A New History of Jacksonville?

[BridgeTroll]

City of Jacksonville

Gross Tonnage: 458
Net Tonnage:  395
Length:160 feet
Width: 32.5 feet
Depth: 6.6 feet
Built: 1882 Wilmington Delaware

[subro]

I think that I have seen this picture on this site before but I have always like this picture.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/king/king381.jpg

[BridgeTroll]

This is pretty cool... I found this type written and scanned account of Steamboats and a scanned newspaper article of personal accounts.  A short but good read!

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/leisure/museum/pdf/steamboats.pdf

[urbanlibertarian]

Thanks, BT.

[Ocklawaha]

The whole story is in a book of Steamboats of the St. Johns and Ocklawaha Rivers. It was written by Ed Muller, one-time executive director of JTA (circa 1980). Ed was a super nice guy and always wanted to hear train story's. Our books both came out about the same time, which we thought was pretty funny. I've seen copies of his works in the Book Mine, and also San Marco Book Store. Mine was listed in collector books at Amazon, where it gets a pretty wild price.

Ed and I talked about the City of Jacksonville, and he told me where most of these boats were taken to rot. Sad but the whole river fleet eventually ended up in a creek down by Palatka. At least one ended up sinking under the area of the Acosta Bridge, north piles. Another went down under the landing? or was it the Hyatt? Anyway when they built those stupid parking lots back when people shopped downtown at Sears, the city made a big thing out of a fantastic ships wheel that was located among those old docks.

FYI, Anyone with a REAL interest needs to get down to Green Cove Springs, where two fantastic COJ type river ships are moored. I understand they are fairly new and were built out at Atlantic Ship Building on Hecksher Drive. If that damn Shands bridge could come down, or at least put a lift or swing span on it, these two ships might be able to make it down to Sanford. Imagine the tourism when Disney, Sea World and Universal, all sell package flights, or train tickets to Jacksonville, hence by riverboat to Sanford, then charter bus to the parks and hotels. The boats would need two days on the water with an overnight in Palatka. Anyway, if you haven't seen these beauty's don't let them escape without a photo. PLEASE go get some photos.

OCKLAWAHA

[jaxnative]

I also like the one of the ship alongside the virgin shores of the river...

That is a beautiful picture BT but I don't think many vessels like that would be able to get that close to the virgin St. Johns shoreline without an incredibly shallow draft.

[BridgeTroll]

Fully loaded draft was 6.5 feet... They did run aground on occasion.  Read this...

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/leisure/museum/pdf/steamboats.pdf

[jaxnative]

Thanks for the info BT.  That's some interesting reading.  Wouldn't it be great to see some steamships plying up and down the St. Johns with tourists enjoying the scenery and the amenities of the vessel.

BTW, my great-grandfather was agent for the Clyde Steamship Company in the 20's and 30's.

[BridgeTroll]

Here is a PDF of the St Petersburg Times with sailing times for the City of Jacksonville.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19060505&id=P50KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=N00DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5981,1033142

[BridgeTroll]

Wow!  Found a document from the 1910 Jacksonville Board of Trade.  This looks to be a fore runner of a Chamber of Commerce.  The document has garbles throughout which leads me to think it was transmitted via telegraph.  Tons of local factoids about Jax inticing people to move here...

http://www.archive.org/stream/jacksonvilleflor00jack/jacksonvilleflor00jack_djvu.txt

A few excerpts below...

History of the Board.
Organized February 7, 1884.

The first meeting held for the purpose of forming a Board of Trade in
Jacksonville met at the office of Col. John Q. Burbridge, January 31, 1884.
Colonel Burbridge presided, and Henry S. Ely, Esq., acted as Secretary.
About twenty business men attended; and, after a general discussion
of the necessity of such an organization, a resolution was formally
adopted declaring that *^the interests of Jacksonville demand the
organization of a Board of Trade."'

Jacksonvilleâ€" What It Is.

Tt is a cosmopolitan city.

It has a ifopulation of about 48,000.

It is located on the noble St. Johns Kiver, which, with its tributaries,
affords 1,000 miles of inland navigation.

It has a Avater front of seven and two-tenths miles. Its area in
square miles is seven and six-tenths.

