Pix - Regency Square Area BEFORE Regency Square; Ponte Vedra Mining

[BridgeTroll]

Apparently both were accomplished aviators...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Aviation_Hall_of_Fame

The Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame[1] was established by the Colorado Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) in Denver, Colorado, USA, on November 11, 1969. The original and first ten Coloradoaviation pioneers were inducted into the Hall on that date. Guest speaker for the event was author Ernest K Gann. The Hall of Fame is part of the Heritage Hall in the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Denver, Colorado.

Originally, to be considered for the Hall of Fame, ones' pioneering activities were to be completed before November 11, 1918. Subsequently, the cut-off date was changed to 1935, then eliminated. Aviation pioneering including development of airports, air mail routes, flying training facilities, flight management and mapping, aviation and aerospace manufacturing and maintenance, aviation weather tracking and forecasting, teaching and educating, advancements in aviation business, and military achievements. These are some of the activities that challenged Colorado aviators and aviation business persons.

In the first 25 years of the Hall of Fame, over 160 Coloradans and organizations have been inducted and so honored.


[edit] Original ten inductees of 1969
1) Ivy Baldwin
2) Allan F. Bonnalie
3) Ira Boyd "Bumps" Humphries (Also spelled Humphreys) - See Grant-Humphreys Mansion.
4) Albert E. Humphries (Also spelled Humphreys) - See Grant-Humphreys Mansion.

[BridgeTroll]

Awesome!!  You hit the... er... um... GOLD MINE!

[stjr]

Thanks Stjr.  I totally agree with that.

I wonder if you can fill in some details or know anything about this.  Growing up at the beaches, I was repeatedly told that Jimbo Stockton didnt start as a superwealthy guy, but that he had gone in and bought up all of Ponte Vedra at pennies on the dollar, as he was lucky enough to have cash when no one else did.

I wonder if he purchased it from the Humphreys?

Do you have any insight?

Not sure which generation of Stockton's you are referring to.

Of course, Stockton Whatley Davin & Company was the engine that developed San Marco, Ponte Vedra, Deerwood, some of Riverside I believe, and most of Gate's southside properties, along with what is now Chase/Washington Mutual Jax mortgage operations  and Fidelity Information Systems (originally an SWD subsidiary, Computer Power).  At one time its president, J. J. Daniel,  was also the "publisher" of the Florida Times Union.

Wikipedia:

Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co. (SWD) was one of the largest mortgage banking, real estate and insurance firms in the Southeast. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, they were founded as Stockton, Whatley in the late 1800's. At its' height, SWD had a real estate portfolio worth $100 million and a mortgage loan servicing portfolio of $3.8 billion, providing services in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

The original partners were James R. Stockton Sr., Brown L. Whatley and Joseph W. Davin.

SWD was a developer of Ponte Vedra Beach in the early 1930's.[1]

The San Marco section of Jacksonville was developed by the Stockton Whatley Company in the 1920's.[2]

J.J. Daniel became president of SWD in 1960. He led development of the Deerwood section of Jacksonville, and the companion Deerwood Country Club, the most exclusive gated communities at the time and for many years thereafter.

In 1964, SWD was purchased by the General American Oil Company.[3]

Don Davis was named General Manager of Deerwood Country Club in 1965, a position he held for over 20 years. In 1978, Davis was promoted to Operations Vice President of SWD, responsible for all Deerwood Club operations, including the sale of residences and home sites.

William F. Aberly joined SWD as Financial Vice President in 1965 and retired as Chairman and CEO in 1984 prior to the company's dissolution.[4]

Phillips Petroleum Company acquired SWD early in 1983 in the merger of the General American Oil Company of Texas into its Phillips Oil Company subsidiary, which announced its intention to sell the unit.[5]

SWD's real estate holdings of 50,000+ acres were purchased by Herb Peyton and Gate Petroleum for $60 million in cash.[6]

The First National Bank of Boston purchased the mortgage banking business of SWD for $120 million.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton,_Whatley,_Davin_&_Co.

