Despite being a well-known figure in Northwest Florida in his time, Jackson Morton’s name has fallen into obscurity.

Born in 1794 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Morton moved to Milton in the 1820s and began a successful brickmaking enterprise, selling mainly to those building Pensacola’s Naval fortifications.

He later parlayed his business success into a political career, eventually serving a term in the U.S. Senate from 1849 to 1855. Years later, he served in the Confederacy’s version of the Senate.