Quina House Museum

Members are invited to our monthly Stories from the Archives (at the University of West Florida Libraries, University Archives and West Florida History Center). This month is historical valentines from our collections.

Certainly members of the Quina Family in Pensacola attended the wonderful concert 100 years ago, of John Philip Sousa and his 100-member band at the "new" high school building on North Palafox Street. It was Sousa's second visit to Pensacola; he spoke to the Rotary Club at the San Carlos Hotel at 1:00, had a matinee performance at 3:00, and the evening concert at 8:15 on Tuesday evening, January 31, 1922.

Our October program featured the story of a prominent Pensacolian, widely traveled but had only one trunk! Her name was Maxine and she lived at Pinehurst Tourist Park on Mobile Highway from 1933-1945 and stories about her were published nationwide and she inspired fictional stories in Colliers, Saturday Evening Post, and the American. Thanks to historian Dean DeBolt for bringing her story to life!

The October meeting of the Pensacola Historic Preservation Society will be Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 11:30 am. at Sonny's BBQ on Ninth Avenue. Reservations needed to insure seating; 850-477-3294. Our program will be "The Story of a Prominent Pensacolian" and yes, we're keep this a secret. All we can share is that she travelled the United States but always came back to her home in Pensacola in the 1930s and early 1940s! See you there!!

Congratulations to Mike Simmons on his new book covering the History of the Pensacola Police Department.

Valentine postcards were common in Pensacola in the 1890-1920 period when postage was one cents! Many of them were printed in Germany which had the finest color printing facilities in the late 19th century.

Before stamps were introduced in 1847, when you mailed a letter, the recipient had to pay the postage. Since small towns often did not have mail carriers, the postmaster would publish a notice in the local newspaper alerting folks that they had to go to the post office and pay for mail waiting for them. Here is a list from the Pensacola Gazette of November 9, 1826, down through Desiderio Quina. The lists are sometimes helpful in identifying residents of a town.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year marks the 200th anniversary of when Desiderio Quina bought the house and property in 1821. After Andrew Jackson took possession of Florida on July 17, 1821, a land commission heard claims of individuals to their property. Desiderio Quina presented a deed showing he had bought the property in 1821 that included buidings. Though a house is not specifically mentioned, since he had three children at the time, we date the house back through the previous owner to the 1810 period!

If you zoom, you may enjoy this history program

Don't miss our last Hour with Archives event of 2020...Mayflower Miracles and the Year of Two Thanksgivings.

Join University Archivist, Dean DeBolt, virtually on Monday, November 16th at Noon.

Our University Archives and West Florida History Center has one of the largest research collections in existence on West Florida, its history, development, and people from the earliest settlement to the present, covering aspects of the region.

Our event will be held online through Google Meet:
meet.google.com/bem-qvfw-vax

While we are presently closed, visitors might like to note that we first opened on November 30, 1969 when Mayor Warren Briggs cut the ribbon formally opening the house to the public.

The pandemic has forced us to close our Museum as well as curtail our normal meetings. We thought we'd share this video for fun!

We are sorry to announced that our March 21 meeting is CANCELED. We want our members to be safe and the national and local recommendations regarding the coronavirus are changing and challenging almost daily. We will announce our April meeting as we get closer to that date. Thank you.

Our March luncheon meeting will be held on March 21, 2020 at 11:30 at Founaris Brothers Greek Restaurant. Historian and author Leo F. Murphy will speak on the story of 1st Lt. James R. Polkinghorne, Jr., a black Tuskegee Airman who was from Pensacola. He will have copies of his book "Lost in Heaven" available for purchase.

To ensure seating, please notify Judy DeBolt (850-477-3294) by March 19, if you plan to attend. Attendees will order from the menu and be responsible for their own lunch.

Join us for our Saturday, February 15, 2020 luncheon at Founaris Brothers Greek Restaurant, 6911 Pensacola Boulevard, Pensacola at 11:30 p.m. Open to members and the public but please call 850-477-3294 so we can have a headcount for seating.

