Jacksonville Bicentennial: Keepsake Magazine
Jacksonville Turns 200 OVERCOMING ADVERSITY, GROWING AND CHANGING
PIVOTAL EVENTS
Jacksonville: A 200-year rise Nearly wiped out by fire in 1901, its government once divided, the city forged ahead to become a center of business and industry. Southeast for international maritime commerce and business, particularly banking and insurance. The city also became an important asset for the U.S. Department of Defense, including an Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier battle group basin at Mayport and two naval air stations.
BY MAX MARBUT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jacksonville marks its bicentennial anniversary as a city June 15, 2022. That is 200 years to the day that the name inspired by Andrew Jackson, the first territorial governor of Florida, appears in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. Isaiah Hart and 60 of his neighbors petitioned the federal government on that date in 1822 to designate their small settlement near what now is East Bay Street a U.S. Customs port of entry, setting the theme for Jacksonville’s story. At the news conference announcing details of the Jax200 bicentennial celebration, Jacksonville Historical Society CEO Alan Bliss said Jacksonville has an authentic identity that sets it apart from other cities in Florida. “We don’t have fake pirates like they do in Tampa and we aren’t the Magic Kingdom. We are an industrious and business city,” Bliss said. Along with the steady growth of business, transportation, infrastructure, commercial and residential real estate development and more recently, logistics and distribution, financial technology and health care, Jacksonville’s story is punctuated by two pivotal 2 | JACKSONVILLE BICENTENNIAL
TIME FOR A CHANGE Jacksonville in the late 1800s before the city was destroyed by a fire on May 3, 1901.
moments. The first was the virtual destruction of the city 79 years after its founding. The second was 66 years later when voters approved changing how the city does its business in response to decades of government mismanagement and corruption. THE GREAT FIRE
A little before noon May 3, 1901, a spark from a wood-burning cookstove ignited Spanish moss drying outdoors at a mattress factory at Beaver and Davis streets. With the city suffering a prolonged drought, a strong wind from the west carried embers from the fire to structures near the factory, setting the parched woodshingled roofs ablaze. That created more sparks that quickly engulfed almost
everything along a 2-mile track from the factory to Hogans Creek, where the fire finally stopped, sparing St. Luke’s Hospital, now the historical society’s offices. By 8:30 p.m., more than 2,300 buildings had burned to the ground, leaving behind little more than scorched earth. Miraculously, only seven people were killed in the conflagration, but nearly all of the population of 10,000 people found themselves homeless. Jacksonville immediately began its recovery. Within a week, people were back in business despite living in tents. Five months after the fire, more than 1,000 building permits were issued to replace structures Downtown and build homes in Riverside and Springfield. As Jacksonville rebuilt, it became a center in the
By the early 1960s, the steadily growing city was struggling under the administration of two independent governments. The City Council had jurisdiction over the city limits, which was losing population. The Duval County Commission had jurisdiction over the rapidly developing unincorporated area of the nearly 900-square-mile county. Beginning after World War II, middle-class residents began fleeing the city limits for the suburbs, leaving the Downtown area along the river centered on the original settlement in decay. Without coordinated government services, the city was faced with pollution, fiscal mismanagement and rampant corruption that led to grand jury indictments of city and county officials. Consolidated government, Jacksonville’s second pivotal moment, was approved by voters in a 2-1 margin in 1967. Effective Oct. 1, 1968, consolidation increased the
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size of the city from 30 to about 875 square miles. It also nearly tripled its population to about 600,000 residents, governed by a mayor and a 19-member City Council. That paradigm shift created a more streamlined government better able to address issues facing Jacksonville and improve bridges, highways, transportation and other infrastructure as it continued, and continues, to grow in population and global business influence. This special commemorative section marks Jacksonville’s first 200 years as it begins the journey to its tercentennial in 2122. MMARBUT@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM (904)356-2466
The oldest documentation of the city being called “Jacksonville” is this letter dated June 15, 1822.
