"Catholic Driving Tour"

Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

In 1850 the Secretary of the Navy authorized the construction of a Catholic church on the Navy Yard to provide for the spiritual needs of workers and their families. St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church was dedicated on May 4, 1851.

Confederate soldiers burned down the original Church during the bombardment of Fort Pickens in 1861.

Sisters of St. Joseph established St. John the Evangelist School in 1874 at the Navy Yard. However, after a Yellow Fever epidemic in 1878, the Sisters of Mercy took over operation of the school.

In the early part of the 20th century, the church and school survived another Yellow Fever epidemic, a hurricane, and the closure of the Navy. On the eve of World War I, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that the Navy Yard would re-open as the Pensacola Aeronautical Station. In 1931, the Church and school relocated to Warrington.

Written by Katherine Browning, Student, Pensacola Catholic High School, 2011.

Copyright Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, 2011.