History Fun Facts Part 2

 

Great sailing ships such as these were common sights on Watson Bayou during the booming lumber days of the early 1900s. Guests at the Cromanton Hotel across East Bay enjoyed watching the billowing white sails of these tall-masted ships as they glided across the bay. They docked in the bayou and loaded lumber and naval stores from the German American Lumber Co. and the Moore Timber Co. When the Millville Shipyard received a contract to build government barges in 1918, fifty-one soldiers were stationed in Millville. Talk of the tunnels German agents reportedly built at the beginning of the war at the edge of the bayou, still haunted the town. Barracks were constructed for these soldiers near the foot of Sherman and College Avenues. These soldiers were assigned to guard the yard and streets. They remained on duty in that location a few years after the war ended.  

World famous aviatrix Jackie Cochran lived in Millville for several months as a child during the World War I era. While in the mill town, she and the family that adopted her stayed in a windowless shack. Cochran slept on a pallet on the floor. When hunger overcame her, she begged a neighbor for sweet potatoes being fed to the hogs. Her favorite meal was hot mullet, fried in lard. The self-made young woman first worked as a hair dresser and nurse. In South Florida, she met her financier Floyd Odlum. He encouraged his future wide to take flying lessons. Cochran's love affair with aviation resulted in her serving as a test pilot for new planes. She became a close friend of Amelia Earhart and daringly outperformed male pilots to win the famous Bendix Air Race in 1938. During this same period, she established her famous Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics line. In World War II, Cochran was appointed director of the Woman's Air Force Service Pilots. She also served as correspondent at the end of the war. After breaking the sound barrier in a jet plane and setting new female altitude records, the woman from the Florida Panhandle's sawdust road received the International Flying Organization's gold medal for 1953.
Photo from the author's collection