Jacksonville, Florida
Before founding the animation studio that bears his name, Walt Disney was a commercial artist in Kansas City, Missouri. It was there, around 1919, that he began making hand-drawn cel animations of his own, which were screened in a local theater and dubbed “Laugh-O-Grams.” The Read More …
Yellow fever, also known as the “yellow plague” or the “yellow jack,” was one of the most dangerous and dreaded diseases prevalent in Florida during the 1800s. The disease is viral, spread primarily by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, but this knowledge was not widely known until the Read More …
The Alcazar Hotel, the name being Arabic(Al-kasr) for “royal castle”, was the second of the luxurious hostelries erected in St. Augustine by Henry M. Flagler, known first in the nation’s financial marts as an associate of John D. Rockefeller in the creation of the parent Read More …
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Sonny Liston in Miami Beach on this date in 1964. The fight was one of the most anticipated, watched, and controversial matches of all time. This first of two meetings between the two heavyweights was held Read More …
Orange County Sheriff David W. Mizell was shot and killed in an ambush while on his way to arrest cattleman Moses E. Barber near Holopaw, in what is now Osceola County, on this date in 1870. The ambush stemmed from earlier disagreements over the payment Read More …
The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve turns 36 tomorrow! Happy Birthday! It was formed by the United States Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan on Feb. 16, 1988 to “preserve certain wetlands and historic and prehistoric sites in the St. Johns River Valley, Florida.” Read More …
Sallye B. Mathis was one of the first Black women to be elected and serve on our City Council in 1967. Locally, Ms. Mathis is honored by the local NAACP Jacksonville Branch by naming their annual community service award in her honor, as well as Read More …
This song is by Nellie Florence, features Barbecue Bob on guitar and appears on the compilation The Country Girls! 1927-1935 (1964) and on the compilation album Barbecue Bob, Vol. 2 (1928-1929) (1991) by Barbecue Bob. Nellie Florence is an obscure blues vocalist who recorded two songs for Columbia Read More …
Jacksonville’s Abraham Lincoln Lewis was Florida’s first black millionaire after his founding of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company here. The company was founded to provide affordable life and burial insurance to the black community. As well as being a leading contributor to black colleges like Read More …
Learn about the exciting life of Captain James W. Floyd (1861-1940) with speaker Jerry Urso, the Grand Historian of the Most Worshipful Union Grand Lodge of Florida. Captain Floyd was a celebrated hero of the Spanish American War, a business owner, and a civil rights activist from Jacksonville, Florida. Program Read More …
Mary Singleton one of the first black women elected to our City Council in 1967, she is also the first black woman from Jacksonville to be elected and serve in the Florida House of Representatives. Ms. Singleton is honored in so many ways here locally, Read More …
Jacksonville’s Bob Hayes is not only the first to win both a Super Bowl and an Olympic Gold Medal, he is the only person to accomplish both. The “Bullet” won gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics in both the 100m and 4x100m relay, setting Read More …
Mayor Donna Deegan announced that the Confederate statues are being removed from Springfield Park today. This memorial was erected during the peak of early 20th century Confederate monument-building, part of a widespread campaign to promote and justify Jim Crow laws in the South and intimidate Read More …
Rock n’ roll will live on in an old casket factory. The Jacksonville Historical Society is working to renovate a vacant warehouse, which was once the Florida Casket Co., near Veterans VyStar Memorial Arena. The museum will showcase artifacts, posters and other memorabilia that share the long history Read More …
October 1, 1968: The Jacksonville city and Duval County governments merged to form the City of Jacksonville. This is a historic photo of Jacksonville’s first City Council following consolidation. Many of the members are known for their acts of leadership, advocacy, innovation and service
After World War II, the government of the City of Jacksonville began to increase spending to fund new building projects in the boom that occurred after the war. Mayor W. Haydon Burns oversaw the construction of a new city hall, civic auditorium, public library and Read More …
The USS “Florida” (BB-30), a dreadnought battleship, was commissioned into the United States Navy on this date in 1911. She was armed with a main battery of ten 12-inch guns, sixteen 5-inch guns, and two torpedo tubes. The USS Florida served during World War I Read More …
St. Augustine, Florida, was founded on September 8, 1565 — more than 200 years before the United States was an official country. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was an explorer from Spain who came ashore in Florida on August 28, 1565, on the Catholic feast day Read More …