An excerpt and story link from a descendant of Brown Whatley:

Florida Times Union, Published Saturday, June 2, 2007

When Ponte Vedra was just a rural beach

A woman who grew up there in the 1930s writes about those days.

.....Muffet's father, Brown Whatley, was president of Stockton, Whatley, Davin and Company, which developed early Ponte Vedra Beach.

Her mother, Marion, was a housewife who raised two children and occasionally played golf at the Ponte Vedra Club's nine-hole course, created just eight years earlier for workmen with the National Lead Company, which mined the beach for minerals.

At the time, the Beaches were rather isolated from Jacksonville because Atlantic Boulevard was the only road that led there.

After arriving in Atlantic Beach, people could drive south along narrow, two-lane Florida A1A to reach Ponte Vedra Beach, or they could drive on the beach, which was often faster....

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/060207/nes_174061648.shtml

[stjr]

More on the Stockton family:

Jacksonville Florida Real Estate - Stockton Realty is... - [Cached Version]
Published on: 11/3/2003    Last Visited: 8/18/2004 

Stockton ...A Tradition Since 1884

The Stockton name has been associated with the planning, development and construction of Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra and the surrounding areas for over 100 years.In 1884 Telfair Stockton & Company was created and in 1946 merged with Whatley & Davin Company to form Stockton, Whatley, Davin and Company ...And for thirty-eight years afterwards the SWD Logo was familiar and recognized around the country.Upon James R. Stockton, Jr.'s graduation from Washington & Lee University, he served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps.He began his working career in 1959 at Stockton, Whatley, Davin and Company and left in 1966 to form his own company.In 1972 he began the challenging development of the now famous Sawgrass Country Club.
...

Save your sand dollars 02/02/02 - [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/2/2002    Last Visited: 2/2/2002 

Fast Fact: James Stockton Jr., the initial builder and developer of Sawgrass, picked the name after awaking from a sleepless night filled with tossing and turning.The stress of picking a name, he later said, was "growing wild - like that sawgrass on the property."

Fast Fact II: Ponce de Leon, the famous Spanish explorer who sought the Fountain of Youth, originally landed on what would later be known as Ponte Vedra Beach on April 2, 1513.

Sources: U.S. Census, City of Atlantic Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach Chamber of Commerce, Marsh Landing Realty Inc., Arvida Realty Services, Florida Realty USA Inc., Duval County property appraiser.

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Stockton_James_153796188.aspx

[stjr]

In 1961, SWD took over management of ARVIDA, started by Arther Vining Davis, developer of Boca Raton and other south Florida communities, who also has another Jax connection with his $200 million +/- foundation (gave $10.6 million in grants in 2008) being based here in Jacksonville:

SWD - Arvida article:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19611202&id=gNUNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PHkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4578,782993

2008 Foundation Annual Report: http://www.avdf.org/2008%20AVD%20Anual%20Report.pdf

From Arthur Vining Davis foundation website at http://www.avdf.org/founder.htm :

Any roster of the most innovative and successful contributors to American industrial growth and Florida land development during the first half of the twentieth century would necessarily include Arthur Vining Davis. The son of a Congregational minister, Mr. Davis moved with determination into the business world immediately after graduating at the top of his class from Amherst College in 1888.

Mr. Davis joined the Pittsburgh Reduction Company soon after completing college. Starting as a shop helper and a bookkeeper, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming president and de facto chief executive officer of the company in 1910.

By that time the company had expanded and had been renamed the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). During Mr. Davis' presidency, Alcoa became one of the country's most successful corporations. Under his leadership as president and later as Chairman of the Board for nineteen years, the company grew in size, profitability and influence.

Mr. Davis' activities were centered in Pittsburgh and New York until 1949 when, at the age of 82, he moved his residence to Florida. Instead of "retiring," he embarked on a new career. While leading Alcoa and serving as director of numerous major corporations, he had become interested in Florida and the Bahamas. During his residence in Florida, he invested in land and other enterprises such as banks, airlines, shipping companies and hotels. When Mr. Davis died in 1962 at age 95, he was one of the best known and respected businessmen in the Southeastern United States.

