. Millard F. Caldwell. For 63 years, the college existed as Pensacola Junior College (PJC) until July 2010 when it was renamed Pensacola State College, as a result of an expanded mission to offer bachelor’s degrees as well as associate degrees.
The Florida Heritage Site Historical Marker was acquired through the Division of Historic Preservation in Tallahassee. The Florida Historical Marker Program recognizes places, people and events that are significant in the state’s history and culture. The purpose of the program is to increase public awareness of the cultural heritage of Florida.
The marker inscription reads:
ORIGINAL SITE OF PENSACOLA JUNIOR COLLEGE
On this site, Pensacola Junior College (PJC) opened its doors on September 13, 1948. It was the first public junior college created by the Florida Legislature under the Minimum Foundation Program Act of 1947, signed into law by Governor Millard F. Caldwell. The Escambia County School Board received authority to establish the college. District staff Jesse Barfield and Margaret Andrus helped James L. McCord, principal of Pensacola High School, prepare the initial proposal and continued as faculty. McCord became the first director of PJC. The Aiken Boarding House provided classrooms for the first 136 students. James H. Allen, president of Florida Pulp and Paper Company, contributed the first two year’s rent for the facility. In June 1953, the College moved one block south to the old Pensacola High School. On May 13, 1955, Governor LeRoy Collins signed a bill appropriating $1,243,000 to the college, which resulted in the 1956 purchase of property on 9th Avenue, now the college’s main campus. Pensacola’s Booker T. Washington Junior College was established as Florida’s first black junior college in 1949, and at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, merged with PJC in 1965.
FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE PENSACOLA STATE COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
