100 block N Palafox, west side
Marker #16
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza (Historic Marker)
Streetcar
Palafox Street
Dr. Martin Luther King Plaza is a memorial park on the Palafox Street median between Chase and Gregory Streets. The park honors the memory of revolutionary Civil Rights Movement leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The plaza was dedicated on January 18, 1993 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).
At the center of the park is a bust of Dr. King that was sculpted by Atlanta artist Ayokunle Odeleye and was installed in December 1992. At the base of the bust is a plaque inscribed with an excerpt from Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1964:
“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
The Palafox Market is held at the MLK Plaza on Saturday mornings in the summer and many marches and demonstrations have taken place at this site over the years.
MLK Plaza is a site on the African American Heritage Trail.
Streetcar
The large center median diving Palafox Street was once the location of streetcar lines that connected the neighborhoods of Pensacola. Started in 1882 by Conrad Kupfrain, the Pensacola Streetcar Company raised $50,000 and received approval from the City Council to install tracks in the public streets. The early streetcars were pulled by horses, later upgraded to steam power, were fully electrified by 1906. Peak operation was around 1920, with 30 streetcars, 5 different lines, and carrying an estimated 4 million passengers. With the rising popularity of automobiles, introduction of city buses, and changes to the franchise rights, the last streetcar ran in Pensacola in 1932. Some of the original tracks can be seen in the streets of the North Hill Preservation District on W De Soto Street. In the Museum of Commerce (201 E Zaragoza Street), you can sit inside a restored streetcar.
Pictured | Streetcar on South Palafox Street, ca 1920s, UWF Historic Trust
Originally named George Street after King George III, Palafox Street retains the original grid design laid out by British engineer Elias Durnford in 1764. Pensacola was the capital of West Florida during periods of British, Spanish, and American occupation with Palafox Street serving as city's central business and cultural artery. In 1812, Spanish Surveyor General Vicente Sebastian Pintado renamed George Street to Calle de Palafox after Jose Robelledo de Palafox, 1st Duke of Saragossa and Spanish army general. Pintado modified the British plan according to orders from the Council of Indies following Spanish colonial town planning concepts. He also set aside Plaza Ferdinand as public space in 1812. Palafox Street was Pensacola's main commercial hub after the Civil War. In the 1880s, the city became one of the largest export centers of yellow pine and red snapper for the Gulf Coast.
Palafox Street was awarded “Great Places in America: Streets” by the American Planning Association in 2013.