It is the gateway to Florida and the West Indies.

It is further west than any other Atlantic port.

Tt is nearer than any port north of Charleston to St. Louis and
the Northwest.

It is within a short distance of the great coal and iron regions of
Alabama.

. It has direct communication with every important city in the
United States via ten railway systems.

It has direct ocean steamship communication with Boston, New
York, I'hiladelphia and Baltimore.

It is better located than any city farther north for the trade with
the eastern coast of South America.

It has become one of the principal naval stores marts of the country.

It has a floating dock of 4,200 tons capacity (the largest private
dock south of Newport News, Va.), also two large ship yards.

It is the business metropolis of Florida.

Tt has seven banks of Avhich the combined caj^ital and suri)lus is
$2,550,000.

It has twenty-eight Avholesale groceries.

It has Avholesale and retail houses in every line of merchandise.

It has about two hundred factories, great and small.

It has ten great saw and planing mills, and sash, door and blind
factories.

The American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company has a station
here.

The Snntlun'u Bell Telephone has about two thousand subscribers,
and has long-distance telephone service to New York and other Northern
cities.

Its annual trade is about |1(I0,()0(),0()0.

It is a desirable place of residence, its mortality averaging ten in
one thousand â€" the lowest in the United States.

It has a delightful climate, with a mean temi)erature of seventy
degrees, and is cooler in summer than most Northern cities.

It has churches of all denominations.

It has good schools and a fine business college.

It has an opera house and other places of amusement.

It has a number of fine buildings devoted to social and charitable
purposes, viz. : Seminole Clubhouse, Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, Wheelmen's Club. Woman's Club, Masonic Temple, Odd Fellows
Hall, Daniel Memorial Ori)lianage, Home for Aged Women, St. Lukes
Hospital, St. Marys Home, Confederate Veterans Home, DeSoto
Sanatorium.

It has a fine i»ublic library (Carnegie's).

It will shortly have an ui»-to-date Young Men's Christian Association
Building.

It has twenty miles of trolley lines; over ten miles of brick pave-
ments; about fourteen miles of shell street and drives already constructed
and provided for by ordinance, and several beautiful parks.

It has gas and electric light plants.

It has artesian wells yielding 5,000,000 gallons of pure water daily.

It has an excellent sanitary and drainage system.

It has an efficient fire department, and a fire-ahirm telegraph.

It has excellent daily and Aveekly newspapers and monthly magazines.

It has twenty feet de])th of Avater in the St. Johns River between
Jacksonville and the ocean, with good i)rospects of having twenty-four
feet in the immediate future.

It is within thirty minutes' ride of one of the finest ocean beaches
in America.

It has the largest and most influential Board of Trade in the South.

On May 3, 1901, over 2,600 buildings in the principal business and
residence part of the city were destroyed by fire, involving a loss of
about $15,000,000.

At this date ( August, 1905) over 5,000 buildings have been or are
being rebuilt, the value of which exceeds |30.000,000.

Jacksonville prospers by the development of the State of Florida.

There is much more info... may post more...

[BridgeTroll]

Here is some more... but I have skipped all kinds of data for brevity...

FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

In the general upbuilding of the city our financial institutions have
kept pace with other lines of development.

The capital stock of all the banks in this city on December 31, 190-t,
amounted to $975,000, with a surplus of $357,000, and deposits $6,522 -
849 making a total of $7,851,849. On December 31, 1905, the total
capital stock of all the banks amounted to $2,025,000, surplus $479,259,
deposits $10,024,789, showing a net gain in the bank capital of this
city of $1 050,000, or an increase of 53 per cent, in deposits and 59 per
cent in available money to carry on the growing commerce of our city.

There have been organized four new banks during 1905, with a
capital stock of one million two hundred thousand dollars, and I will
say in this connection that the banking business is in the hands ot
careful, conservative men, and are all in a prosperous condition.

FOR 24-FOOT CHANNEL.

