Index of Downtown Sites   References

In 1513 Ponce de Leon discovered Florida; and in the two-and-a-half centuries that followed, Spain gradually established its dominion over the St. Johns River region. Overland transportation routes used by the Spaniards largely followed the network of Indian trails.  The first actual road in Florida was built only after England gained control of the territory from Spain in 1763.  The English built a highway from the St. Mary's River to St. Augustine and New Smyrna, connecting East Florida with England's colonies in the north.  They named it the King's Road.  It crossed the St. Johns River at Wacca Pilatka, which the Spanish had called Pass de San Nicolas and the English renamed Cow Ford.  The traffic along the King's Road grew as settlers and traders moved into East Florida.  A tavern and a ferryman's house were constructed by the British at Cow Ford to serve the  river crossing. ² 

In 1783, England ceded Florida back to the Spanish, who built Fort San Nicolas on the south bank of the St. Johns River beside the King's Road.  The Spanish government issued many land grants to induce American settlers to move into the region.  Robert Pritchard was the first American settler on the future site of Downtown Jacksonville, having received a 450-acre grant in 1791.  But Pritchard died within a few years, and what little development he started on the land was abandoned when political disturbances in 1795 and again in 1811-1812 cleared this site of all settlers. ³ 

Maria Taylor was granted 200 acres of Pritchard's land in 1816. She married Lewis Zachariah Hogans, and they built a log cabin near what is now the corner of Hogan and Forsyth streets.  East of the line formed by the present Market Street, Juan LeMaestre also received a grant in 1816.  He built a home here, but then sold his land to John Brady in 1820.  These two tracts of land form most of  Downtown today. ⁴ 

By the time the United States acquired Florida in 1821, a growing number of settlers had traveled the King's Road and crossed the St. Johns at Cow Ford.  A modest settlement had grown on the north bank of the river, including a store and a hotel.  Within a year over 250 people lived in the general vicinity of the Cow  Ford, including Isaiah D. Hart, who moved from his farm on the St. Mary's River and purchased eighteen acres from Lewis Zachariah Hogans. ⁵ 

Hart conceived the idea of establishing a town on the north bank at the crossing of the King's Road.  After considerable effort, he convinced his neighbors Brady and Hogans to join him in donating land for the streets.  In June, 1822, surveyor David S. H. Miller laid out the streets of the town, which included  a twenty-block area bounded by Ocean, Catherine, and Duval Streets and the river.  John Warren suggested naming the town after Andrew Jackson, who was regarded as a hero by many Floridians for his controversial invasion of Spanish West Florida, routing the Seminole Indians in 1818.  Although Jackson served as provisional governor of the Territory of Florida for only seven months and never visited the St. Johns River region, the new town was named for him. The first  territorial governor of Florida was William Pope DuVal, for whom Duval  County is named. ⁶ 

Hart's dreams for a booming town were slow to materialize.  A December 20, 1825, St. Augustine newspaper described Jacksonville:  There are not more than eight or ten houses erected of any description, most of which are rudely formed of logs, and affording only a feeble protection against the cold, the wind, the rain.  There is not a sash window in the whole town; but few of the houses even  have a chimney. ⁷    By 1830, however, the population of Jacksonville had reached nearly a hundred.  Hart built a large two-story boarding house at the northwest corner of Bay and Market streets, and wealthy Northerners began to come to Jacksonville for the winter.  This modest growth led to the incorporation of the town in 1832, and Jacksonville's first bona fide government was established with William J. Mills elected as the first Mayor. ⁸   The first ocean-going steamship arrived in Jacksonville in 1829. ⁹   In the years which followed, the shipping  of timber and agricultural products spurred the city's growth.  But the Seminole War from 1835 to 1842 brought terror and a few deaths to the Jacksonville area, and trade was disrupted.  Still, Jacksonville was a depot for troops and military supplies, and this activity lured new residents. The population rose from 450 in 1842 to 750 five years later, during which time Florida joined the Union as the 27th state. ¹⁰ 

By 1854, the built-up area of Jacksonville had grown to include about thirty blocks.  On April 5, 1854, a devastating fire caused by sparks from the steamship Florida destroyed the six block downtown business district along Bay Street between Market and Pine (now Main Street.)  Seventy buildings, including nearly all of the town's stores,  were wiped out. ¹¹ 

Jacksonville recovered quickly, only to be devastated again in the Civil War.  Although no major battles were fought in the city, Union troops occupied Jacksonville on four separate occasions.   Local residents were divided in their loyalties. Many were Union sympathizers, and they welcomed the Federal soldiers.  When the Union troops suddenly departed, Confederate sympathizers and troops returned, creating fierce tensions among the divided populace.  On several occasions portions of the city were burned. By the time of the final Union occupation in 1864, Jacksonville was a burned-out, war-ravaged town, from which more than half of the population  had fled. ¹² 

