Franklin County Railroad Era

The emergence of railroads to North Florida in the mid 1830s was propelled by a need for more reliable shipping alternatives. Steamboats ruled the river during the early to mid 1800s but were not always reliable, hindered constantly by unpredictable river levels, snags and mechanical problems.

The first railroad engine to steam into Franklin County arrived in Carrabelle in 1894. The Carrabelle, Tallahassee and Georgia Railroad (CT&G) was incorporated in 1891 to build a 70-mile route extending from Carrabelle through Tallahassee and northward to the Georgia-Florida line. While at the Carrabelle terminus, rail cars were loaded with salted down mullet and other goods to points north, as well as bringing in needed supplies for the residents. The railroad also brought tourists from Tallahassee to stay at the Lanark Springs Hotel, a luxurious resort hotel east of Carrabelle. The other side of the station was the steamboat depot. Here, paddle steamers such as the "Crecent City" would meet the train and take on cargo and passengers bound for Apalachicola and St. Marks or the weekly steamships to St. Andrew’s, Pensacola and points beyond. Early efforts to build and maintain the Carrabelle route were financially challenged from the start and the line was eventually abandoned in 1948 following a series of ownership changes.

Prior to the railroad being the CT&G, it was the Augusta, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad Company (AT&G)and prior to that it was the Thomasville, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad (TT&G). William Clark (heir to the Coats & Clark’s thread manufacturing empire) bought the AT&G and re-incorporated it as the Carrabelle, Tallahasssee & Georgia Railroad in January 1891. It is written that Clark owned 175,000 acres of North Florida pine forest along the CT&G right-of-way which provided raw material for his company’s wooden spools. CT&G rails reached Tallahassee in October 1893. CT&G was purchased by the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad (GF&A) in 1906. At its greatest extent, the GF&A ran 180 miles from Carrabelle to Richland, Georgia. The Seaboard Air Line (SAL) leased the GF&A in 1927 and merged with it in 1928. SAL abandoned the segment between Carrabelle and Tallahassee in 1948.

The first railroad engine to steam into Apalachicola arrived on April 30, 1907 amid a town-wide celebration. The Apalachicola Northern Railroad (ANR) tracks entered town at the north end of Market Street and ran parallel along Water Street to its terminus at the Railroad Depot located near Commerce Street and Avenue G. A spur of the rail line extended to the south end of Water Street to the Florida Promenade (Battery Park) where it serviced canneries such as the Ruge Brothers and others. The ANR ran north of Apalachicola to Chattahochee where an interchange was made with the Atlantic Coast Line.

Steamboat wrecks, river snags and unpredictable river levels were constant challenges and shipping magnates in Apalachicola were looking for more reliable ways to ship goods prior to the Civil War but weren’t successful until the late 1800s. In 1885, a group of Apalachicola businessmen secured a charter for the Apalachicola and Alabama Railroad Company. The group hoped to build a rail line northward to connect to the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad network in Jackson County. Unable to secure financial backing for the endeavor, the rail plan was abandoned until 1903, when North Florida businessman Charles B. Duff and partners chartered the Apalachicola Northern Railroad (ANR). Construction began in 1905 and trains began running north from Apalachicola in 1907. From Apalachicola, the ANR route ran north to Chattahoochee where an interchange was made with the Atlantic Coast Line. An extension to Port St. Joe was completed in 1910. Historians say the Apalachicola Northern Railroad was built on the expectation that the completion of the Panama Canal would result in a shipping boom of the Gulf Coast.

The completion of the ANR proved to be a boon to both the timber and seafood industry that had begun to emerge in the early 20th century.  Rail commerce flourished in the area until the timber resources started to dwindle in the 1920s. In 1933, the ANR was purchased by Alfred I. duPont to service the St. Joe Paper Company mill in Port St. Joe which operated there from 1936 to 1996.