Our speaker is Dean DeBolt who will be sharing two stories of Pensacola Black History, two tales of individuals changing the world. One individual changed the British Empire; the other graduated from Washington High School, going on to play at Carnegie Hall among other venues.

Join us for our Saturday, January 18, 2020 luncheon at Founaris Brothers Greek Restaurant, 6911 Pensacola Boulevard, Pensacola at 11:30 p.m. Open to members and the public but please call 850-477-3294 so we can have a headcount for seating.

Our speaker is Hank Klein presenting THE EARLY DAYS OF WEST FLORIDA, a talk and illustrated lecture. Hank will also have some of his books available for sale. See you there!!

PHPS celebrated this effort along with partner historic sites.

Join us for our November luncheon on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at Founaris Brothers Greek Restaurant, 6911 Pensacola Boulevard, at 11:30 p.m. Open to the public but please call 850-477-3294 to make a reservation to insure seating.

Our speaker is Dr. Brian Rucker who will talk on POPULUXE, the architecture of Googie and Jetsons in Pensacola.

As a hint, we share three images and you'll find the common threat in his November talk!

Join us for our October meeting on Saturday, October 19 at 11:30 a.m. at Founaris Greek Restaurant. Our program is:

Pensacola's First Space Traveller

She was born in Peru but spent her childhood and most of her young adult life in Pensacola. She became among the first of her kind to be launched into outer space and brought back alive, to be the toast of the country -- appearing on the cover of Life magazine and on TV shows like Dinah Shore and Mike Douglas. She was an even greater attraction then the Blue Angels. Come hear the story of Miss Baker who put Pensacola on the map "that Man May Reach The Moon."

This is a luncheon meeting, open to all; you may order off the menu and pay individually. Please notify Judy DeBolt at 850-477-3294 if you plan to attend.

Our September meeting topic is "Andrew Jackson Comes to Pensacola" presented by David Walby, highlighting the years 1789-1821 covering some of the events, seizure of slave ships, and other Jackson-Pensacola-related adventures.

We will meet on Saturday, September 21 at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and program at O'Charley's Restaurant, 6233 N. Davis Highway, Pensacola.

Reservations required due to seating by notifying Judy DeBolt at [email protected] or at 850-477-3294.

Thanks to Garth Antiques and our antique appraisers, Winston Garth, Robert Garth, Jeff Bannon, and Tony Wimmer for a wonderful 25th annual Labor Day Antique Appraisal Fair to benefit our Society and the Quina House!
Also thanks to Pizza Hut at 120 Entrance Road for their donation of pizzas so we could keep the appraisers well fed! If you were unable to attend but still wished to help the Society, donations can be mailed to the Pensacola Historic Preservation Society, P. O. Box 12411, Pensacola, Florida 32591-2411. Thank you!!!

Hey! Do you have an olde object or antique and you don't know anything about it? Bring it to the 25th Antique Appraisal Fair on Saturday August 31, 2019 from 9 to 2 at Garth's Antiques, 3939 Navy Boulevard, Pensacola. This is a BENEFIT for the Pensacola Historic Preservation Society, cost is $5.00 for one item, $3.00 each additional item. The Society maintains the 210-year old Quina House in the Pensacola Historic District! Please come, contributions welcome!

On a recent Saturday, the Wentworth Museum and other Historic Village buildings offered a once a year free entry. But the charming and historic Quina House is ALWAYS FREE. AND Quina House offers personalized guided tours by knowledgeable volunteers. Take advantage of this ongoing opportunity Tuesday-Saturday noon-4pm. You'll learn more about the Quina family, this oldest house in Pensacola on its original site, and the town that grew around it.

We're letting folks know about our Society and Quina House at the UWF Historic Trust open house today.

The Pensacola Historic Preservation Society will hold its May meeting on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at O'Charley's Restaurant at 11:30 a.m. Our program is POST OFFICE MURALS IN FLORIDA. We will cover what murals still exist from the 1935-1943 period in West Florida and Florida. Our speaker has located nearly ALL of them and their history!!

