Pac Mac Locomotive: Photo by Jim Collins
By: Toni C. Collins
Travelers on US19/98 passing through Levy County are now able to take a break at the Pat-Mac Locomotive Wayside Park and learn some history of the area. A two-sided Florida Historical Marker, which gives the history of the 1915 Vulcan locomotive and tender built by the Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and a history of the Community of Gulf Hammock when it was a sawmill community.
The locomotive was the second largest steam engine built by Vulcan and was originally purchased by the Gulf Pine Lumber Company of Pasco County. The unit was sold to the Grove-Dowling Hardwood Company and moved to their Gulf Hammock sawmill prior to 1927. Six days a week the 2-8-0 wood burning work horse pulled lumber out of the Great Gulf Hammock.
The Grove-Dowling company, which employed more than four hundred men, expanded Gulf Hammock. To house the workers and their families, the company built more than 150 homes and cottages. All the houses and buildings were equipped with lights, running water, and a state-approved sewage system. The company town also boasted a complete lighting system, power plant, department store, and modern hospital.
The main sawmill cut 100,000 feet of lumber each day. The crate mill turned out 8,000 baskets or hampers per day, making it among the largest crate factories in the South.
However, no one predicted the financial disaster that struck our country. On March 3, 1930, the Grove-Dowling Hardwood Company went into receivership and their holdings were acquired by the Robinson Land & Lumber Company of Alabama. In 1937, the company was renamed the Paterson-McInnis Lumber Company, or Pat-Mac as the locals called it. In 1956 the sawmill was destroyed by fire.
Historical Marker Dedicated in Gulf Hammock. Pictured: Matt Weldon, Director of Levy County Parks & Recreation; Wilbur Dean; Levy County Coordinator; Levy County Commissioners: Mike Joyner; Chairman, John Meeks; Lilly Rooks; Rock Meeks; and Vice Chairman Matt Brooks; Levy County Historical Society President, Toni C. Collins. Not pictured: Cindy Dunkle, Florida Department of Transportation.
On October 18, 1969, Georgia-Pacific deeded a parcel of land to the Levy County Board of County Commissioners to establish a wayside park. Pat-Mac donated the Vulcan Locomotive No. 2411 to the Florida Department of Transportation to put on display in wayside park. By Resolution, dated February 4, 1992, ownership of the Vulcan locomotive and tender passed to the Levy County Board of County Commissioners.
The historical marker was made available through the combined efforts of the Florida Division of Historical Preservation and the Levy County Historical Society.
Dedication Presentation Tuesday, May 14, 2019; Posted May 19, 2019
