Century (Florida)

Century is a town in Escambia County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,698 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Pensacola - Ferry Pass - Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryCentury was founded in 1901 as a sawmill company town, and named after the fact the year 1901 was the first year of the 20th century. A post office has been in operation at Century since 1901. On February 15, 2016, the town was hit by an EF3 tornado, heavily damaging and destroying homes, and injuring three people.GeographyCentury is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.7km2, of which 8.4km2 is land and 0.3km2, or 3.69%, is water.Century is located in the Western Highlands of Florida. This physiographic province of the northern Gulf Coast region is made up of sand, silt, and clay hills. These highlands are deeply incised by creeks and rivers. Century is located on the western edge of the Escambia River floodplain. A small portion of the town is within the floodplain itself. Most of the community, however, is located above the floodplain on level to gently sloping hillsides.Century's roadway network is highly irregular. It does not conform to the state of Florida's section, township and range survey system, for two reasons. The first is because Spanish land grants were issued along the Escambia River in the 16th and 17th centuries. These boundaries established a unique survey system that contorted east-to-west survey boundaries once Florida became a state and a state survey system was adopted, at which time previously existing survey systems were "grandfathered" in. The second reason for an irregular roadway and property boundary system is due to the community originally being built around the Louisville and Nashville Railroad . Automobile highways were eventually constructed, and closely paralleled the railway. A more modern highway was constructed and moved many of the commercial operations west of the small original core of the community .