215 9th Street

New item by Pete Olson / Google Photos

This house was built sometime in the 40’s based on  records and local lore. There are a few of these same houses around in the area. I have been told and have been able to verify it to some degree that, these houses were US Air Force barracks used during WW II at the regional airport here in town.


The regional airport was originally constructed in 1939 by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Expanded in February 1942, Apalachicola Army Airfield became a sub base of Tyndall Field, the present day Tyndall Air Force Base. Apalachicola AAF’s mission was to support the operations of the Training Command Flexible Gunnery School under the 2136th Army Air Forces Base Unit, and as a sub-base and auxiliary airfield for Tyndall. The Army Airfield was inactivated at the end of World War II on September 30, 1945, and turned over to Army Corps of Engineers on February 2, 1947, as excess. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA), it was deeded to municipality of Apalachicola and became a civil airport.


After the AAF had left and the barracks were no longer needed they were most likely taken apart or moved as a whole to new locations here in town. It was nothing new as this took place after the Cypress mills closed down before the war and the buildings were either moved or dismantled. Although Apalachicola was a economically vibrant community due to the seafood industry, the people on the “hill” (where the house is located) were of modest means and took advantage of  the opportunity.