Celebrating 200 years of Jacksonville. Marks Gray is one of Jacksonville’s oldest law firms, tracing its origin to 1899 when attorney Richard P. Marks opened his office in Jacksonville. Marks Gray takes great pride in its ongoing involvement and influence in the city of Jacksonville, through firm participation in the community and in the United States Uniformed Services.
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From the founding to the fire t Fumigating fires were set along Bay Street during Jacksonville’s yellow fever epidemic in 1888 in an attempt to eliminate the disease.
p Edward Waters College was established in 1866. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Florida and the first established for African Americans.
p Railroads are part of Jacksonville’s history beginning in the late 1800s when the city was one of the only stops in the state. In 1912, Henry Flagler merged his portfolio of small lines to create the Florida East Coast Railway that provided service to Miami.
p In the late 1800s, sailing ships and steamships shared the docks along the St. Johns River. Jacksonville has since grown into an important global maritime shipping center on the East Coast. t Even though Jacksonville was not the site of any battles, Union troops occupied the city four times between 1861 and 1865 during the Civil War. Soldiers are shown here at the corner of Bay and Ocean streets, viewed from one of the original docks on the St.Johns River.
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During the yellow fever epidemic in 1888, people attempting to flee Jacksonville despite a quarantine were prevented from disembarking from trains.
Timeless Elegance
Above, the 1½-acre plot of land that became Hemming Park, now James Weldon Johnson Park, was sold to the city for $10 in 1866 by Isaiah Hart’s heirs. Below, the park at about 1875.
Jacksonville’s Finest Name in Jewelry Since 1890™
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Jacksonville Bar Association established in 1897 The Jacksonville Bar Association was founded in 1897 by 33 lawyers. Its membership has grown since to nearly 1,800 attorneys. The organization’s first president was Duncan Upshaw Fletcher, right, namesake of two public schools at the Beaches. An 1880 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Fletcher was general counsel for Henry Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railway. He was elected to City Council in 1887 and elected mayor in 1893 and again in 1901. In 1908, Fletcher was elected to
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the U.S. Senate and then re-elected to represent Jacksonville through 1938. While in the Senate, Fletcher was chair of the Committee on Banking and Currency, leading the effort for passage of the U.S. Securities Act in 1933 and creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1935. He also introduced the legislation to create Everglades National Park. Fletcher died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1936. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
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PIVOTAL EVENTS
May 3, 1901: The city is destroyed The Great Fire of 1901 was a pivotal moment for Jacksonville. Within a few hours, more than 2,500 wood-frame buildings burned to the ground and little was left of brick structures. The blaze made nearly all of the city’s 10,000 residents homeless, but miraculously, only seven people died. By 1912, more than 13,000 buildings were constructed, many with brick and stone.
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Jacksonville rises from the ashes Frank Crowd, known as “The 10-cent barber,” operated his shop at 26 E. Bay St. when the city burned. A week after the blaze, Crowd, an African American with a mostly white clientele, had found enough lumber to build another shop on the site and resume business. Crowd stayed at the address when Bay Street was rebuilt and continued to cut hair until his death in 1927. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
t James Weldon Johnson was born in Jacksonville in 1871. In 1897, he was the first African American admitted to The Florida Bar. One of the examiners who administered the Bar exam was Duncan U. Fletcher, the first president of the Jacksonville Bar Association, who advocated for Johnson’s admission. Johnson left Jacksonville after the Great Fire and moved to New York City, where music for a poem he wrote, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” was written by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson. Intended to be a hymn, the song was promoted by the NAACP beginning in 1919 as the “black national anthem.” James Weldon Johnson became the NAACP’s first executive secretary and chief operating officer in 1920 and served in that role until 1930. A college preparatory middle school in Jacksonville is named after him. In 2020, City Council approved renaming Hemming Park “James Weldon Johnson Park” to honor his legacy in the law and civil rights.
One of the first building permits issued after the Great Fire was for the Bostwick Building at Bay and Ocean streets. A bank for decades, including the Brotherhood State Bank in the early 1920s, it later sat unused and dilapidated until it was refurbished to become Cowford Chophouse.
