Editing Alcaniz Street

{{Infobox Road
|marker_image=<table style="background: transparent;"><td>[[Image:Businesssign.png|52px]]<br/>[[Image:US 98.png|52px]]</td><td>[[Image:Fsr291.png|100px]]</td></table>
|road_name=Alcaniz Street
|name_notes=
|type=
|route=[[US Highway 98|US 98 BUS]]<br/>[[Florida State Road 291|Florida 291]]
|alternate_name=
|maint=
|length_mi=
|length_round=
|length_ref=
|length_notes=
|established=
|decommissioned=
|direction_a=north
|former_names=Charlotte Street
|starting_terminus=[[Cervantes Street]] ([[US Highway 90|US 90]]/[[US Highway 98|US 98]])
|junction=[[Wright Street]]<br/>[[Gregory Street]]<br/>[[Garden Street]]
|direction_b=south
|ending_terminus=[[Bayfront Parkway]]
|namesake=
|map=
|mapcode=
}}
[[Alcaniz Street]] is a north-south street in downtown Pensacola.  It currently runs between its northern terminus at [[Cervantes Street]] to its southern terminus at [[Bayfront Parkway]].

Alcaniz runs one-way southbound between Cervantes and [[Wright Street]]s, where it becomes two-way and widens until [[Garden Street]], at which point several southbound lanes branch off to form the westbound span of Garden.  Alcaniz Street continues southward through the [[historic district]] to Bayfront Parkway.

In [[British Pensacola]], what is now Alcaniz Street was called '''Charlotte Street''', for [[Wikipedia:Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Queen Charlotte]].<ref>Robinson, Benjamin. [http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?m=hd11J&i=75836 ''An Historical Sketch of Pensacola, Florida'']. p. 11, 1882.</ref>

The road from Cervantes northward to East [[Leonard Street]] was formerly named Alcaniz as well, but was renamed to [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive]] on [[January 14]], [[2000]], after an effort led by [[Movement for Change]] President [[LeRoy Boyd]]. The original proposal was to rename the entire street, but there was opposition from changing the name in the historical district. Furthermore, the northern limit was set at Leonard Street as the [[Pensacola city limits|city limits]] stop at that point before resuming several blocks later.  After the action by the Pensacola City Council, the [[Escambia County Commission]] voted to additionally rename the portions of Alcaniz in the unincorporated area from Leonard Street north to [[Barcia Drive]], where the city limits resume.  This led to the unusual circumstance where there is a short span from Barcia Drive northward which is still named Alcaniz; that from Barcia Drive south to Cervantes Street named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive; and that south of Cervantes to the bay named Alcaniz.

Some notable landmarks along Alcaniz Street include the [[Crowne Plaza Grand Hotel]], the [[Pensacola Civic Center]] and [[Seville Square]].

==Spanish origins==
One of their earliest appearances of the name Alcaniz is on the [[Pintado plan]] (1812), which, as Dr. [[Bill Coker]] noted, is the first map of the downtown area prepared by a municipal government for the City of Pensacola.  The Spanish Constitution of 1812 first permitted the organization of democratically-elected city governments, and by 1813, Pensacola had a city government of a mayor and councilmen. The 1813 map, found in the Vicente Pintado Papers of the Library of Congress (copies at the [[John C. Pace Library|University of West Florida Library]]), shows the town of Pensacola from the water to Romana Street.  The three named north-south streets are [[Palafox Street|Palafox]], [[Tarragona Street|Tarragona]], and [[Alcaniz Street|Alcaniz]]. Three other street names on the map are significant; these are [[Intendencia Street|Intendencia]], [[Zaragoza Street|Zaragoza]], Gobierno ([[Government Street|Government]]), and Church Street, although this latter is different than present-day [[Church Street]] in [[Seville Square]].  Gobierno on the 1813 map is “Gobierno Nueve” or New Government Street. 

The name Alcaniz is Spanish in origin;  it comes from the town of [[Wikipedia:Alcañiz|Alcañiz]] in [[Wikipedia:Teruel|Teruel Province]], [[Wikipedia:Aragon|Aragon]].  Another Spanish province is [[Wikipedia:Tarragona (province)|Tarragona]], whose capital city [[Wikipedia:Tarragona|of the same name]] is traditionally where St. Paul founded the Christian church in Spain in A.D. 60.  Another town in Tarragona Province is [[Wikipedia:Reus|Reus]].)

==Florida State Road 291 carriage==
Alcaniz Street carries the southbound half of [[Florida State Road 291]] between [[Cervantes Street|Cervantes]] and [[Gregory Street]]s, as well as Florida 291's northbound span for one block, between [[Gregory Street|Gregory]] and [[Wright Street]]s.  At [[Wright Street|Wright]], Florida 291 northbound heads east on Wright for one block, then turns north onto [[Davis Street]].

==US 98 Business carriage==
Alcaniz Street carries [[US Highway 98|US 98 Business]] southbound for two blocks, between [[Gregory Street|Gregory]] and [[Garden Street]]s, as well as [[US Highway 98|US 98 Business]] northbound for one block, between [[Garden Street|Garden]] and [[Chase Street]]s.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Roads]] [[Category:North-south streets]]