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| − | '''Tater Town''' was a | + | '''Tater Town''' was a nickname given to a small neighborhood located just east of 9th Avenue, south of Langley Avenue, north and northeast of Underwood Avenue and west of the airport field. It included the Campus Heights area of Douglas Avenue north to Airlane Drive, Tippin Avenue, Emily Street, Beaumont Drive, La Vista Drive, and others. The name was given when it was one of the northernmost areas in the city limits, before Scenic Heights, Eastgate, and several other communities had been developed. Evidently, it was once potato fields, and later an area where fruit and vegetable stands were set up so locals could make purchases and avoid paying produce taxes. |
Soon after entering from 9th Avenue onto Douglas Avenue, one could for many years see Guy Finney's Garage on the left, and a sign on the right which read "Welcome To Tater Town" and underneath it written "V.V. Blackmon, Mayor". There was also once a Pentecostal church, the Bethany Church Of God pastored by Brother Wells, on the NE corner of Tippin and Douglas Avenues. Grady Malone also operated an automotive paint and body service in that area, and Walter Zweis owned a small engine repair shop on Emily Street. | Soon after entering from 9th Avenue onto Douglas Avenue, one could for many years see Guy Finney's Garage on the left, and a sign on the right which read "Welcome To Tater Town" and underneath it written "V.V. Blackmon, Mayor". There was also once a Pentecostal church, the Bethany Church Of God pastored by Brother Wells, on the NE corner of Tippin and Douglas Avenues. Grady Malone also operated an automotive paint and body service in that area, and Walter Zweis owned a small engine repair shop on Emily Street. | ||
At approximately the same time as the 1980's widening of Tippin Avenue and it's extension to behind the college, both Tippin and Douglas Avenues started to change from a residential to commercial district. | At approximately the same time as the 1980's widening of Tippin Avenue and it's extension to behind the college, both Tippin and Douglas Avenues started to change from a residential to commercial district. | ||
| − | Both the | + | Both the commercialism and Christmas, 1984 bombing of an OB/GYN office located near the SE corner of Tippin and Douglas Avenues seemed to forever change the tranquility of residential life in the western end of the previously mostly quiet neighborhood. |
Some noteworthy Pensacolians who spent a good part of their lives residing in Tater Town include race car driver David "Duke" Norred, and blues guitarist Steve Guffey, both deceased. | Some noteworthy Pensacolians who spent a good part of their lives residing in Tater Town include race car driver David "Duke" Norred, and blues guitarist Steve Guffey, both deceased. | ||
Attempts by the Pensacola airport to acquire the properties for expansion seemed to come to fruition, as by early 2018 all homes and buildings east of the Tippin businesses had been demolished, leaving only woods and fields where a thriving neighborhood previously stood. | Attempts by the Pensacola airport to acquire the properties for expansion seemed to come to fruition, as by early 2018 all homes and buildings east of the Tippin businesses had been demolished, leaving only woods and fields where a thriving neighborhood previously stood. | ||
