A New History of Jacksonville?

[BridgeTroll]

JACKPOT!!!!  Great website with many accounts and pictures of riverboat life on the St Johns river.

I give you...

PADDLEWHEELERS ON THE ST JOHNS...

Enjoy!

http://www.cowart.info/Monthly%20Features/Paddlewheel/Paddlewheelers.htm

by

Virginia M. Cowart

SUMMARY

              When we think of paddlewheel steamboats, most of us picture the great Mississippi River boats. Mark Twain formed the mental picture most of us envision. Or we think of "Fulton's Folly" churning the waters of the Hudson.

              But the paddlewheelers played a major part in the economic development of Jacksonville.

              "Prior to the opening of railroads along the banks of the St. Johns a fleet of approximately 150 steamers carried freight and passengers on the river and its tributaries. These vessels made daily trips and during the peak period carried nearly 100,000 tons of freight each week. The aggregate of these vessels amounted to about $5,000,000. The U.S. Census of 1880 recorded that there was a larger fleet of steam vessels carrying passengers and freight on the St. Johns than on any river south of the Hudson in New York".(01)

              Jacksonville's steamboats earned renown.

William Maierfeldt of Orange Park recorded a few such memories:

              "You should not be surprised when getting aboard," he wrote, "To see a 12 foot alligator tired down on a 12 foot board" lashed to the deck. Oskey's, a store which catered to tourists wanting souvenirs of Florida, bought gators to transform them into handbags, shoes, belts, or suitcases.

Cargo overflowed the lower deck


              Other deck cargo included wicker baskets of bread from the Rosenbush Bakery in Green Cove Springs, crates of live chickens (which sold for 50¢ each while eggs sold for 10¢ a dozen) tied-up pigs, and even hobbled horses or cattle.

              Of the live cattle transported aboard the river boats, Maierfeldt  said, "In most cases they were more wild than tame and it was some kind of problem to drive them onto the dock and into the steamer, and you can rest assured there were no passengers on the lower deck for the rest of the voyage... I can recall some of them had brass knobs on the ends of their horns to keep from running their horns thru a person -- not that the knob did much to lesson(sic) the danger".(13)

              These cows sold for $18 per head.

              "Milk was sold to the customer for 5¢ a quart, being ladled direct from a 5-gallon container by dipper."(14)

              "I do recall catfish brought two and a half cents per pound on the hoof. If the fisherman skinned the fish he got a few cents more per pound".(15)

              "These prices would seem ridiculous by today's comparison, but money in those days was real money and a man with one dollar in his pocket was considered a long way from being a pauper".(16)

"Early accounts of the steamboats give the impression that the passengers were largely lushs-- the bar was the most popular place on the ship". Whiskey sold for as much as 20¢ a drink ... "A steamboat operator could almost break even on the proceeds of the bar and dining saloon, even at 50¢ for a five-course dinner... Boats that carried two to three hundred passengers could make 100 per cent profit at the normal fare of $1.50. Annual profits of 70 per cent were not unusual, and one line paid a dividend of 6 per cent a month".(23)

"The river teemed with craft which, according to a report of the County Commissioners published in 1885, numbered seventy-four vessels totaling 8,168 registered tonnage, with estimated value of river commerce of $2,042,000. This was claimed to have been the largest tonnage of any inland local traffic south of the Hudson River. The estimated value of vessels and cargoes arriving and departing from Jacksonville was $38,270,000 in 1882. Among the articles of commerce mentioned are 37,440 bales of cotton, 68,041,548 feet of lumber and 316,800 crates of fruit and vegetables. In 1885, Duval was sixth in the state in the production of oranges".(57)

On May 7, 1874, parents, teachers and children from the Newnan Street Presbyterian Sabbath School took an excursion trip aboard the Florence:

                At 9:00 punctually... many friends were assembled on the deck of the beautiful FLORENCE which through the kindness of Captain Brock having placed her at our command for the day... At the last sound of the whistle the swift-winged FLORENCE dashed from her wharf and soon a beautiful floral city lingered on the vision only as a dream. Billows, hamlets and groves passed by as things of life and they were soon lost to view on deck and cabin. Innocent merry hearts with song and shout were making melody such as angels might approve... Even the gallant purser caught the infection and proved by his fascinating devotion as deft in the use of honeyed words and bewitching glance as with cash and ledger...

                Nor was the conclusion (of the trip) unworthy of the occasion... amid innocent mirth there was the old, young and gay and with many expressions of thanks to Captain Brock... with grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of all good, returned to our happy homes as contented a picnic party as ever had been on the advent of May.(59)

Not all trips went so well.

              On the Fourth Of July that same year, the St. Johns Shooting Club "patriotically moved and socially inclined" rode the Florence to Mayport and a short way out into the ocean.

