Khan's Jacksonville Shipyards Plans Revealed

[thelakelander]

^^Merrill-Stevens is still around. Their Miami River shipyard as of yesterday morning:








Alexander Merrill's grave in Jacksonville's Old City Cemetery.

Alexander R. Merrill, brother of the former [J. E. Merrill], is also a Charlestonian, and was born May 12th, 1861.  He didn't do any work on Confederate gun-boats, unlike his brother, but he early contracted a habit for making boilers and doing general blacksmith work, and soon became a master.  As already stated, he formed a partnership with J. E. Merrill, in 1880, and when the Merrill-Stevens Company was chartered he was its Secretary, and Superintendent of the boiler-making department.  The history of this company is recorded in thechapter on manufacturers. Mr. Merrill is a member of the Elks Club, Knights of Pythias, and Marine Engineers.  He is  Royal Arch Mason, a Mystic Shriner, and also a Master Engineer.  He was married in 1884 to Miss Eloise J. DeMedecis, of St. Augustine.

https://sites.google.com/site/duvalcountyflgenweb/home/biographies/merrill-a-r

The Jacksonville Shipyards site was operated by Merrill-Stevens for a little over 70 years before they sold the site to Aerojet and moved all of their business to Miami.

Merrill-Stevens Engineering, Jacksonville FL
(later Aerojet-General, Rawls Brothers and Jacksonville Shipyards)

This shipyard was established by Jacob Brock in the 1850s: after Brock's death in 1877, it was sold to Alonzo Stevens, who teamed up with James Merrill, a blacksmith in South Jacksonville, and formed Merrill-Stevens Engineering.  The company relocated to Miami in the 1950s, where it is still in business, as Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock, Inc., describing itself as "Florida's oldest continuously operating company".  The shipyard in Jacksonville was then sold to Aerojet-General Corporation but resold in 1960 to Rawls Brothers, who renamed it Rawls Brothers Shipyard.  The Rawls sold it again in 1963 to Bill Lovett, who simultaneously bought Gibbs Gas Engine Company, the shipyard immediately across the river, and Bellinger Shipyards, in Jacksonville Beach, renaming them all Jacksonville Shipyards.  The new company was sold again in 1969, this time to Fruehauf Corporation.  Finally, in 1989, it was sold to Terex Corp., which closed all three shipyards for good in 1992, selling the two large floating dry-docks to the Arab Ship Repair Yard, (ASRY), in Bahrain.  The yard was located at 750 E. Bay Street, in downtown Jacksonville: it was to have been developed for residential and commercial use but still lies deserted.

http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/merrillstevens.htm


From left to right: A. Stevens, James Eugene and Alexander Merrill


Jacksonville shipyards site in 1903.

[thelakelander]

The second longest operator of the site was Fruehauf. Founded in Detroit in 1918, Fruehauf was the first to make semi-trailers. Fruehauf purchased the shipyards in 1969 and sold it in 1989 to Terex. Fruehauf when bankrupt in 1996. Terex, a road construction equipment manufacturer, planned to sell the shipyard. If they couldn't find a buyer, they claimed they'd close it. In 1991, they sold the dry docks (the shipyard's primary revenue earners) to a shipyard in Bahrain for $28.8 million. A few months later, they shut it down for good. Terex is still around today. It's a Fortune 500 company with over $7 billion in annual revenue and over 20,000 employees worldwide.

[RattlerGator]

While keeping in mind what the Cowboys are doing in Frisco, Texas I think it's also worthwhile to keep an eye on the Braves and what they are doing in suburban Atlanta -- The Battery Atlanta:

     http://batteryatl.com/

The renderings -- man, if we can get anything remotely close to this . . . .

     http://batteryatl.com/renderings/

Shad! Make it happen, man, make it happen.

