1906 Hurricane, Pensacola, Florida

The "Great Hurricane" that struck Pensacola on September 27, 1906 was believed by many residents to be the strongest to hit Pensacola since the town was wiped off of Santa Rosa Island in the 1730s. Storm tide at the waterfront of Pensacola was 10 feet above storm tide at the height of the storm. Water rushed through the second floors of many of the buildings at the waterfront; only five of fifty ships at anchor were not dragged inland. 5,000 houses were damaged or destroyed leaving some 3,000 Pensacolians homeless. Financial losses were over $2 million and 32 deaths were attributable to the storm. Pensacola did have some warning as the Weather Bureau had added Marconi's wireless telegraph in 1902 so the town did have 24 hours notice of the terrible storm. Among the many photographs that exist, these were taken with a family camera by John Burrow, owner of Burrow Press in Pensacola, who turned some of them into postcards. (Dorothy Burrow Papers, University Archives and West Florida History Center, UWF Libraries, Pensacola).