History
The Apalachicola region has been populated since the first Floridians
arrived 12-14,000 years ago. Clam shell middens and sand burial mounds
found along the Jackson River and associated creeks and swamps at Box-R
are typical of the prehistoric sites found scattered throughout the
lower Apalachicola River valley.
Florida Photographic Collection
Creek Indian village on the Apalachicola River. Castelnau,
Francis, comte de, 1812-1880.
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Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama began settling along the
Apalachicola River in the early 1700s. East of the Box-R property, the
town of Apalachicola was incorporated in 1829. Within a decade, the
Apalachicola River became a major shipment route for cotton grown on
farms and plantations of south Georgia, Alabama and north Florida,
establishing the town as the third largest port facility in the Gulf of
Mexico. On St. Joseph Bay to the west of Box-R, the town of St Joseph
was founded in 1835 by settlers from Apalachicola who hoped to divert
shipping traffic from Apalachicola. Box-R’s northern boundary, the
Jackson River, connected the Apalachicola River with Lake Wimico, a few
miles to the west. St. Joseph residents had Lake Wimico dredged and
linked to the Jackson and Apalachicola rivers via a channel and built an
eight-mile steam operated railroad from the lake to the town of St.
Joseph. On the political landscape, the town was the site of Florida’s
constitutional convention from December 1838 to January 1839, when the
constitution was signed. Despite these successes, St. Joseph failed to
prosper and its population dwindled after a yellow fever outbreak in
1841 and a destructive hurricane in 1844.
Florida Photographic Collection
Cypress lumber yard : Apalachicola, Florida
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By the 1850s, the lumbering industry in north Florida was becoming
well-established and many small family-owned sawmills sprang up along
the Apalachicola River. Logging continued to dominate the local economy,
peaking around the turn of the twentieth century. Millions of board feet
of longleaf pine and cypress passed through the port of Apalachicola.
Pines were also sought for their sap, which was distilled into
turpentine and rosin and known collectively as naval stores. By the
early 1900s, few patches of unlogged forest remained in the Panhandle.
Apalachicola turned its attention to the bay and the famous Apalachicola
oyster industry began in the later part of the 19th century.
Florida Photographic Collection
Apalachicola Northern Railroad depot : Port Saint Joe, Florida
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In 1909, Port St. Joe was founded near the former location of St.
Joseph. That same year, the Apalachicola and Northern Railroad built
sixteen miles of track connecting the new settlement with Apalachicola.
From Apalachicola, the track extended north to Chattahoochee. In 1910,
the first passengers made the 50-minute trip between Port St. Joe and
Apalachicola, crossing a portion of the present day Box-R WMA. Regular
passenger service ended in 1951, but freight hauling continues today.
The Intracoastal Waterway route through Lake Wimico and the Jackson
River opened in 1930 and connected Destin and Apalachicola.
In the late 1920s, Edward Ball and Alfred DuPont began buying large
tracts of land for timbering with funds they had earned by investing in
failed banks during the Depression. The pair purchased the entire town
of Port St. Joe including the railroad. The town became the headquarters
for the DuPont enterprises. The St. Joe Paper Company was formed in 1936
and a paper mill built in Port St. Joe began operations in 1938. The
mill employed hundreds of workers until it was sold and shut down in
1999.