Within a few months of the war's end, however, the city began to rebuild.  Sawmills were soon operating at full capacity. Construction flourished, particularly in the downtown area. Visitors to the city spread the word about Jacksonville's scenic location and pleasant climate.  By January 1, 1869, when the four-story, 120-room St. James Hotel opened, tourism had become a substantial part of  Jacksonville's economy. ¹³ 

Jacksonville was billed as "The Winter City In A Summer Land," and the tourist era brought an atmosphere of excitement to the city.  Elegant homes and hotels were built in the downtown section.  The names of rich and famous visitors appeared on the city's guest  registers.  During the peak tourist years of the late 1870's, hundreds of paddlewheelers, tall-masted schooners, and steamships plied the St. Johns River, transporting Northern tourists.  As many as twenty-five passenger trains rolled into the city each day.  The number of winter tourists grew from 14,000 in 1870 to nearly 100,000 fifteen  years later. ¹⁴ 

No longer a frontier town, Jacksonville had become a thriving city.  By 1886, in addition to churches and a synagogue, it had a high school, a hospital, a theatre, and a library association. There were banks and shops, railroads and wharves, hotels and two courthouses. The city had its first paved streets, electric lights, a telephone system, and street railways which connected the city with the  outlying suburbs. ¹⁵ 

Jacksonville's prominence as a tourist mecca, however, declined by the close of the 1880's.  The opening of Henry Flagler's opulent Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine in 1886 and the completion of the railroad bridge across the St. Johns River in 1890 drew winter visitors farther south.  Also in 1888 a yellow fever epidemic ravaged Jacksonville, killing 427 people.  About this time California began to emerge as a major tourist attraction.  As a result of these factors, the number of tourists in Jacksonville  dropped sharply. ¹⁶ 

During the 1890's, Jacksonville grew rapidly. In 1887 it had annexed its suburbs of LaVilla, Brooklyn, Riverside, Springfield, East Jacksonville, and Fairfield, and development began to spread. The city expanded its trade in lumber, turpentine, cigars, and citrus.  New construction included a railroad terminal, city hall, and municipal lighting plant.  The river channel was deepened, boulevards were planned, and parks were laid out.  And then came the  big fire. ¹⁷ 

Just after noon on May 3, 1901, a spark from the chimney of a nearby shanty ignited some of the moss laid out to dry at the Cleveland Fiber Factory at Beaver and Davis Streets.  Workmen on their lunch hour failed to douse the blaze, and soon a large storage shed packed with dried moss was aflame.  A strong westerly wind arose, fanning the fire.  The burning building collapsed with a loud explosion, sending aloft a shower of flaming moss that set other nearby shanties on fire.  The wind carried burning debris eastward onto hundreds of wood-shingled rooftops, which were dry from prolonged drought and ignited easily. ¹⁸ 

The intense heat generated gale-force winds.  A firestorm spread across the city, with flames leaping from block to block. Firefighters fought in vain to slow the inferno.  The alarm went out to other cities, and within hours firemen from Fernandina, St. Augustine, Waycross, Brunswick, and Savannah had arrived to battle the blaze. ¹⁹ 

By 2:45 p.m. the elegant mansions near Julia and Church Streets were in flames.  A half-hour later guests poured from the Windsor Hotel, just as that magnificent structure caught fire.  The St. James Hotel, the grandest of Jacksonville's hostelries, burned next.  Citizens moved their furniture and belongings a few blocks to safety, only to have the racing fire catch up and destroy them.  Pandemonium reigned as people on foot or by wagon struggled through the streets trying to save precious possessions.  The great oak trees which had lined the streets were reduced to charred stumps.  The fire consumed building after building. ²⁰ 

The column of smoke from the burning of Jacksonville was reportedly seen in Raleigh, N. C., five-hundred miles away.  The glow of the flames could be seen on the horizon from Savannah. By nightfall the wind had subsided, and by 8:30 p.m. the flames had been brought under control.  Some 2,368 buildings were destroyed and 466 acres burned, including the oldest and most densely populated part of the city.  Ten hotels, twenty-three churches, and all downtown public buildings except the Federal Building on Forsyth Street were destroyed.  Property damage was estimated at over $15,000,000, and 8,677 people were left homeless.  It was the largest metropolitan fire ever to  occur in the South. ²¹

In the aftermath of this tragedy, there were a few points of consolation.  Miraculously, only seven people died.  The fire was slowed on the north and east by the marshy area along Hogans Creek, thus sparing the surrounding suburbs of East Jacksonville, Fairfield, Oakland, and Springfield.  Most of LaVilla and approximately one-eighth of Downtown (west of Laura and south of Adams streets) were saved from destruction.  Many people across the nation had ties to Jacksonville and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide  emergency relief.  ²² 

