Apalachicola's timber industry emerged prior to the Civil War alongside a booming cotton shipping trade. One of the town's first sawmills, the Pennsylvania Tie Company, was located at a site known today as the "Mill Pond" or Scipio Creek Boat Basin on North Market Street. The sawmill cut railroad crossties from cypress logs that had been dragged from the swamps surrounding the Apalachicola River. Despite an abundance of timber, early efforts to expand the industry were thwarted by high transportation costs, undercapitalization and the ever-present industry hazard of fire. It wasn't until James N. Coombs came to Apalachicola in the late 1870s when, backed by Northern capital, Coombs went on to establish and manage several sawmills in the county. Other mills followed including the Cypress Lumber Company, Franklin County Lumber Company and Kimball Lumber Company.

Spurred on by a worldwide demand for timber products, sawmills soon sprang up along the river, and millions of board feet of pine and cypress passed through the port of Apalachicola. Pines were also sought for their sap, which was distilled into turpentine and resin and known collectively as naval stores. By the beginning of the 20th century, the capacity of the local mills was greater than the area's shipping facilities and it became clear that a faster more efficient means for shipping lumber was necessary in order for the industry to grow. Relief arrived in 1903, when the Apalachicola Northern Railroad rolled into town and with it the promise of faster and more efficient shipping.

City of Apalachicola

Apalachicola Railroad Era

Apalachicola's first railroad engine steamed into town 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 load seafood from the packing houses on the river.

The emergence of railroads to North Florida in the mid 1830s was propelled, in part, 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 efforts to establish rail travel to the area began many years before the effort was successful. 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 of Apalachicola to Chattahoochee where an interchange was made with the Atlantic coast Line. An extension to Port St. Joe was completed in 1910.

Rail commerce flourished in the area until the timber resources started to dwindle in the 1920s. In 1933, the railroad was purchased by Alred I. duPont to service the St. Joe Paper Company mill in Port St. Joe which operated there from 1936 to 1996.

City of Apalachicola