Smokey Hollow: the state plan called it a "menace" (Tallahassee, 1947–1960s)

SUMMARYSmokey Hollow: the state plan called it a "menace" (Tallahassee, 1947–1960s) [Connections: Tallahassee & Orlando, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDSmokey Hollow was founded in the 1890s "by freed men and their descendants," a few blocks east of the Capitol (WFSU). A 1947 Florida Capitol Center master plan by landscape architect A. D. Taylor, made under Gov. Millard Caldwell, described the area as "in the shadow of the Capitol dome... crowded... blighted... inadequate... and creating a serious health and social menace." In the 1960s the state widened Apalachee Parkway through the neighborhood; after a referendum it used eminent domain and residents were told to leave; the DOT building broke ground in November 1964. "Hundreds of African American families once lived" where Cascades Park now sits, which holds the Smokey Hollow Commemoration (three "spirit houses")

PATTERNA state planning document named a Black neighborhood a "menace," and state road and office projects then cleared it

LENS (WW9)Replaced on paper first ("blighted"), then replaced by bulldozer

OPENThe exact number of families and what (if anything) they were paid are not on these pages; the Taylor plan text is cited via UF Digital Collections

SOURCECycle of Urban Renewal: Lessons Not Learned From Tallahassee's Smokey Hollow (WFSU, Gina Jordan, Nov. 21, 2019); How a 1947 'master plan' for Tallahassee paved the way for Smokey Hollow's end (Jeff Caster, via AOL/Tallahassee Democrat); Smoky Hollow Historic District (Wikipedia).