This waterfront lot at the corner of Avenue D and Water Street along the Apalachicola River today is the site of an old three story cotton warehouse - one of many which once stood along the banks of the Apalachicola River in the 1800s.

The original building on this site (known as the Apalachicola Exchange) was constructed in 1835 and stood 30' x 80' along with approximately 70 other brick warehouses along the riverfront.

Throughout the mid 1800s, the building was used as a boarding house and tavern.

By the late 1800s, the building was the site of the town's "Oriental Saloon" operated by Mr. B.F. Hall. A devastating fire in 1900 destroyed much of the building and it was torn down and replaced in the early 1900s. By 1905, the tavern had opened again under new ownership and named "The Old Exchange."

During prohibition in the late 1920s, beer botles gave way to soda pop bottles as the Exchange building opened as a Nehigh Bottling Plant until it closed in 1939.

From the late 1930s until the 1950s, a barrel factory operated by the W.F. Randolph family manufactured barrels to pack seafood in ice for railroad shipment to the Fulton Fish Market in New York and other northern destinations. A rail spar extended along Water Street in front of the building to service the flourishing seafood businesses.


(Top: An 1850 Apalachicola Waterfront scene. Middle: The Apalachicola Exchange as the Oriental Saloon in the late 1800s. Bottom: An artist conception of the restored Exchange building, part of the Grady Complex.)

The building now stands much like an ancient ruin with no floor ceilings. However, the Apalachicola Exchange is next on the list of restoration projects currently underway.