Audio Clips (and more) about Amador

Congratulations to our friends at the Biomuseo who debuted their exhibit Amador: Ayer y Hoy earlier this year. The exhibit consists of 48 panels displayed throughout the Amador Causeway and explores its history from creation during the construction of the Canal and service as a military installation through its use today as a public place for everyone to enjoy.

When the team from the Biomuseo was working on the exhibit in 2022 they came to the University of Florida for a week to conduct research. Many photographs from the PCMC collection can be seen on the panels in Panama! Their visit coincided with our annual luncheon so they were also able to meet members of the Panama Canal Society and the Friends of the Panama Canal Museum Collection and they later interviewed many about their memories of Amador and the causeway. Numerous quotes from those interviews are featured throughout the exhibit. We are working with the Biomuseo on the long term preservation of the full interviews.

The exhibit explores many different facets of the history of the causeway: history, fishing, music, art, and biodiversity to name a few.

The land that was occupied by Fort Amador and the causeway that was once part of Fort Grant were created with material excavated during the construction of the Panama Canal. The area of Fort Amador was known as the “Balboa Dump” and was originally covered by water. The causeway served as a breakwater for the Pacific entrance of the Canal, and also connected the Canal Zone to the “fortified islands” of Naos, Culebra, Perico, and Flamenco which housed important defense installations. The railroad that had been used to build the breakwater was originally left in place to move ammunition and other military equipment.

These early photos show some of the different phases of construction Click on an image to enlarge it.

Amador, the causeway, and particularly the Officer’s Club were a big part of life for many. The Amador Officer’s Club housed high school dances, many enjoyed fishing off the causeway, and swimming at the beach club.

Enjoy the following clips from our oral history collection.

During a recent trip to Panama we had the pleasure of spending a wonderful morning with our Biomuseo friends who showed us around the causeway, the old Officers Club which is now their work space, and gave us a great drive-by tour of some iconic buildings in the former Canal Zone.

Visit the virtual exhibit to hear some of the clips (https://biomuseo.org/amador/) and next time you are in Panama, stop by the causeway, enjoy the beautiful view, and explore the exhibit which was funded by the public diplomacy grant program of the United States Embassy in Panama.

Panel number 31 is pretty fun…

The fabulous team at the Biomuseo is putting the finishing touches on the next exhibit which will go up in Ciudad del Saber, which occupies the land that was formerly Ft. Clayton.

What are your favorite memories of the causeway?

This post is part of our fall focus on the important work of the Panama Canal Museum and on the oral history program they began and which continues today. This year is the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Panama Canal Museum in 1998. The museum operated for 14 years in Seminole, Florida, before closing in July 2012 and transferring its collection to UF. The successes achieved by the museum paved the way for the PCMC to develop as a preeminent research collection for the study of the American era of the Canal. For more information on the history of the Museum, please visit go.ufl.edu/pcm

Between now and the end of December, we are celebrating their 25th Anniversary and hope to honor their hard work as well as that of our Friends of the PCMC group by adding $13,000 to the $12,000 that was raised by this year’s Silent Auction for a total of $25,000 – $25,000 for 25 amazing years!

If you would like help us reach the goal please donate here: https://pcmc.uflib.ufl.edu/oralhistory/. All funds will go to support the PCMC oral history program.