(This column was originally published in the Tallahassee Democrat on Dec. 10, 2006)
One of the cherished legends of Tallahassee is that Frenchtown, the one-time heart of Black social life, was named for early French colonists who lived there.
Now, as mentioned in a recent story about the new book “Historic Frenchtown,” author Julianne Hare says there never were any French colonists and the name came from some other source.
As revelations about history go, it’s a doozy.
“It certainly is contrary to accepted wisdom,” said William Rogers, retired Florida State history professor, who has written a dozen books about the Tallahassee area. “I’m not challenging her thesis, but it is a new interpretation. And that’s what history is about: forming new interpretations.”
Frenchtown, now remade by urban renewal, was the hub of pre-integration black life in Tallahassee. Centered on a half-dozen blocks of North Macomb Street, it had black-owned drugstores, dry cleaners, grocery stores, garages, restaurants, nightclubs and homes.