The History of Saint Augustine, Florida

by William W. Dewhurst

At the census of 1830 St. Augustine and environs contained four thousand inhabitants, of whom eight hundred and forty-four were free blacks. The large number of free persons of color is accounted for by the fact that St. Augustine under the Spanish had been an asylum for all the runaway slaves from the neighboring colonies. They had been formed into a military company, and after the “patriot war” of 1812 to 1816 lands had been donated to them for their services. It was also said that those born in the province were registered from their birth, and a severe penalty imposed upon any master of a vessel who should attempt to carry any of them away.

In 1822 an attempt was made to deprive the Roman Catholics of the cathedral. A petition of the inhabitants was thereupon presented to Congress, and that body passed an act on February 8, 1827, granting and confirming to the Catholic society of St. Augustine the building and grounds where they now worship.

In 1821 Rev. Andrew Fowler, a missionary from Charleston, South Carolina, organized the present Episcopal parish. The corner-stone of the present church edifice was laid by the Rev. Edward Phillips on the 23d of June, 1825, and the building was consecrated by Bishop Bowen of South Carolina in the year 1833. The church is a small and plain structure, but in very good taste, and ornamented with a steeple. It is built of coquina, and from its location fronting the plaza, is one of the most noticeable buildings in the city.

The Presbyterian church, though built later, 1830, has a less modern appearance. This church, which was fitted in quite the old-fashioned style, with high-backed pews facing the entrance doors between which was the pulpit, underwent a remodeling of the interior in 1879.

By act of Congress dated March 30, 1823, East and West Florida were united as one territory. Florida was admitted into the Union as a State, March 3d, 1845.

In 1830 there was quite a spirit of speculation rife in the old city. A canal into the St. Johns River and another between the Halifax and Matanzas rivers, also a railway to Picolata were projected, and sanguine people fully expected to see these projects completed immediately. To this day the railway alone has been completed, and is barely able to pay a dividend to its stockholders with a tariff of two dollars for a carriage of fifteen miles. All the other projects are still being talked of.

One of the bubbles of the speculation of this period was a new and large city to be built north of the fort. Peter Sken Smith, a gentleman of some means, erected the frame of a large hotel on grounds outside of the city gate, and there were also built there several houses and stores, a market, and a wharf. Judge Douglass, the first judge of the territory, entered largely into the business of raising the silk-worm. He set out a large number of mulberry trees and built a large building on his plantation called Macarasi, or more commonly Macariz, situated just beyond the end of the shell road, which gave to the place the general appellation of the “Cocoonery.” Judge Douglass has been ridiculed for yielding to the “silk-growing fever,” but the enterprise which was so disastrous to him and others will one day become a lucrative business for many in the mild climate of Florida.

The large and handsome residence on the lot adjoining the Episcopal church, now owned by L. H. Tyler, Esq., was built by Peter Sken Smith, in 1833. The artisans and much of the materials were brought from the North, and the sum of forty thousand dollars was said to have been invested on the house and furniture. Shortly after the house was for sale at less than two thousand dollars.

The plaza was inclosed about this time, and the cannon placed at the corners. The old guns yet to be seen about the city were used by several private citizens to ornament the corners of the streets upon which their lots fronted. In a cut published thirty years ago showing the plaza, etc., the date-palms in Mr. Tyler’s yard appear to reach to an altitude almost the same as at present, showing the extreme slowness of their upward growth.

St. Augustine, immediately after it came under the jurisdiction of the United States, began to receive a most desirable addition to its population in a class of Americans of culture and means, who had long desired to avail themselves of the benefits and delights of its climate, but had hesitated about becoming citizens of the place under Spanish rule. I have heard old citizens say that there was no town of its size in the country where there were so many persons of refined tastes and independent means as in St. Augustine at that time. The Indian war soon after brought to St. Augustine a large addition to its population. This consisted mostly of the military, both regulars and militia, of Florida and the neighboring States, and the many officers, agents, and attachés of the government. It was the government headquarters and a depot of supplies, and for a season was full of bustle, excitement, and more activity than it has ever experienced since.