Woolsey, Florida, was a small community located on the north side of the Pensacola Navy Yard, the construction of which began in Northwest Florida in April 1826. The town was razed in 1922 to make way for expanded Navy facilities.

History

Creation

Recognizing the advantages of the

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

harbor and the large timber reserves nearby for shipbuilding, in 1825

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

and

Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

Samuel Southard made arrangements to build a Navy Yard on the southern tip of Escambia County, where the air station is today.Shettle, Jr., M. L., "United States Naval Air Stations of World War II, Volume I: Eastern States", Schaertel Publishing Co., Bowersville, Georgia, 1995, Library of Congress card number 94-68879, , page 178. Navy captains

William Bainbridge Commodore William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774July 27, 1833) was a United States Navy officer. During his long career in the young American navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea. ...

, Lewis Warrington, and James Biddle selected the site on

Pensacola Bay Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensac ...

. Commodore Warrington served as the first commandant of the navy yard. Warrington was succeeded by Commodore

Melancthon Taylor Woolsey Melancthon Taylor Woolsey (1782 – 18 May 1838) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and battles on the Great Lakes. He supervised warship construction at Navy Point in Sackets Harbor, New York, and later had a full care ...

in late 1827, which position he held until 1831.''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Being the History of the United States Vol. VIII''
p. 99. James T White & Co, 1898 (digitized by Google 22 Jun 2007, from original held by New York Public Library) "Commodore Woolsey created two villages,

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

and Woolsey, outside the navy yard for homebuilding."

Railroad

The Pensacola and Fort Barrancas Railroad, an eight-mile line connecting Pensacola with

Fort Barrancas Fort Barrancas (1839) or Fort San Carlos de Barrancas (from 1787) is a United States military fort and National Historic Landmark in the former Warrington area of Pensacola, Florida, located physically within Naval Air Station Pensacola, which ...

through Warrington, and Woolsey, was begun from 1870. The company was incorporated by a special act of the State of Florida on February 12, 1870. It was granted an easement by Congress to run through the federal Navy Yard reservation on January 30, 1871.

Elimination

Following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, operation of land-based aircraft at

Naval Air Station Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United Sta ...

increased. An expansion of the balloon operating field that opened immediately north of the old Navy Yard boundary in 1916 was undertaken in 1922. To make room for the enlarged facility, the small town of Woolsey was razed for the creation of the airdrome. "Locals assumed the Army's involvement in the project and had to be informed that the field, initially called Station Field, was intended for the exclusive use of Navy landplanes."Shettle, Jr., M. L., "United States Naval Air Stations of World War II, Volume I: Eastern States", Schaertel Publishing Co., Bowersville, Georgia, 1995, Library of Congress card number 94-68879, , page 177. The facility was renamed Chevalier Field in 1935. No trace remains of Woolsey.

References

{{authority control Pensacola metropolitan area Former populated places in Escambia County, Florida 1922 disestablishments in Florida Former populated places in Florida