The Great Fire of 1901

It began with an errant cinder from a shanty’s cookstove at lunch hour.  The spark ignited piles of moss that were drying at a mattress factory to the west of town, at Davis and Beaver Streets.  The fire erupted with a torrent of flame that quickly spread from block to block. By the time the fire was brought under control at 8:30 pm, it had destroyed nearly everything in a 2-mile swath across the city.

The Great Fire was the most destructive event in Jacksonville’s history, wiping out 2,368 buildings while leaving nearly 10,000 people homeless and destroying the majority of Downtown Jacksonville (miraculously, only seven persons died). It was the largest metropolitan fire to have occurred in the  South, before or since.  This momentous event triggered an unprecedented rebuilding effort that laid the foundation for modern Jacksonville.

On May 3rd, 2001, Jacksonville, Florida marked the one hundredth anniversary of the Great Fire of 1901. The Jacksonville Historical Society commemorated this monumental event with the publication of a book, The Great Fire of 1901, co-authored by Bill Foley and Dr. Wayne Wood.

Dr. Wood has written several books on Jacksonville history, including the award-wining Jacksonville’s Architectural Heritage and The Jacksonville Family Album.  Bill Foley, a veteran writer  for the Florida Times-Union and the author of  Jacksonville - Images through the 20th Century, passed away in January 2001 while working on this book.  His regular columns on local historical topics made him one of the city’s most admired writers.

"The 1901 Fire of Jacksonville was one of the most cataclysmic city disasters in American history," Wood points out.  "It is right up there with the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire and the Galveston hurricane.  Yet with all of its drama and destruction, the story of Jacksonville’s Great Fire has never fully been told until now."

This lavishly illustrated large-format book is now available!  With over 350 photographs, many never published before, this 232-page volume is a MUST for anyone interested in Jacksonville and Florida history.

Published by the Jacksonville Historical Society and written by two of this city’s most honored authors, you will treasure this book as a work of art, as an important reference book, and as one of the most fascinating books you have ever read.

The first edition of this book has already sold out, and limited quantities of the second edition are still available.  Order your copy today!

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