[TimmyB]

While keeping in mind what the Cowboys are doing in Frisco, Texas I think it's also worthwhile to keep an eye on the Braves and what they are doing in suburban Atlanta -- The Battery Atlanta:

     http://batteryatl.com/

The renderings -- man, if we can get anything remotely close to this . . . .

     http://batteryatl.com/renderings/

Shad! Make it happen, man, make it happen.

I just wish the Braves had picked a spot closer to the MARTA.  That bus shuttle is going to be really long from the nearest station.  It is beautiful to look at, though.

[tufsu1]

^ agreed....those buildings look real nice with all that brick and glass.  Almost looks like the buildings in downtown Atlanta.  Now just imagine if the Braves had built a new stadium in the core instead of at a beltway/perimeter interchange.

[RattlerGator]

You know . . . Atlanta is something of a city-state unto itself and that's where a larger percentage of their fans are, by and large. Hard to blame them for placing it out there. And the idea that all major stadiums should be in the urban core strikes me as an incredibly narrow point-of-view.

I know people are predicting a situation that is FUBAR all the way; I've stayed out at that intersection -- it certainly looks like it might be something of a mess. We shall see.

[Josh]

I just wish the Braves had picked a spot closer to the MARTA.  That bus shuttle is going to be really long from the nearest station.  It is beautiful to look at, though.

You would be missing the racial undertones of the move to Cobb County and the fact that they specifically do not want "those people" coming into town.

Cobb County GOP Chairman Joe Dendy sent out a statement that included these thoughts on mass transit and taxes:

"It is absolutely necessary the solution is all about moving cars in and around Cobb and surrounding counties from our north and east where most Braves fans travel from, and not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta.

[downtownbrown]

^they said the same thing decades ago about extending MARTA to Marietta.  But it happened.

[Tacachale]

I remember the mayor of Atlanta talking about the move when it was announced. Cobb County offered serious concessions that Atlanta didn't want to match. He specifically compared it to the Falcons stadium, which is taking "only" $200 million in city money, will help bring in a soccer team, and is tied to additional, tax-generating developments in the surrounding area. He considered the Braves proposal a wash.

[JBTripper]

^they said the same thing decades ago about extending MARTA to Marietta.  But it happened.

No, it didn't. Cobb County is up I-75,

[TimmyB]

As a long-time Braves fan, and I know it's only my opinion, I believe the Braves would have been more than happy to stay in ATL proper.  The city bent over backwards for the Falcons and would do nothing to help the Braves.  When it became obvious that this was the case, the Braves made the logical choice.  They will now own the parking, the concessions, AND the stadium, three things they don't currently have.  If only we could get a manager, but that's another thread on here, somewhere!

[TimmyB]

^ agreed....those buildings look real nice with all that brick and glass.  Almost looks like the buildings in downtown Atlanta.  Now just imagine if the Braves had built a new stadium in the core instead of at a beltway/perimeter interchange.

Yeah, that area is a cluster to begin with on a good day.  PM rush, with a home game?  Yikes!

[MusicMan]

Best answer yet for "The Shipyards?"

I propose giving the land to George Lucas as a site for his Star Wars Museum. 

http://fortune.com/2016/05/04/george-lucas-star-wars-museum/

Give him the land. Or at least a nice big chunk of it. Do not delay. It will make downtown Jacksonville an International destination overnight and increase tourism to the First Coast by 1000% as soon as it's completed.

It might also resurrect our long dormant film industry.

What do you guys think?

[johnnyliar]

With Disney building a new and expansive "Star Wars Land" just a couple of hours south from us, do you think people are more likely to visit Florida for the museum or a shiny new theme park?

[MusicMan]

Go to the link. It will be "The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art." It will hold his personal Star Wars memorabilia collection 

and part of his personal art collection.

So it will draw people up from Disney/Orlando plus give folks driving south a reason to stop in downtown. The art collection draws a completely

different set of people. It would be a huge get for downtown Jacksonville, and it's the type of site he's looking for.