Historical marker in Century, Florida tells of 90-mile logging railroad

Century, Fla. historical marker.

This week’s featured historical marker is the “CENTURY, FLORIDA / ALGER RAILROAD” marker in Escambia County, Florida. This marker is located in a small park on the east side of North Century Boulevard, near the intersection of Hecker Road in Century, which is just a few miles south of Flomaton, Ala.

This marker was erected in 1968 by the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials. There’s text on both sides of this marker, and both sides are different. What follows is the complete text from the marker.

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“CENTURY, FLORIDA: Founded in 1900 to house mill employees of the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. formed in 1900 by General Russell A. Alger ~ Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator and President McKinley’s Secretary of War ~ and by Martin H. Sullivan of Pensacola. Edward A. Hauss led the company from 1901 to 1957 and pioneered in reforestation to perpetuate timber resources. Century and Alger recall the names Colonel Frank Hecker, Henry Glover, George E. Glover, A.W. Ranney, John Millen, Colonel W.D. Mann, David Miller, Houston Jones, Larry Nelson and Marion Leach.”

“ALGER RAILROAD: This site is 300 yards west of former location of tracks of The Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. logging railroad which ran from Century to Alger-owned timber lands in Alabama. Ninety miles in length, the railroad hauled prime virgin longleaf logs for manufacture of lumber and export timbers at the Century mill, the largest in Florida. Logging crews lived in railroad camp cars on sidings. Oxen were used in the woods to skid logs to the railroad for loading. Railroad discontinued operation in 1942.”

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I encountered the historical marker described above while passing through Century last Friday afternoon. It’s located in a small park that also contains a war memorial, and it’s right down the street from the town’s baseball fields at Showalter Park. It’s neat little town that I’ve passed through a number of times, usually on the way to Baker or Jay.

According to the Town of Century’s Web site (www.centuryflorida.com), it's said that Century was once known as “Teaspoon,” but changed its name to Century when the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. was established in 1900, that is, at the turn of the century. The community just south of the Alabama state line incorporated into the Town of South Flomaton in 1945, but changed its name to the Town of Century in 1979. The town grew in size in 1980 when it annexed a sizeable unincorporated area south of town.

If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Century, Fla., I highly recommend that you check out The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society’s Web site, www.algersullivan.org. Not only does this site contain a wealth of information about Century and the surrounding area, but it also includes a large collection of historical newspaper columns that have been published in Flomaton’s Tri-City Ledger newspaper over the years.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I’m also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you’d like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.