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A few months after the Great Fire destroyed Jacksonville, the owners of Jacobs Jewelers purchased and installed this ornate, 18-foot-tall, four-faced clock in front of its store along Bay Street as a symbol that Jacksonville would rebound from the disaster. When the store moved to the Greenleaf Building in 1930, the clock also moved. The case and mechanism were restored in 1973 after the clock was run over by a city bus that jumped the curb and again in 1995, the year the owners gifted the clock to the city and people of Jacksonville. It was most recently refurbished in 2012. Only 100 of the clocks were manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Co. in the early 20th century. Fewer than 10 remain on display and in operation.
Auld & White Constructors is honored to have been part of Jacksonville’s growth for the past 35 years. AWC is excited to commemorate our hometown’s bicentennial and look forward to helping build its future.
CELEBRATING 200 YEARS
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Classes began at William Porter University in 1934 in the First Baptist Education Building Downtown. The next year, the institution changed its name to Jacksonvile Junior College and moved classes to the Haddock Business University building along Laura Street. In 1936, JJC moved to occupy the entire second floor at the Florida Theatre Building at Forsyth and Newnan streets. In 1944, above, students attended classes at Kay Mansion in Riverside. The school made its final move to its Arlington campus along the St. Johns River in 1950 and a few years later began developing a four-year course of study. Jacksonville University graduated its first four-year class of students in June 1959. By fall 2021, JU had grown to more than 4,000 students enrolled from 49 states and 54 countries. In February 2022, JU added to its 10 undergraduate majors and nine post-graduate majors with the addition of Jacksonville University School of Law. It will start classes for about 30 students in August 2022.
There were more than 30 motion picture studios in Jacksonville in 1916. Inset: Oliver Hardy, known at the time as “Babe Hardy,” starred or co-starred in many short films produced in “Hollywood of the South” in 1914.
The Afro-American Life Insurance Company was founded in 1901 in Jacksonville to help African Americans obtain life insurance and mortgages.
The St. Elmo W. Acosta Bridge opened in 1921. It was the first bridge across the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.
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In 1919, electric trolleys operated near Union Terminal, Jacksonville’s train station. Abandoned in 1974, it was converted into the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, which opened in 1986.
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Jacksonville: A Navy town
The Department of Defense established Naval Station Mayport in 1942 to be the home port for aircraft carrier battle groups in the Atlantic Fleet. Over the years, the Navy became a major economic driver in Jacksonville, which remains the No. 1 retirement city for Navy veterans.
t
Naval Air Station Jacksonville opened in 1946. The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Team, the "Blue Angels," was founded at NAS Jacksonville that year.
q Women have been in the workforce at NAS
Jacksonville since military fighter planes had propellers.
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PIVOTAL EVENTS
Consolidation: A new way to govern Mayor Hans Tanzler, fifth from left standing, and Jacksonville’s City Council after the city and county governments were consolidated in 1968. In addition to a new form of government and the first women and first African Americans elected to City Council, Jacksonville also took on a new nickname: The Bold New City of the South.
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‘The Bold New City of the South’
Founded in 1965 as Florida Junior College, Florida Community College at Jacksonville broke ground for its Downtown campus in 1975. Now Florida State College at Jacksonville, the institution has five campuses and more than 40,000 students.
Construction of J. Turner Butler Boulevard from Philips Highway to the Beaches began in 1971.
Mayo Clinic in Florida opened in Jacksonville in 1986 with 35 physicians and 145 support staff. The clinic now has nearly 8,000 staff members and treats patients from all 50 states and more than 140 countries.
Gov. Reubin Askew was the keynote speaker at the University of North Florida groundbreaking ceremony in September 1971.
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The Sears & Roebuck store was a Downtown landmark in the 1960s. After it was demolished, the Omni Jacksonville Hotel, now the Marriott Jacksonville Downtown, was built on the site.
