Lost Jacksonville: Union Terminal

[finehoe]

^^Nice!

[urbanlibertarian]

Here's something I put together a few years ago for the Parks @ the Cathedral newsletter:

Jacksonville Postal History Time Line

1816   Weekly mail service begins by boat and horseback between St. Augustine, San Pablo (Jax Beach), Fernandina and St. Marys.
1822   Jacksonville streets are laid out and town is named.
1824   Jacksonville’s first post office is established in a general store on the south side of Bay St. near Newnan St.  John L. Dogget is the first postmaster.
1826   A horseback mail route is established through Indian Territory to Tallahassee.
1827   City founder Isaiah D. Hart becomes Jacksonville’s second postmaster.
1830's   Mail carried by stagecoaches.
1840's   Mail carried by steamboats.
1860's   Mail carried by railroad until 1960's.
1884   Letter carrier service begins on foot and horseback.    Letter collection boxes in neighborhoods.
1895   Jacksonville post office moves into new Federal building at Forsyth and Hogan Sts.  It is the tallest building in the state and will be spared in the Great Fire of 1901.
1910's   Mail arriving by train is taken to the post office by wagon.  Residents can post letters at five drugstores.      Local mail moves by trolley, horse, mule, boat, bicycle or on foot.
1915   Jacksonville’s first substation opens at the Union Terminal warehouse.
1928   Air Mail service begins at Paxon Field on Melson Ave.
1932   West Bay Annex opens next to Union Terminal and handles 80% of Florida’s mail.
1934   New downtown post office opens in Federal building on west Monroe St.
1955   Jacksonville has eleven substations and fifteen contract stations.
1975   General Mail Center opens on Kings Rd. replacing West Bay Annex.

[stjr]

1895   Jacksonville post office moves into new Federal building at Forsyth and Hogan Sts.  It is the tallest building in the state and will be spared in the Great Fire of 1901.

One major building survives the fire of 1901 and we tore it down?!!  Our history of self destruction is more  disturbing than the Great Fire itself.

Nice pix and postal history recap.  Thanks for posting.

[mtraininjax]

STJR - We tore down our beautiful city hall to build the library at 122 Ocean. Go figure.

[LPBrennan]

Actually, the old Armory was burned, rebuilt, and only torn down a few years ago.

[mtraininjax]

Larry - The old armory, that I know of, is still in use by the City Parks and Rec, 851 North Market Street.

[LPBrennan]

Nope- that's the NEW old armory! Like referring to the new old library... It was on Market at Forsyth. Was used as the fire safety building I think. Plain undistinguished building- had a tower before the fire. A friend remembers going to the new armory for high school graduation- 1942 or so. It was a bleeding hot evening in there!

[mtraininjax]

Larry, The city website says the following about the armory on Market Street:

The Armory Building is situated in downtown Jacksonville, at the northeast corner of State and Market Streets. Built in 1915-1916 to house the local National Guard of Florida, the three-story, Gothic-Revival style building (with basement) contained a drill hall/auditorium with a stage and balcony. Other amenities included a swimming pool, gymnasium, bowling alleys, finely appointed reception rooms, a kitchen and mess hall, along with a rifle/pistol range, a billiard/pool room, and a library. For over forty years, the building also served as the City's principal public facility for entertainment/social events, such as an address by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, dances, boxing matches, and concerts by well-known singers. After the Guard moved to a new facility, the Department of Recreation and Public Affairs took over the building in 1973.

Yes it is quite warm inside the gym.

[LPBrennan]

Yes- that armory was built as you say:

But this is the one built prior to the Fire, destroyed except for the thick walls, and rebuilt.


There it is on the left in this post-Fire view-


Notice that the tower was originally taller. Over the years the decorative work was removed or covered over. By the time it was demolished it had no character at all.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

But now that Parks/Rec have moved their offices to City Hall, the armory stands empty.

I don't know what they're gonna do with it, but renting it out for special occasions sounds like a good idea.

[mtraininjax]

I don't know what they're gonna do with it, but renting it out for special occasions sounds like a good idea.

They already do that, but the problem is that the gym does not have air conditioning, it gets VERY HOT in there during the summer. Its a cool building, but the city has not invested in it as they did with the St. James.

[LPBrennan]

I spoke with a member of the Lee High class of 1942, and it turns out the graduation did not take place in the Armory, although previous classes had held the ceremony there. By the summer of 1942 there seemed to be other business for the Armory to deal with, so Lee's 1942 graduation was set to take place outdoors at the school. Unfortunately, the event was canceled by rain, so it was re-scheduled for a week later at the Florida Theater- to his knowledge, the only graduation hosted there up till that time. The graduates dressed in white, gowns for the girls and suits for the boys; caps and gowns were not used in high school ceremonies. (Now we use them to "graduate" from kindergarten!)

He had ushered at previous graduations at the Armory when he was a sophomore and junior. He remembered the speaker at one ceremony droned on and on and on. Someone went back of the stage where the bathrooms were and flushed a toilet. These toilets would have done Archie Bunker proud- real "thunder mugs"!- and the roaring cascade could be heard throughout the hall! The speaker got the hint and finished his his oration.

[Charles Hunter]

I think Lee graduated in white jackets and dresses through the 1960s - unique

I thought Parks and Rec moved into the Ed Ball Building, not City Hall.

[stjr]

By the summer of 1942...

Then there's that mischievous coming of age movie of the same name.... 

[chas1445]

This post is a year late, however, I have recently found this sight.  I do not live in Jacksonville anymore, but in reference to part of the post by OCKLAWAHA dated January 8, 2010 about the integration of the train station as we use to call it.  During WW II, and from 1940-1952 the stations waiting rooms was still segregated.  When I would go to see my grand parents, I would leave from the Colored waiting room, and when I return, I would have to wait on my mother to pick me up in the Colored waiting room.  During that time children could travel by themselves.  They would put your destination on a tag, and put it around your neck, and the conductor would see that you got off at the right place.  Example: if you were going to Macon, Georgia, the tag would read Macon, Georgia.  And the cars was still segregated.  Blacks rode in the first car behind the engine.  When I was ordered to report for duty at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina in 1952, I left from that train station, and when I returned to Jacksonville 8 years later in 1960 after my discharge, I returned to the same train station.  I returned in August 1960, a few days before the 1960 Race Riots began.