Small Town Florida

Sponsored by Progress Energy

After 75 Years, St. Joe Still Transforming Rural Northwest Florida's Economy

By Lee Burlett

Jacksonville, Fla.-based St. Joe Company has a corporate history unlike any company founded in the American South. Like the late Howard Hughes' Hughes Aircraft Corp., St. Joe was bequeathed by its principal shareholder to provide operating funds for a charitable organization. St. Joe was established as a conglomerate of the financial interests of Alfred Irenee duPont, and upon his death the proceeds of his estate were and still are being used to support an institution for the rehabilitation and care of crippled children with curable afflictions. It is called the Nemours Foundation and to this day a large portion of St. Joe shares remain under the control of the institution.

In the 1920s, Alfred duPont noticed the growth of real estate in Florida. At the time, Jacksonville was the Sunshine State's commerce hub and South Florida wasn't much more than a band of fishing villages. DuPont's quest for a vacation home led him to purchase vast acres of timberland in Northwest Florida. By 1925 he had purchased more than 100,000 acres of land in the region that is anchored by markets such as Panama City and Pensacola and the area’s pristine beaches. 

In an effort to jump-start the rural area's economy duPont formed the Gulf Coast Highway Association whose mission was to build roads and other infrastructure in the region. In the early 1930s, duPoint purchased an additional 240,000 acres. That acquisition included properties in Gulf, Bay, Liberty and Franklin Counties and the city of St. Joe. Included in the transaction was a sawmill, the Apalachicola Northern Railroad Co., the St. Joseph Telephone and Telegraph Co., the Port St. Joe Dock & Terminal Co. and several other companies.

DuPont leveraged his vast land holdings and the recently purchased sawmill to incorporate St. Joe Paper and built a large paper mill in what would become the city of Port St. Joe. About that time (1935) duPont died at age 71. Before he died, though, duPont appointed Ed Ball to manage his estate in Florida. Ball was the brother of duPont's second wife Jessie Ball.

It was Ball who incorporated St. Joe Paper in 1936 and as the nation emerged out of the Depression demand for packaging began to rise. In addition, corrugated cardboard and other paperboard products that were lighter and more economical than wooden crating began to increase in popularity. By the time World War II was in full swing, St. Joe Paper was producing 400 tons of paperboard a day out of its plant in Port St. Joe. By 1960, St. Joe Paper had 20 plants, most of which were supplied raw wood product from the timberlands in North Florida owned by the estate of Alfred duPont.

By 1980, the estate of Alfred duPoint had amassed over 1,000,000 acres in North Florida and South Georgia. Because most of the land holdings were of a single owner and were timberlands, it impeded development throughout much of the northern region of the state. While Florida was growing faster than all but one or two U.S. states in the 1980s and 1990s, much of the Florida Panhandle remained as it was when duPont purchased his first 100,000 acres in the 1920s.

While historians will point to St. Joe Co. as the reason much of north and northwest Florida missed out on Florida's economic development boon times of the 1980s and '90s, today St. Joe Co. is the primary reason why Northwest Florida is poised for more positive growth than at any time in its colorful history.

On land where the old St. Joe Paper mill once stood (it was torn down in 2007), an effort is underway to put the "port" back into Port St. Joe. The area is being developed back into a deepwater cargo port. Most primary infrastructure is already in place at the site. Improvements planned for the site and other adjoining sites include diversified rail access, bulk heading, barge and ship berths and access roads. 

Up the road from Port St. Joe in Panama City-Bay County, anticipation is high as one of the largest developments in Northwest Florida's history will open for business in the spring of 2010. The Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is scheduled to open in May. Already Southwest Airlines has signed on to serve the new airport. The new airport and adjoining industrial sites are being built on 4,000 acres of land in northwestern Bay County donated to the Airport Authority by The St. Joe Company.

The new airport, which is expected to be one of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified terminal buildings in the U.S., anchors the overall West Bay Sector Plan, one of the largest mixed-use planned communities in the South. The plan involves the development and conservation of approximately 75,000 acres in Bay County. The West Bay Sector Plan’s conceptual build out includes approximately 27,000 residential units and 37 million square feet of commercial and industrial space. In other words, the project is huge.

“The airport is meant to be the focal point of the entire Northwest Florida region,” said Jerry Ray, a senior vice president and spokesperson for St. Joe Co. “It’s a 100-year project and immediate plans are to develop 1,000 acres adjoining the airport with supporting projects.”

While St. Joe Co. didn’t build the airport, the region would have been hard-pressed to make the world-class development a reality without the help of one of Florida’s oldest and most colorful companies.