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A division of Observer Media Group The Pivotal Events in Jacksonville History is a special edition of Jacksonville Daily Record to celebrate the city’s bicentennial year. STAFF Publisher | Angie Campbell acampbell@jaxdailyrecord.com Editor | Karen Mathis kmathis@jaxdailyrecord.com Editor | Max Marbut mmarbut@jaxdailyrecord.com Advertising | Jay Lesowitz jlesowitz@jaxdailyrecord.com Design | Codi Gildberg cgildberg@jaxdailyrecord.com CEO | Matt Walsh mwalsh@yourobserver.com
The Isaiah D. Hart Bridge, named for Jacksonville’s founder, opened in 1967. The toll booths at the bridge were removed in 1989.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF Jacksonville Historical Society, Jacksonville City Council Research Department, FSCJ, Jacksonville University, Edward Waters College, University of North Florida ABOUT US Established in 1912, the Jacksonville Daily Record is Northeast Florida’s newspaper for business leaders. Published every Thursday in print and online daily at JaxDailyRecord.com. Editorial content focuses on breaking business news, with a concentration on development, law, economic and business trends, real estate and how local government affects business. Jacksonville Daily Record is the leading publisher of public notices in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties. CONNECT WITH US! Sign up for our free Daily Brief e-newsletter and start your day with the days top business headlines on JaxDailyRecord.com.
Jacksonville University President Frances Bartlett Kinne welcomed President Gerald Ford to JU’s 50th anniversary in April 1983.
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The JaxPort Cruise Terminal opened in 2003 with regular service to Caribbean ports of call by Celebrity Cruises and the MV Zenith.
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Business the theme for third century Former Beatle Paul McCartney was the headliner at the halftime show when Super Bowl XXXIX was played in Jacksonville on Feb. 6, 2005. The New England Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21.
p Before he was president of his alma mater, Edward Waters College, from 2010 to 2018, Nathaniel Glover had a career in law enforcement. He joined the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in 1966 and was elected sheriff in 1995 for the first of two terms. Glover was the first black sheriff elected in Florida since Reconstruction after the Civil War.
Witnessed by original board members Oliver Barakat, Rob Clements, Tony Allegretti, Donald Harris, Melody Bishop, Jim Bailey and Kay Harper, Mayor Alvin Brown signed legislation creating the Downtown Investment Authority on Oct. 15, 2012. The independent group was created to promote private investment and the redevelopment of Jacksonville’s urban center leading to the restoration and re-use of historic buildings as well as new construction. Since 2013, DIA has approved projects representing more than $1.5 billion in private capital investment for residential, commercial and retail improvements. As of June 2022, projects representing nearly $1 billion in private investment are in the pipeline. Developers are proposing a high-rise apartment building on the former Jacksonville Landing site and apartments and retail space are being considered for the former Duval County Courthouse site. At the Shipyards property near TIAA Bank Field, a development that includes a Four Seasons hotel with condominiums, Class A office space and a marina is working its way through the final approval process.
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When the Navy abandoned Naval Air Station Cecil Field in 1999, the city took over the West Jacksonville property. The Jacksonville Aviation Authority operates Cecil Airport and Cecil Spaceport. Texas-based Hillwood is the master developer of AllianceFlorida, which comprises logistics and distribution centers for e-commerce businesses including Amazon.com, and Wayfair.com.
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MILLER ELECTRIC
In April 2016, City Council was considering legislation for tax incentives to help “Project Rex,” an unnamed e-commerce company, build a distribution center in North Jacksonville. It turned out to be Amazon.com, which has since expanded its presence in Duval County to comprise nine distribution and delivery facilities with more than 10,000 full- and part-time employees.
The Jacksonville Landing was demolished in 2019-20. The site along the St. Johns River is being considered for redevelopment to create apartments, retail and about 6 acres of park space.
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1.800.554.4761 • www.mecojax.com JaxPort, city and state official cut a ribbon May 23, 2022, to mark completion of deepening the shipping channel from the St. Johns River jetties to Blount Island Marine Terminal. The new depth, 47 feet, allows the largest Panamax container ships to use the port, increasing Jacksonville’s future value as a global maritime trade center.
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