About the Foundations: Purpose and Organization

The purpose of the Foundations is to provide financial assistance, within the limits of their budgets and the discretion of their Trustees, to certain educational, cultural, scientific and religious institutions. Such aid is, by charter, granted to and expended by institutions and organizations which are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, are not private foundations within the meaning of Section 509(a) of the 1969 Tax Reform Act, and are located within the United States and its possessions.

The Board of Trustees’ current practice is to award grants primarily in the areas of private higher education, secondary education, graduate theological education, health care and public television.

Today, two individual foundations comprise the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and are designated respectively as Foundations No. 2 and No. 3. Created by Mr. Davis' will to receive the major share of his estate, they began operations in 1965, awarding their first grants in 1967. Organized in 1952 during the lifetime of Mr. Arthur Vining Davis, Foundation No. 1 existed for 48 years before being merged with Foundation No. 2 in 2001.

The Mellon Bank N.A. serves as corporate Trustee for Foundation No. 2. The SunTrust Banks, Inc. serve Foundation No. 3 in a similar fiduciary capacity. The Foundations' assets are invested in a broadly diversified portfolio consisting primarily of common stocks and bonds. No single company’s securities account for more than five percent of the combined total.

Operation

The two Foundations' assets are invested by the corporate Trustees and administered as separate legal entities. All funds are handled separately by the designated banks and subject to the various individual reporting requirements of federal and state laws.

For grantmaking purposes, however, the two Foundations function as a single philanthropic institution. The same individual Trustees serve without remuneration on both Foundations' Boards. The Board meets three times a year to consider grants, review investments, and assess programs and policies. The Foundations also share the cost of an administrative office located in Jacksonville, Florida. The plural form of the name, "The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations," is the preferred designation. Grant applicants should address proposals to the common office in Jacksonville. By following this procedure, earliest possible consideration of proposals is ensured.

[jaxtrader]

I happen to agree with the decision to change Mineral City to Ponte Vedra Beach...
Do you suppose any of em know they are living over a former mine?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vedra_Beach,_Florida

In 1916 the community was known as Mineral City, and titanium (ilmenite) extraction was significant, as well as that of zircon and rutile.[2] These minerals were recovered from beach sands by a private commercial firm called National Lead Company, directed by Henry Holland Buckman and George A. Pritchard. During the First World War titanium was a component of poison gas, and therefore a strategic mineral. The golf courses created for recreational purposes by their company became the root of the present golf industry.

'Mineral City Inn & Club' lacks a certain cachet...

[stjr]

At some point, Humphrey's mining properties in Ponte Vedra transitioned Ponte Vedra to National Lead Company before SWD acquired the land.  In 1942, SWD's partial forerunner to-be in 1946, Telfair Stockton, acquired the properties:

Several sources claim Ponce de Leon landed in the vicinity of what is now Ponte Vedra Beach while searching for the legendary Fountain of Youth.  It is reported that on April 2, 1513, at latitude 30 degrees 8 minutes north a landing party went ashore.  However, the location did not provide a suitable harbor for his ships, so legend states he sailed further down the coast and landed at the present site of St. Augustine.

     After the establishment of St. Augustine by the Spaniards to the south in 1565 and the founding of Fort Caroline by the French to the north, French and Spanish soldiers traveled the sands of Ponte Vedra Beach in bloody forays vying for a foothold in northeast Florida.

The area received a certain prominence in World War 1 when many valuable  minerals were discovered in the local sands.  The most valuable for the war effort were rutile an ilmenite, from which titanium is made, and ziroconium, the basis for zircon.  The National Lead Company bought out the original discoverers, and the area was named Mineral City.  Mineral City was a rugged outpost plagued by rattlesnakes, alligators and mosquitoes.  Mining operations ceased shortly after the war ended.

    In 1922 the National lead Company built the first nine hole golf course for the use of its workers.  In 1942 Telfair Stockton Company bought all the National Lead Company holdings and began the development of the present resort community.