The rebuilding of Jacksonville began within a few days of the fire.  Many businesses destroyed by the blaze were soon reopened, operating out of tents and temporary wooden structures.  Architects, builders, and entrepreneurs flocked to the stricken city. Seven months after the fire, buildings underway in Downtown equaled nearly half the number destroyed by the fire.  Within three years, the number of new buildings exceeded the number that had  been burned. ²³ 

The catastrophe of 1901 became the catalyst for Jacksonville's growth as a prosperous new city.  The fire brought unprecedented urban reconstruction.  Jacksonville had the unique opportunity to build a modern city, based on twentieth-century technology and design.  Where the majority of buildings burned were of wooden construction, the new city that rose from the ashes was made of stone, brick, concrete, and steel.  Ordinances required fire-proof construction, resulting in metal, tile, slate, and gravel-covered roofs replacing the former wooden ones.  The development of steel-skeleton framing, reinforced concrete, and the electric elevator in the late 1800's allowed the construction of skyscrapers, which soon towered above what had been the backwoods Cow Ford of a century before.

The Great Fire also stimulated the growth of residential suburbs. Although many people rebuilt their residences downtown after 1901, many also joined the exodus to the apparent safety and tranquility of Jacksonville's expanding suburban neighborhoods.

By the end of 1914, downtown Jacksonville was largely rebuilt.  The subsequent slowdown in construction occurred at the same time as the outbreak of war in Europe.  The economy of Jacksonville went into a slump.  The boom years of the 1920's brought a new surge of construction in Downtown and a new wave of skyscrapers.  The buildings dominating the skyline before the war reflected both the traditional classical/colonial antecedents as well as the progressive Prairie School designs championed by architect H. J. Klutho.  The buildings of the 1920's generally demonstrated the eclecticism, decorative trappings, and Mediterranean influence of the Florida real estate boom.  Downtown was also changed by the opening of the St. Johns River Bridge in 1921 and the rapid growth of  automobile usage after the  first World War.  The Depression, which began at the end of the 1920's, once more brought construction to a halt.  Little building activity took place in Downtown until after World War II.

Today numerous skyscrapers built in the last two decades dwarf most of the buildings that gave Jacksonville its impressive skyline sixty years ago.  More than any other section of the city, Downtown has had large numbers of its significant landmark buildings demolished since the 1950's.  Still, the intermingling of vintage and modern buildings in the heart of the city gives a pleasing texture to Downtown, linking the past with the future. Since many excellent buildings have been destroyed, the remaining ones become even more valuable as symbols of the growth and spirit of an earlier Jacksonville.

ENDNOTES

¹ Davis pp.24-25;  Brown p.12;  Snodgrass, Jacksonville Sesquicentennial p.6;  Ward p.250. 
²  Snodgrass, A Brief History pp.2-3;  Davis pp.26-27; Ward pp.63-64. 
³ Davis p.40. 
⁴ Snodgrass, A Brief History p.5;  Davis pp.51-52;  Brown p.12.
⁵ Davis pp.52-54;  Esgate pp.11-13;  Webb,W. pp.115-116. 
⁶ Ward pp.116-121;  Davis pp.54-58;  Esgate pp.14-15;  Snodgrass, Papers V pp.37-41. 
⁷ Davis p.6. 
⁸ Davis pp.68-70;  Webb,W. p.118. 
 ⁹ Interview with Ed Mueller 4-21-85. 
¹⁰ Davis pp.74-82;  Esgate p.16;  Webb,W. p.120.
¹¹ Davis p.86 (map), pp.99-101;  Martin, City Makers pp.15-16, 183;  Jacksonville Republican Extra, April 6, 1854.
¹² Davis pp.116-137;  Esgate pp.17-20;  Webb,W. p.120;  Martin, City Makers pp.36-74.
¹³ Davis pp.151-152;  Martin, City Makers pp.75-78.
¹⁴ Davis pp.160-161, 173-174;  Martin, City Makers pp.108-113, 211-212;  Craig pp.12-18, 138-145;  Webb's Jacksonville Directory  1886 p.38; Industries & Advantages p.114.
¹⁵Webb's Jacksonville Directory 1886;  Martin, City Makers pp.213-217.
¹⁶ Davis pp.180-186;  Martin,  City Makers pp.251-252;  Snodgrass, A Brief History pp.10-11.
¹⁷ Craig pp.42-47.
¹⁸ Davis p.219;  Harrison pp.8-9;  Sante pp.1-2.
¹⁹ Harrison pp.11-12;  Davis p.219.
²⁰FTU May 4, 5, and 6, 1901.
²¹ Davis pp.225-227.
²² Davis pp.223-225.
²³ Smith,C. p.88;  Ward p.186;  FTU 11-19-01, 5-3-11.
 

For key to  references, see Bibliography.