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==History==
[[Image:1940waterfront.PNG|thumb|right|This 1940 aerial view of Pensacola's waterfront illustrates how Pensacola's port facilities looked in the first half of the 20th century, with [[Commendencia Street Wharf|Commendencia Street]], [[Tarragona Street Wharf|Tarragona Street]] and [[Muscogee Wharf|Muscogee]] wharves intact.]]
In the early 1940s, the [[Pensacola Exchange Club]] hosted a forum called the "[[Civic Roundtable]]," where representatives from [[Rotary]], [[Lions Club]], [[Kiwanis]], the [[Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce|Chamber]], the [[Jaycees]] and others would meet to discuss business issues, among them the port, which was enjoying a [[World War II|wartime]] resurgence. The group pressed State Representative [[Dave Thomas]] to introduce a bill in the Florida legislature creating the Municipal Port Authority in the spring term of [[1943]]. Its members were initially appointed by state senator and included [[J. D. Johnson]], [[Henry Hilton-Green]], [[Calvin L. Todd]], [[William S. Rosasco]], [[W. V. Fauria]], [[Morris Levy]], [[J. H. McCormack]], [[J. W. Smith, Jr.]], [[Charles W. Smith]], [[J. H. Allen]] and [[R. H. Turner, Jr.]] (Later members would be appointed by the [[Pensacola City Council]], which also approved annual funding to the Port Authority, as it had no taxing authority of its own.) The group first convened on [[July 7]], 1943 in Council's chambers.