     World War II brought a sinister moment in Ponte Vedra's history.  On the night of June 16th, in a daring exploit four, German soldiers from a German submarine rowed ashore in a rubber boat carrying explosives and United States money.  Five days prior to this four other German saboteurs had landed on Long Island in New York.  The intentions of the eight men were to blow up defense plants and destroy important transportation arteries.  Before any damage was done the eight men were captured by federal authorities.  All were tried and six were electrocuted.  The other two had collaborated with the United States government and received prison terms.  After the war President Truman commuted their sentences, and two prisoners were deported to Germany.  A St. Johns County historical Marker is on the site of the Ponte Vedra Beach landing.

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:8GvslbP0GHsJ:www.jaxbeach.com/ponte_vedra_beach.htm+national+lead+company+stockton&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Here is a history of National Lead including their interest in titanium:

The National Lead Company, now known as NL Industries, began business in Philadelphia in 1772. Several lead manufacturers banded together and incorporated as the National Lead Company in 1891. The company has been well known for its white-lead paints, sold since 1907 under the Dutch Boy label. Over the twentieth century, the company has produced many other products, including titanium dioxide paint, atomic bomb elements, and ball-bearing slides.

During the 1920s National Lead manufactured solder, pipes, and bearing metals. Its lead was an important ingredient in the technological development of telephone wiring and automobile parts, for example. During that era, National Lead engaged in some mining as well as in purchasing stocks of lead internationally. In the early 1920s National Lead began experimenting with titanium dioxide, a bright white pigment, as a new base for paint. By the middle of the decade National Lead was the largest lead company in the United States. In 1929 the company’s president claimed that 100,000 tons of lead were under continuous manufacture at National Lead’s plants. Net income was $4.9 million in 1927 and $5.2 million in 1935.

National Lead began expanding its business in titanium dioxide products during the 1930s and 1940s. The company mined titanium ores for production of titanium alloys, metals, and pigments. The company prospered after the Second World War. Net income was $5.2 million in 1943; it increased to $47.9 million in 1955.

National Lead also worked on atomic bombs on behalf of the U.S. government during the 1940s and 1950s. Along with other private companies like Dow and Westinghouse, National Lead contributed to safety systems as well as to weapons. For example, a National Lead plant in Fernald, Ohio, produced high-purity uranium and researched nuclear fuel reprocessing. During the 1970s many of its weapons plants were found to be contaminated. In the late 1980s the government and a subsidiary of NL agreed to a multi-billion dollar cleanup plan.

National Lead had mostly ceased mining by the 1950s and instead bought its ore and scrap metal stocks from suppliers. It acquired a large portion of its ores from mines in the Adirondacks, Quebec, Norway, Australia, and Cuba. Paint and pigments comprised 35 percent of the business in the early 1950s. The company also sold products for the manufacture of castor oil, rayon, airplanes, and oil drills. National Lead acquired Doehler-Jarvis in 1953 and began devoting 20 percent of its business to die-cast metal manufacture.

National Lead continued its diversification and expansion into lead- and titanium-related businesses during the 1960s. Its main products, though, remained Dutch Boy paint, metals and bearings, titanium products and pigments, die castings, and oil well products. Net income in 1965 was $61 million. In 1969 net income was $51 million. The company issued $100 million in bonds in 1971 to facilitate the construction of many chemical plants, among them a Utah magnesium plant, multiple chloride-process plants, and an oil well chemical plant in Texas. Net income for 1974 reached $78 million. That marked the sixty-ninth consecutive year in which the company paid dividends.

National Lead Company changed its name to NL Industries in 1971. The company’s base remains in Houston, Texas. NL Industries has been hit with many lawsuits over its lead paints and products since the late 1980s.

[stjr]

Mineral City, 1928:

Private enterprise played a role in bringing the Beaches out of the Depression; the fancy resort and housing development called Ponte Vedra Beach was developed from Mineral City in St. Johns County. The building of Ponte Vedra would spur growth in Jacksonville Beach because money was being spent within a small economy and because part of the development would be houses in south Jacksonville Beach. In October, 1928, men meeting in the office of National Lead, Inc. decided to hire Telfair Stockton Company of Jacksonville to create a grand design for its seventeen miles o property in Mineral City. The mining was no longer viable but the growth of the Beaches as a resort gave National Lead an alternative use for the property.

