Chimney Park is located at 3400 Scenic Highway, northeast of downtown Pensacola. This site marks the location of two sawmills, the Hyer-Knowles planing mill and the Gonzalez shingle mill, thus directly connecting the site to the Lumber Landscape through its production of lumber materials. A chimney is the only structure present at the site.
Escambia County’s sawmills started incorporating steam-powered technology in the late 1830s. Unlike water-powered engines, this inventive technology did not require flowing water to power its machinery but relied on steam. This gave sawmill owners the ability to establish a sawmill at any location. Henry Hyer and Peter Knowles constructed the chimney at Chimney Park in 1857 as a necessary addition to their steam-powered mill operations. While the mill’s location on the Pensacola Scenic Bluffs may seem inconvenient, the mill’s proximity to the port of Pensacola shortened the distance to commercial shipping routes. The Hyer-Knowles planing mill operated during the peak period of the early lumber boom, which commenced in the 1850s and fizzled out by 1862.
With the start of the Civil War in 1861, shipping of lumber from Pensacola halted due to a Union imposed blockade of Pensacola Bay. The situation worsened for the Hyer-Knowles mill in March 1862 when the Confederate generals occupying Pensacola enacted a scorched-earth policy to prepare for their eventual evacuation. Confederate soldiers removed valuable machinery from the Hyer-Knowles sawmill and placed it on a boat which promptly sunk in Escambia Bay when an unexpected storm hit. On March 12th, 1862, a Confederate raiding party set fire to the sawmill leaving only the chimney standing. The raid also destroyed several other sawmills in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties, consequently ending the prosperity of the early lumber industry.
After the Civil War, the construction of new sawmills in the area revived the lumber industry. In 1881, M. F. Gonzalez constructed a shingle mill on the site of the former Hyer-Knowles planing mill and incorporated the still standing chimney into its operation. The mill ran until the 1920s when the business closed, and the property owner demolished the mill, excluding the chimney.
Today, only the chimney stands. Visitors and locals alike pass the remnant every day as they traverse Scenic 90 Highway making the site the most visible reminder of the once thriving lumber industry in Escambia County. In 2012, the National Register of Historic Places accepted the nomination for the Hyer-Knowles Chimney. The park on which the chimney is located is open to the public daily.
Recommended Readings
National Register of Historic Places. Hyer-Knowles Planing Mill Chimney. Pensacola, Escambia, County, Florida. National Register 12000299.
Pearce, George F. Pensacola During the Civil War: A Thorn in the Side of the Confederacy. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000
Featured Image:
Cottrell, Charles T. Old Mill Chimney, Pensacola, Fla. Unknown Date. John C. Pace Archives, Pensacola, Florida.
Author: Brianna Patterson
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8037-3709