Molino, FL news and local guide

Molino's history reaches back to the Spanish colonial frontier. In 1741 an Apalachee mission called San Joseph de Escambe was established here on the Escambia River, north of Pensacola. Its residents were Apalachee people led by Juan Marcos Isfani, whose community had lived among the Creek after English and Creek raids in 1704 before settling near the river's mouth in 1718. Franciscan friars served the mission, and Spanish infantry and cavalry were stationed there between 1750 and 1761. On April 9, 1761, a Creek raid burned the mission, and in 1763 its people left with Pensacola's Spanish residents for Veracruz, Mexico. The mission also gave its name to the Escambia River and, eventually, to Escambia County. University of West Florida archaeologists located the site in 2009, and field schools have studied it since.

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A century later the area found a new purpose in West Florida's yellow pine forests. In 1866 a group of investors built a steam-powered sawmill here called Molino Mills (molino is Spanish for "mill"), and for much of the 19th century the fortunes of the community rose and fell with the lumber industry. Today Molino is an unincorporated community north of Cantonment, where both a Spanish mission and a steam sawmill left their mark. Sources Wikipedia: San Joseph de Escambe (citing Worth et al., Society for Historical Archaeology) University of West Florida: Molino Mills (graduate thesis) West Florida Public Library: The History of Molino