    From the first, they did not want the development to have the honky-tonk atmosphere of the Boardwalk area of Jacksonville Beach and they wanted it to be a higher class resort than Atlantic Beach. In  short, they wanted to create an upper-middle class and upper class resort and development, one that would be an exclusive private club. So they chose Joe Davin as the land engineer and Jim Stockton as the designer, planner, and manager of the resort. Stockton was a graduate of Princeton in 1916 so he recruited upper-class clients in 1937 by using his Princeton alumni connections.

The property had a club house and nine-hole golf course; National Lead has built them for its managerial employees, their guests, and visiting executives. For half of the year it was much more pleasant than New York or other eastern cities. The log cabin built in 1927 was temporarily used by guests until The Inn opened in 1937. The Stockton company removed the shacks  and mining equipment. It commissioned landscaping to beautify. It pressured the state to build a coastal highway, A1A, to St. Augustine to entice settlement. Equally important, they initially sold lots cheaply to get people there. They built attractive edifices befitting their proposed clientele--a Bath Club (which had a dance floor), a swimming pool for those who wanted to avoid the ocean, and then The Inn and guest cottages. The golf course was expanded to an 18-hole course. The 130 acre golf course was built in 1931-32 with 100 mules doing work. Lagoons were dug out of swampland. Talented employees were hired. The key to the good domestic service and maintenance was Collis Quarterman, a "black" man, recruited and supervised a large staff. Over a half million dollars in construction monies were spent, money which surged through the Beaches' economy multiplying as it did so. Mineral City was renamed Ponte Vedra Beach, a Hispanic name chosen to reflect the "European" character of the resort.

    Stockton wrote to his fellow Princeton University alumni to encourage them to visit and, perhaps, buy property and membership in the Ponte Vedra Inn & Country Club. It worked. The resort saw the likes of the famous radio commentator Edward R. Murrow and the film star Dana Andrews as guests in addition to the ordinary well-to-do and wealthy. National Lead sold its interests in 1942. Ponte Vedra was self-sustaining. The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club was successful enough that Tommy Sabin bought 600 feet of oceanfront further south and built the 32-room Innlet in 1940. In 1944, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club bought it. In 1947, thirty apartments were added.16

Below Picture: This photograph shows southern Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach (where the lakes or lagoons are) in 1942. The island in the lagoon (lower right) is the Ninth Hole of the golf course. The left side of the photograph shows marsh land and part of Pablo Creek/San Pablo River.



From: http://historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?op=viewbook&bookid=70&cid=4

[Dog Walker]

Sometimes you have to wonder why histories always focus on politicians and their actions when our everyday lives and events are more influenced by people and companies like the ones in this thread.

[stjr]

Anyone know where the C. T. Boyd expressway is today?  Was this an original name for the Arlington Expressway?:

Unable to find where this road is, but apparently C. T. Boyd may be Charles T. Boyd, Jr. (was there a senior in Jax?), founder of today's Boyd & Jenerette, et. al. law firm.  Strange to have a road named for you just disappear, especially an "expressway".

Boyd & Jenerette and Cole, Stone, Stoudemire & Morgan proudly announce the merger of their law firms effective 1/1/2009.  In transition, the firm shall be know as Boyd & Jenerette / Cole, Stone, Stoudemire & Morgan and shall thereafter continue as Boyd & Jenerette.

Boyd & Jenerette, P.A. traces its origins to 1952, when Charles T. Boyd, Jr. and Noah H. Jenerette, Jr. formed what would soon grow into a well respected trial and litigation practice with deep roots in the communities of Jacksonville, Florida.

Since then the Firm has been in continuous operation in downtown Jacksonville with offices in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Savannah, Georgia and enjoys a long history of advocacy in the state and federal courts throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and in other jurisdictions. The Firm’s attorneys and professional staff enjoy a reputation for excellence in client service.