              That was a mistake:

                Dinner was announced and the hungry crowd sat down to the well spread table. Hardly through the first course and well on to the second course when the steamer struck the first heavy swell. All smiled languidly and looked brave and one ferocious member of the club who had traveled called vigorously for the coconut pie. It was no use, swells succeeded, lips grew white and even brave shooting men... had sudden business with the captain. After pitching and rolling for some few minutes and the rain coming down not hard but persistently, the south beach and surf bathing was abandoned and a return to Mayport voted.

              But the day was not a total loss; on their return to Jacksonville, the passengers enjoyed watching fireworks over the city from the deck of the Florence.

                From the center of the stream the display was rendered beautifully and too much praise could not be awarded... The program was one that would reflect credit on a much larger city than ours.(60)

[BridgeTroll]

This website has everything... hours of Jacksonville history.

http://www.cowart.info/

[BridgeTroll]

Some of you will remember this... please add some personal stories...

JACKSONVILLE’S BAY STREET

Or

Life On Sleazy Street

http://www.cowart.info/Florida%20History/Bay%20Street/baystreet.htm

by

John W. Cowart

My Mother warned me not to walk on Bay Street.

"I'd better not ever hear of you going on Bay Street," she said.

This was in the early 1950s when I was about 12 years old.

Back then, to a boy, "Downtown" meant the strip of movie theatres on Forsyth Street. There every weekend double features played at the Imperial, Empress, Palace, or Florida theatres.

For a nickel each my buddies and I could ride the bus from our homes in Southside and spend the day watching a cowboy named Bob Steele shoot up bad guys.

On Friday nights, we'd walk across the Main Street Bridge -- the rich aroma of the Maxwell House Coffee plant hanging in the air -- and we'd hang over the rail to look down on schools of porpoise at play in the river.

Sometimes, destroyers would be tied up beside the bridge and we would talk with real live sailors as they chipped paint or hung out their  laundry on deck. Once one of them threw my buddy David Bryant a sailor cap! Wow!

[Dog Walker]

You could walk along Bay Street in those days and in the stair wells that went upstairs over the bars were posters that said, "These premises off limits to members of the U.S. military."  My Dad got all red in the face when I asked him why sailors weren't supposed to go into those places where the pretty ladies were.

[BridgeTroll]

The beginning of the end... for public transportation in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville’s Motorcar History

http://www.cowart.info/Florida%20History/Auto%20History/Auto%20History.htm

by
John W. Cowart

Blame undertaker Charles A. Clark the next time you circle block after block looking for a parking space.

Think of him as you creep along bumper to bumper â€" in the rain, late for an appointment, with rude drivers honking at you and LOT FULL signs mocking you.

It’s all his fault.

Charles A. Clark is the man responsible for your frustration.

He started it all.

On January 4, 1900, Mr. Clark chugged into downtown Jacksonville in his brand new Locomobile, a Stanley No. 2 â€" the first factory-built motorcar in Florida. Our city has not been the same since.

[DavidWilliams]

How is it possible to write a "new" history?

[DavidWilliams]

I am fascinated by the history of Jax since the early 1900's (the great fire era). What is the untold element?

[Ocklawaha]

1909 Locomobile

The beginning of the end... for public transportation in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville’s Motorcar History

by
John W. Cowart

Blame undertaker Charles A. Clark the next time you circle block after block looking for a parking space.

Think of him as you creep along bumper to bumper â€" in the rain, late for an appointment, with rude drivers honking at you and LOT FULL signs mocking you.

It’s all his fault.

Charles A. Clark is the man responsible for your frustration.

He started it all.

On January 4, 1900, Mr. Clark chugged into downtown Jacksonville in his brand new Locomobile, a Stanley No. 2 â€" the first factory-built motorcar in Florida. Our city has not been the same since.

Just a fun fact, the Locomobile company and the Stanley Brothers were in business together in 1900, but then split up. Locomobile, White Steam Car Company, and Stanley, each went their own good ways. The Stanley brothers might have kept GM out of the game, had they ANY sales or marketing talent. They were notorious for scolding car buyers or owners for this or that little problem with the product. I know of at least one case where they had sold the car, the new owner couldn't get the pilot light, fuel sequence down, so they told him he was an idiot and took the car back! It's a shame, because their product was so good that hundreds are still with us today. I have an acquaintance in St. Augustine that has a mint condition Locomobile in the garage, 1909 I believe. It has the little round windsheld and looks much like the Stuz Bearcat used in the movie "Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid."

OCKLAWAHA

[DavidWilliams]

For bonus questions.

Where was Oyster Shell Road?

quote]

Kings Road?

[jaxnative]

Which Jacksonville Mayor presided over a police force that was primarily african american prior to the great Fire.

Raymond D. Knight

[jaxnative]

Steven, wasn't there a Bridge Street at one time?  Is that now Broad?

[Bill Ectric]

I'm with you, Stephen, it's a great idea!

[Jaxson]

I think that Main Street used to be called Pine Street, right?

[Jaxson]

Thanks, Stephen!