Vice President Lyndon Johnson makes speech from the Balcony of what is now Panama Hat Company

This photo was taken on March 11, 1963, when then Vice President Johnson visited St. Augustine to dedicate the Arrivas House, the first project completed by the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board. He gave a speech from the house’s restored balcony onto a crowd of onlookers in St. George Street. The Preservation Board was established in 1959 to acquire and restore or reconstruct historic properties in St. Augustine’s downtown area ahead of St. Augustine’s Quadricentennial or 400th Birthday to reflect St. Augustine’s Spanish heritage. The Preservation Board operated for nearly 40 years and completed over 30 projects in the downtown area.