[Jason]

Great finds StJr.!!  This has certainly been one interesting thread.

On the mines...

Iluka Resources is an active titanium mining company that uses the methods discussed earlier in the thread.  They have a active mines southwest of Green Cove Springs.

[stjr]

Great finds StJr.!!  This has certainly been one interesting thread.

On the mines...

Iluka Resources is an active titanium mining company that uses the methods discussed earlier in the thread.  They have a active mines southwest of Green Cove Springs.

In my past work many moons ago, I actually visited the DuPont mine near Green Cove Springs. As I recall, it was a joint venture then with American Cyanamid or Union Carbide.

[Dog Walker]

Jacksonville's history as a lumber and "naval stores" port would be a fascinating one too.  The turpentine gathering and refining industry was a big part of Jacksonville's development.  You can still find the chevron shaped cuts and clay pots on some of the older stands of pine trees around here.

[Dog Walker]

The Dupont Home has become Epping Forest Yacht Club.  In talks with some of the old guys, they said that the Dupont's used to keep machine gun armed guards at the end of their docks for fear of another Lindbergh baby kidnapping incident.

I didnt realize that the Duponts were also involved in the local mining.  Its weird to think of mining as such a huge part of the economy isnt it?  In typical florida style all the evidence of the destroyed landscape has been neatly covered with upscale development.

Different Dupont's, Stephen.  The mining was/is done by the chemical corporation.  Alfred I. DuPont and Ed Ball, his brother-in-law, were in banking, railroads, land and timber.  I think there was some sort of estrangement between Alfred I and the rest of the DuPont family. 

A.I. DuPont and Jessie Ball didn't have any children either, but there used to be some sort of mounts in the towers at the end of the Epping Forest docks that were rumored to be machine gun mounts; at least that's what we told each other as kids in the area.  You could see them sticking up in the middle of the end dock houses.

[stjr]

....but there used to be some sort of mounts in the towers at the end of the Epping Forest docks that were rumored to be machine gun mounts; at least that's what we told each other as kids in the area.  You could see them sticking up in the middle of the end dock houses.

Stjr.  Maybe you know the answer to this.  Is there any connection between our Ed Ball and the Ball Family of the Ball Jar dynasty?  The family patriarch of the Ball Jar family was also named Ed Ball.

There is still an artillery piece at Epping Forest mounted near the bulkhead along the river.   Based on my understandings from various articles over the years, Alfred I. DuPont was a "black sheep" in THE DuPont family and moved here from home base in Wilmington, Delaware, to set out on his own.  Nevertheless, he had a good chunk of the family fortune including at least a million shares each of DuPont and General Motors (which was founded with backing of the DuPonts).

Ed Ball, his brother-in-law, took over his estate when Alfred died in the early 40's or so.   Ball acquired the St. Joe holdings in the panhandle during the Depression and then took over FEC railroad and Florida National Banks which became the largest bank in Florida.  So powerful did he become, that Congress passed a law limiting people like him from both controlling banks while also owning other businesses.  He even fenced across a navigable waterway in the panhandle which was against the law but went unchallenged until after his death.  Ball also paid out only peanuts from the income of the trust to its charitable beneficiaries of Nemours Childrens Clinic in Jax and hospitals in Wilmington.  The states of Delaware and Florida both sued for bigger payouts but never prevailed until Ball died.  Ed Ball is a Florida legend and stories are endless about him.  You can see more on him at Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Ball_(businessman)

Wikipedia makes no connection to the Ball jar family nor have I ever seen such a mention anywhere else over the years, Stephen.  There is an authorized biography co-written by Raymond Mason, founder of The Charter Company, and a good friend of Ball, called "Confusion to the Enemy" that, if you located a copy, might shed some more light on his ancestors.  According to the Wikipedia article, there is also an unauthorized biography by a very similar name.  Of course, Ed Ball sold Mason the DuPont home, Epping Forest, before Mason finally sold it to Gate.  At one time, St. Joe, over 80% controlled by the DuPont Trust, owned part of Mason's Charter Company and Charter owned a piece of St. Joe.