(rshsdepot) Panama City, FL

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

After the 1924 fire, a new depot was built
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The last of two articles on the Bay Line Railroad and its
depot in Panama City.)

MARLENE WOMACK
Contributing Writer - The News Herald

The cause of the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railway Depot fire on Jan. 7,
1924, was never determined. Those passing by a short time before the blaze
saw no evidence of smoke or flames. But an investigation revealed that just
before the fire began, workmen had unloaded the contents of three rail cars
into the building and these pieces of freight may have in some way
contributed to the blaze.
In addition to the loss of freight, the fire also destroyed the company's
second floor offices, which included most of its reports, ledgers and
contracts along with the railroad's four safes.
F.A. Black held the insurance on the structure. But railroad officials
estimated the damage between $10,000 to $30,000 above the insured amount.
REBUILDING THE DEPOT
Two years prior to the depot fire, the state Railway Commission had ordered
the A & St. A.B.R.W., which by then was referred to as the Bay Line, to
build a new station north of what was described then as the "Boulevard
Highway," now U.S. Bus. 98.
A contract also existed between the railroad and the Gulf Coast Development
Co., which deeded the land for a new railroad terminal and dock.
With its offices gone, the railroad faced an immediate need for temporary
quarters. Members of the Panama City Woman's Club convened for an emergency
meeting and offered the use of the lower story of their building, now the
Elks Lodge on Beach Drive.
Associates in Dothan, Ala., also pledged $25,000 if the railroad would move
its general offices to their town. If necessary, the railroad also had the
option of using part of the Pines Hotel.
At a meeting held Jan. 24, 1924, W.C. Sherman, vice president of the
railroad, thanked everyone but declined all offers. He said that the freight
and tickets would be handled at the old Steele-Powers building, east of the
burned depot. The second floor of the March Boarding House on Harrison
Avenue, just south of Joyce's Store, would serve as the temporary general
offices of the railroad.
Sherman also explained that within 60 days the railroad expected to have a
new two-story depot on the east side of the tracks on Sixth Street. An
architect had designed this new building with a foundation of cement and a
fireproof vault that extended from the ground to the second floor.
But changes in ownership of the railroad soon took place when Southern
Kratt, a subsidiary of the International Paper Co., opened its paper mill in
Bay Harbor in 1931. International Paper purchased the Bay Line at that time.
THE PINES FIRE
Eight years after the depot fire, the Pines Hotel met a similar misfortune.
Tex Gilbert, an experienced hotel manager, operated the Pines then. Minor C.
Keith of Florida Properties and the St. Andrews Bay Lumber Co. owned the
hotel.
At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1932, a fire started in the west wing of the
huge two-story wooden building from glue sparks that ignited the roof. Like
the depot fire, the Pines Hotel blaze was reported as one of the hottest and
largest fires in Panama City. Schoolchildren were dismissed early to watch
firemen trying to save the building.
Gilbert managed to rescue most of the furnishings and some or his
possessions from the burning structure. The loss was estimated at $25,000,
and the owners were said to have carried no insurance.
THE DEPOT WITNESSES HISTORY
During the first half of the 20th century, railroads still played an
important role in this country. The Bay Line Depot in Panama City buzzed
with excitement as trains arrived and departed not far from the center of
town each day.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the railroad continued to transport millions of
pounds of mullet, red snapper and other fish from its depot to large inland
cities.
On summer Sundays or holidays, Bay Line excursion trains arrived from
Dothan, Ala. The ride cost travelers $1 per person, round trip. These
excursioners walked from the depot to the docks where they paid 25 cents for
a launch ride across the bay to the large pavilion at Lands End, now the
eastern end of Shell Island.
In that location, they rented bathing suits for 25 cents and frolicked in
the gulf. When they returned to town they paid another 26 cents to dine on
fresh seafood in the Alabama or one of the other hotels. Then they made
their way back to the depot to catch the return train to Dothan.
Train service was also popular with college students returning to
Tallahassee or Gainesville over the holidays or summer vacations.
With the railroad still one of the main forms of transportation in the
pre-World War II era, the Bay Line often transported caskets filled with the
remains of Northern residents or visitors, desirous of burial in their home
states.
Several of the men who drowned in the collapse of a cassion at the DuPont
Bridge construction site on East Bay in January 1928 were returned to their
homes in Michigan and Wisconsin by rail.
During hurricanes, such as the ones that occurred in 1926, 1929 and 1936,
large sections of downtown Panama City flooded, including the area near the
depot. Tracks were washed out in some locations. After the 1929 storm
passed, thousands of barrels of rotting fish covered the beach and the Pines
Hotel grounds from wrecked fish houses or docks. Improvements in drainage
were implemented to correct this problem.
The hard days of the Depression were also played out at the depot when
fishermen came in with thousands of pounds of fish but had no place to sell
them. The dead fish were tossed back in the bay.
DAREDEVIL WALLACE CARSWELL
On occasion, Wallace Carswell Jr., Panama City's "Tarzan of the Sea," met
groups of people at the depot prior to taking them out on deep-sea fishing
trips. Carswell was well-known for his daredevil stunts, which included
fighting maneating sharks, when he wasn't running a fishing boat. He also
appeared in several 1930s movies, such as Killers of the Sea, Palm Isle and
Hurricane.
After President Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919, his wife, Edith Kermit
Roosevelt, restlessly traveled the country spending time at one place and
another. In 1937, she arrived in Panama City, then was driven to the
two-story, 16-room home she rented in St. Andrews after viewing a photograph
of the property. While in residence in this waterfront home, she enjoyed
long walks along the bay.
During World War II the Bay Line handled up to 13 trains per day, some of
them 100 cars long transporting materials needed by Tyndall Field,
Wainwright Shipyard and the Navy base. Hundreds of men and women connected
with these military installations arrived and departed the depot each week.
Trains left Panama City at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.
Some days, tearful families and friends gathered to watch servicemen
departing for overseas, some of whom they would never see again. Those who
died in the war were returned home by train and taken off at the depot prior
to funerals and burials.
THE END OF THE WAR
At the end of World War II, the Bay Line added Pullman service. But between
1952-1956, the railway experienced constant losses as other forms of
transportation gained in popularity. When the Central of Georgia
discontinued its train service between Dothan and Albany, Ga., the Bay Line
had no choice but to end its passenger service in July 1956.
The old depot remained and was used by other businesses, but now the
building and its surrounding 11 acres are for sale.
OTHER USES FOR RAILROAD DEPOTS
In some sections of the state, old railroad depots nave been refurbished and
serve as useful structures in the communities. In Bagdad, near Milton, the
old Louisville and Nashville station has become a railroad museum, complete
with the display of an old mortuary wagon used to transport the dead.
Near the lake in DeFuniak Springs the old train depot is a welcoming spot
where visitors can pick up literature about historical sites around town.
And now the Panama City depot awaits its fate. Preservationists want to save
this once important old structure steeped in local history and use part of
the surrounding grounds for a bike trail and picnic area. However, the depot
and its property could be lost, the same way most old Panama City buildings
have been in the past.

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