Panama City Publishing Company Museum

In the historic St. Andrews, Florida waterfront district, the Panama City Publishing Company Museum provides an illuminating peek into the early-20th-century world of printing and press.

Since its 1920 construction, the heritage building—the first in St. Andrews made of brick—has served as a printing house for local newspapers and other large-scale distributions. Though commercial operations ended in 2005, today the antique typesetter whirrs on as part of an interactive exhibition on vintage printing. Letterpress craft equipment and typewriters are rounded out with displays on Panama City’s local history as a notable place for civic journalism and an independent, free-thinking press.

The publishing museum offers guests the chance to try their hand at arranging metal or wooden letterpress type as well as explore the evolution of paper and ink with samples and hands-on demonstrations. Monthly changing exhibitions also dive into special themes; in the past they’ve included early-20th-century newspaper cartoons and comics and the invention of the printing press.

A collection of historical artifacts, including personal items and office furniture, also pays homage to local heroes George and Lillian West. The husband-wife duo founded and published several local newspapers including the Panama City Pilot and St. Andrews Bay News out of the publishing headquarters. They were also a dynamic writer-editor team.

George West, considered the founding father of Panama City, can be credited with shaping the waterfront destination into the vibrant, active community that it is today. Under his and Lillian’s editorship, West’s newspapers became known for championing progressive causes, including women’s suffrage and prohibition, as well as opposing corruption and the Ku Klux Klan. After George’s death in 1926, Lillian continued to operate the newspapers for well over a decade, becoming a rare female business owner and editor in 20th-century America, and the first registered woman to vote in St. Andrews.