top of page

74. Pensacola's Song "Down Pensacola Way" 1923

Writer's picture: AuthorAuthor

Updated: Apr 2, 2022


In 1923, a songwriter by the name of Perry W. Reed composed a song called "Down Pensacola Way" that was published by Southern Music House. On the night of my father's birth of March 23, 1925, Pensacola citizens gathered around their radios to listen to radio station KDHS out of Hot Springs, Arkansas. My grandmother had little interest in listening to the radio due to her exhausted condition of giving birth to a 12 lb. 9 oz. baby, but my grandfather wanted to hear the program that everyone was talking about. Of particular interest on this program was that Bill Baxter and his orchestra were going to sing the new popular song, “Down Pensacola Way.” The song had become the rage up and down the Gulf Coast and especially in its namesake Pensacola, Florida. After the song, the announcer read over the airway from handfuls of telegrams received from such Pensacolians as Mitchell Touart, Fauria L. Touart, Joe Pinney, Harry W. Thompson, George A. Eggart, and Earl Hoffman. Its popularity was such that it was featured at the 1933-1934 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois in the Florida Exhibit. I would love to hear this tune sung, but alas I do not read music!


Pensacola News Journal Article of 6-27-1944 (Featuring 10 years ago column)












29 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin

©2018 by Unique History of Pensacola. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page