The dredge St. Johns is now actively engaged in deepening the
river near its mouth. The powerful dredge, owned by the Atlantic
Dredge Company, is at work on the White Shells, and the dredge
Jacksonville is temporarily out of commission, pending the installa-
tion of more powerful machinery. For the first time, and within the
past month, we are assured that vessels can go from our port to sea
drawing twenty feet of water, and with the aid of the dredges now
at work it is reasonable to assume, and we have every assurance of,
a speedy completion of the project adopted by Congress calling for
twenty -four feet at low tide from Jacksonville to the ocean. A recent
letter from Captain Shunk submitted to the river and harbor commit-
tee of this board explains in detail the progress of this work.

For Ock...

THE EAST COAST EXTENSION.

Among the great events of 1905 was the beginning of the extension
of the Florida East Coast Railway from Miami to Key West over the
Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico. The building of this road is
one of the greatest achievements in railroad construction that has
ever been undertaken. It will no doubt be of inestimable value to
our State, and will make a trip from Miami to Key West practically
a sea tripâ€" an ocean voyage in a Pullman, and will be an unsurpassed
scenic railway trip.

For this and other developments that have made Florida prosperous
and the pleasure resort of the worldâ€" that have given employment to
thousands of peopleâ€" is due to the public spirit and enterprise of
Henry M. Flagler.

[BridgeTroll]

Have you ever heard someone say... "Welcome to Florida... now go home?

Here is the 1910 version...

Who Should and Who Should Not Settle in Florida.



Don't come eniptj- handed. A little capital is just as necessary to
get a start in Florida as anj'where else.

Don't come if jon are doing well where yon are. Florida is no
place for discontented folks.

Don't come expecting- to find a country wh.ere you can live with
little or no work, unless you have an income that will support 30U.

Don't come if you are out of a job and can't get one at home. If
you can't find emplojiuent where you are known you will not be likely
to find it among strangers.

Don't come if you are a semi-invalid, hoping to earn enough to pay
expenses during the winter and then return to the North in the spring.
Florida is full of such deluded unfortunates.

Don't come if you are merely the "promoter" of a ''splendid business
scheme," with the expectation of finding captialists ready to put up
the cash against your "experience" and pay you a fat salary- as a
manager of the company.

Come if you have capital to lend or invest in any legitimate manu-
facturing enterprise.

Come if you are plucky and energetic, and know how to embrace an
opportunity when you see it. Come if you like a mild climate better
than a cold one â€" a good "all-year-round" climate.

Come if you are willing to assist in developing the wonderful
resources of the State and become a permanent citizen.

Come if you are a horticulturist, vine grower, truck gardener, or
a good mechanic.

[BridgeTroll]

There are adds from local vendors of the day... here is a small sample.

It's Up to You

To increase the demand for your candies. That is easily
done if you \vill only keep our high-grade
Peanut and Cocoanut Brittle

!n 25'Pound Boxes, Assorted.

Order through your jobber or direct

from us. We Manufacture and Carry a Full Line

Stick Candy, Mixed Candy, Penny Goods, CiioGola^es and

Pacl(age Goods.

Send for Price List.

THE E. J. SMITH CO.,

Jacksonville, Fla.



JACKSONVILLE GROCERY COMPANY

WHOLESALE



Grocers' and Distillers'
Supplies.

W. J. HARRIS, MANAGER.

Office and Waretiouse Viaduct A. C. L R'|,

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA.


Cbe Elgin Butter Company OF FLORIDA.

U iJ WHOLESALE DEALERS IN iJ ii Butter and â,¬bee$e.

Office, 718 W. Bay St. Cold Storage, 752 W. Bay St.

JACKSONVILLF, FLORIDA.



WILKISON ^_SPILLER

FANCY GROCERIES IMPORTED SPECIALTIES

OUR MOTTO :

Not Lowest Price, but Best Goods.
327 WEST BAY ST.


American Produce Co.

FLORIDA'S LARGEST AND BEST FRUIT AND PRODUCE HOUSE.

CONSIGNMENTS SOLICITED.

16 South Hogan St„ JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

[BridgeTroll]

For you Fire history folks...  I never knew the Prime Osborn nearly burned to the ground...

http://www.jacksonvillefiremuseum.com/

[subro]

It has a delightful climate, with a mean temi)erature of seventy
degrees, and is cooler in summer than most Northern cities.

This makes for a great read but the cooler summers line is a bit of a stretch.