Changing Tallahassee: Then and Now

An interesting comparison of 1949 and 2016 aerials illustrating the impact of time and change on the shape of Florida's capital city: Tallahassee.

Apalachee Parkway In 1949, Old St. Augustine Road was also designated as US 27. In 1957, Apalachee Parkway opened, becoming a major east-west thoroughfare between the state capitol eastern Leon County. In 1979, Governor’s Square Mall opened near the intersection of Apalachee Parkway and Magnolia Drive.

Tallahassee International Airport In 1949, the development of Tallahassee towards Lake Bradford had yet to materialize and Capital Circle was just a dream. On April 23,1961, the Tallahassee Municipal Airport opened southwest of Lake Bradford to replace the city’s first airport, Dale Mabry Field. By the 1970s, airlines operating out of the airport included Eastern Airlines, Delta Air Lines, National Airlines and Southern Airways. Eventually becoming Tallahassee Regional Airport, a second runway and new $33 million terminal was completed southwest of the original airport terminal and runway. On June 26, 2015, the airport was renamed Tallahassee International Airport. Today, the airport accounts for 32% of air passenger travel in the Northwest Florida region.

Tallahassee Mall North Monroe Street was a rural country road 20 years before the opening of Northwood Mall, Tallahassee’s first enclosed shopping mall, in 1969. Two years later, Tallahassee Mall opened with Woolco, Gayfers and Montgomery Ward as anchors just east of Monroe Street and Allen Road. In 1992, a new wing anchored by Parisian was added. In 1996, a 20-screen AMC Theaters joined Parisian in the new wing. Despite the addition, the mall was foreclosed on in January 2011. Currently, the shopping center is being reborn as a mixed-use development called The Centre of Tallahassee. Embracing current trends, the Centre of Tallahassee includes an organic food grocery store, charter middle school, outdoor amphitheater and craft brewery.