Old Slave Market

Old Slave Market

Old Market

Old Spanish Market

City Market

1598

1700s

1824

1887-1888

This structure was originally intended to serve as a public market for the city of St. Augustine.

This structure has occasionally served as a guard house.

**There has been a long historical debate over whether or not slaves were ever sold in the old market. There are vocal proponents on both sides with some people who say no, stating that in the late 19th century, photographers of souveniers started labeling this structure as 'the old slave market' as a marketing ploy to sell more pictures/postcards. There is no photographic evidence to prove or disprove either claim. Slaves are known to have been sold in public markets across the south alongside other goods for sale. There is no known historical evidence regarding exactly what was sold in St. Augustine's market, leading many authors to write cautiously about whether "Old Slave Market" is an appropriate name. As this is how the structure is popularly known and labeled on tourists maps of St. Augustine, it is the name the structure is better known by today.**

The establishment of a public market as part of the plaza for St. Augustine dates back to 1598 when Governor Gonzalo Mendez de Canzo arrived after the 1585 Sir Francis Drake raid. Canzo's mission was to rebuild St. Augustine, not just the fort. The 1573 Leyes de Las Indies by royal authority dictated how cities in the New World would be created. The central feature was a plaza with a public market ringed by a church and government buildings. With Canzo, the city plan of St. Augustine and the original streets first took shape with the town growing and expanding in the following centuries. While Canzo's fingerprints are still visible today, actual structures have been burned or flooded out many times and have been rebuilt, including the marketplace.

It is thought that the first structure at this location, to serve as the marketplace, was built sometime in the 1700s of coquina. After La Florida was transferred to the Americans, the essence of the current structure was built in 1824. The flooring is masonry. It has fourteen square coquina pillars topped by a wood gable roof and square cupola. The wooden roof has been replaced multiple times due to fires. The Old Market was rebuilt in 1888 after the 1887 fire.

Starting in 1878, the structure no longer served as a public market although auctioneers in the past and artists today set up temporary stalls to sell items. During the British Period and then again at unspecified times in the last 200 years, this location and/or structure have also served as a guard house. Until the 1920s when dredging filled in a small boat harbor for the building of the Bridge of Lions, this structure was much closer to the water. During the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights struggles, speakers would stand inside or near the building to address crowds of listeners.

La Plaza de la Constitucion

City of St. Augustine

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (1882): St. Augustine. St. Augustine, FL: Max Bloomfield, 1882.

Photograph 2 (1888): Witteman, A. St. Augustine. New York: A. Wittemann, 1888.

Photograph 3 (c.1900s): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Photograph 4 (c. 1920): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2012.

Photograph 5 (c.1940): Historical Old St. Augustine Florida. St. Augustine, FL: Florida Souvenir Company.

Photograph 6: Augusty, Jean-Marc. "The Market." April 2, 2023.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Roaring Twenties. Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2012.

Eubanks, Gerald. The Dark Before Dawn: From Civil Wrongs to Civil Light. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2012.

Harvey, Karen. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1980.

“Old Slave Market, St. Augustine, Fla.” PC07740. Located on Florida Memory: State Library and Archives of Florida. https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/259909#:~:text=On%20this%20site%20a%20market,or%20the%20Old%20Slave%20Market.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1^st edition. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2007.

Vollbrecht, John L. St. Augustine’s Historical Heritage as Seen Today…With Historical Notes on the Oldest House. Photography by J. Carver Harris. Foreword by David R. Dunham. St. Augustine, FL: The Record Press/J. Carver Harris, 1952.

Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.

The following St. Augustine Fiction books feature this historic site as a location:

Frank Merriwell's Life Struggle
Once to Every Man 
Posie, or From Reveille to Retreat
Seminole
Sugar Cage

This record was last updated on October 9, 2024.