By Arianna Otero | Tallahassee Democrat
Two centuries later, Mayor DC Reeves of Pensacola and Mayor Nancy Sikes-Klein of St. Augustine Sunday gathered together in Cascades Park to represent their historical counterparts, joining Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey for the unveiling of a historical marker honoring the creation of Florida's capital city.
The mayors were joined by an audience of Tallahassee residents and other state and local officials as they gathered in front of the recreation of the first log cabin Capitol to commemorate the moment.
The event on Sunday was part of the city's Bicentennial Festival. It marked the official 200th birthday of Tallahassee and Leon County. The festival was topped off with a sold-out concert by Tallahassee's very own T-Pain.
The marker titled "The Founding of Tallahassee" was paid for by the Tallahassee Historical Society, and it was dedicated to legendary Tallahassee Democrat columnist and historian Gerald Ensley and Dr. William Warren Rogers, a popular FSU history professor, whose news obituary was penned by Ensley.
Some of those in attendance included former state Sen. Bill Montford, City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings, outgoing Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, incoming Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, former Tallahassee Mayor John Marks III, and many others.
Each of the special guests was invited to speak, with the log cabin serving as backdrop. After Dailey welcomed everyone, the mayors each got their turn recognizing the history they were taking part in.
"Centrally located between St. Augustine and Pensacola, Tallahassee was established as the capital in 1824 and not only symbolized compromise between eastern and western parts of the state but also mark(ed) a new chapter in Florida's political evolution," Sikes-Klein said.
Reeves later added, "At the time, Pensacola to the west, St. Augustine to the east were the largest settlements in the territory. These cities represented the rich diversity of our people from Spanish explorers and French settlers to Native American communities."
Reeves, an FSU graduate, took a pause in the middle of his speech to joke how he too traversed the lands of Florida to visit Pensacola – heading home during school to ask for mom's help with the laundry.
Pensacola and Tallahassee "have long been bound by a shared sense of purpose, of establishing Florida as a place of opportunity, diversity and resilience," he said.
Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, offered retrospective comments as he placed himself in the shoes of the legislators way back when.
"Looking at this (log cabin), it makes me think about in 1824, when the first 13 or so folks got together to talk about Florida. I wonder what their conversations were like," Albritton said. "What if somebody would have said to those people that 200 years from now, 23 million people will be scattered around this state."
Renner not only spoke of the history of Florida and Tallahassee, but he wondered where the state would be in 100 years.
Back then, "they had God, they had their family, and a complete determination to survive, and that's pretty much what they needed for those seven generations," Renner said.
Today's and future generations have a "moral obligation" to the people of 2124 "to deliver this state (to them) better than they found it," suggesting that each generation must build upon the progress – and promise – of the last.
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