The town of St. Joseph, which lasted only nine years, was a boomtown in 1835 and competed with Apalachicola as a Gulf Coast trading port. During its short life, the city was selected over Tallahassee to host Florida's first State Constitution Convention.
The museum, which sits on a portion of the park's 14 acres, commemorates the work of the 56 territorial delegates who drafted Florida's first constitution in 1838. This constitution became the Organic Law of Florida when the territory was admitted to the Union in 1845 as the 27th state.
Visitors can take a self-guided tour through displays and exhibits of the era. Artifacts from the original settlement in St. Joseph are displayed. A replicated convention hall takes visitors into the debate of delegates Robert Raymond Reid, William P. Duvall, David Y. Levy and Thomas L Baltzell. These life-size, audio-animated mannequins offer a realistic demonstration of the debate and process of drafting a state constitution.