The Pensacola Historic Preservation Society will hold its April luncheon meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2019 at 11:30 am. at O'Charley's Restaurant on Davis Highway in Pensacola. Our program is "SECRETS OF BEN HUR" the story of General Lew Wallace, the book and some stories on the making of the epic 1959 film with Charlton Heston. --Why Ben Hur, you ask? It is a frequent Easter film but this book was the most influential book of the 19th century...and has sold more copies than the Bible!

The first real survey of historic structures in Pensacola began in June 1968. The survey crew under the direction of Professor F. Blair Reeves identified structures and drew up architectural plans with pictures for including buildings in the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). One of these structures was the Quina House as shown in this June 13, 1968 Pensacola Journal article.

Our February luncheon was held on Friday, February 15 and we learned the history of the Julee Panton Cottage which the Society bought in 1972 to save it from destruction. The House was built by Francisco Hindenberg in 1804 and sold to Judry or Juli in 1808. She owned the lot and had her house next door, and she kept it for 14 months before selling it. Our Society bought the home from the family that had it for 116 years (Raymos and Borras families). We, in turn, sold it in 1976 to the Governmental Center Authority who deeded it to the Pensacola Historical Village.

SAVING PENSACOLA'S BLACK HISTORY...the "Julee" Panton House

Our February program and lunch will be on February 16, 2019 at O'Charley's Restaurant on Davis Highway in Pensacola at 11:30. Our program will be "Saving Pensacola's Black History: the Julee Panton House" which will tell the story of the earlier African-American structure in Pensacola and how the Pensacola Historic Preservation Society saved this structure along with information on "Julee" Panton, the documented facts and the legends! Come join us...reservations may be made with our Secretary, Judy DeBolt, at 850-477-3294.

We participated in the RAISING THE BAR 2019 teacher training conference at Washington High School on Saturday to promote the Quina House and our Society to social studies teachers. Beverly Stagg, Judy DeBolt, and Dean DeBolt turned out in historic costume!

The January 2019 luncheon meeting of the Pensacola Historic Preservation Society will be on Saturday, January 19, 2019 at O'Charley's Restaurant, Davis Highway, Pensacola at 11:30. Our speaker is noted author and historian Hank Klein who will speak on "Strange Connections--Arcadia, Bagdad, and Destin" based on his research and published history of Leonard Destin and the early founding and settlers of Destin, Florida. Reservations are needed to gauge seating, please contact the Recording Secretary, Judy DeBolt, at [email protected] or 850-477-3294.

The Quina House — Pensacola Historic Preservation Society

Guidebook Must
The petite, charming Quina House, built in 1820 or earlier, is the oldest house in Pensacola that’s still in its original location, now the heart of the Historic District
“It has 1820s air conditioning,” says Ed Muller, docent for the house, “a front door, back door and 12-foot ceilings.” Muller is a treasure trove of history; he will tell you how the Spanish landed in what is now Pensacola Bay six years before they established St. Augustine, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, which lays claim to being the nation’s oldest — but not first — city. That colony was the first to survive beyond a few weeks — in fact, it lasted about two years. Soon after the colonists arrived, a hurricane sank most of their ships and wiped out their provisions, including livestock. (Muller says it’s his belief that most of the settlers died because they didn’t eat oysters.) Eventually even the survivors who had hung on to the shrinking settlement vacated. Over the centuries, the French and Spanish tussled over the region. You can pick up some of those influences in the cottages of this pleasant district. Muller lives two blocks from the Quina House; he moved to Pensacola from New Jersey and says he’ll never leave. “Everyone comes to visit me,” he says, “and I don’t have to go anywhere for vacation.”

from today's Washington Post!

The Quina House — Pensacola Historic Preservation Society The Quina House

Why you should visit Pensacola

Washington Post recommends the Quina House in Pensacola and carries an interview with our very own Ed Muller!!!

Why you should visit Pensacola This Florida Panhandle town buzzes with creativity, whimsy and high spirits

The PHPS was at St. Michael's providing historic information on the Quina Family at their gravesite. Here's a photo of our volunteers Fred Davis, Gena Buchanan, and Norma Muller at our table and a view of Garden Street in front of us. This cemetery was the edge of Pensacola until after the Civil War.