Jacksonville, Florida
Florida folk musician Gamble Rogers died on this date in 1991. While Rogers was camping at Flagler Beach, a young girl ran to him, begging him to help her father, who was in trouble in rough surf. Despite suffering from spinal arthritis that had been Read More …
The Title & Trust Company of Florida Building is a historic site in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located at 200 East Forsyth Street. On February 23, 1990, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. From the Florida Division of Historical Resources: Read More …
Happy 74th birthday to both the United States Air Force and the United States Air National Guard. We are proud to be the home of the 125th Fighter Wing Air National Guard. The 125th Fighter Wing (125 FW) is a unit of the Florida Air Read More …
Willow Branch Library sits in a corner of Willow Branch Park, a popular location for local musicians during the late 1960s to develop and expand their audience. Named after the “Human Be-In,” San Francisco’s 1967 counterculture celebration, Jacksonville’s “be-ins” spawned several notable acts, including the Read More …
On this date in 1966 the Pioneer 7 satellite lifted off from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch vehicle was a Thor-Delta E rocket. Pioneer 7 was the second in a series of solar orbiters designed to measure Read More …
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Florida’s Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1896. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 for her best-selling novel, “The Yearling.” Rawlings lived in Cross Creek, Florida, where she wrote six novels, a volume of short Read More …
Did you know that Jacksonville is home to the oldest farmers market in Florida? The Jacksonville Farmers Market at 1801 Beaver Street has been around since 1938! Since this week is National Farmers Market Week, there is not a better time to check it out! Read More …
This film was recently made public by FSCJ Library and Learning Commons. WARNING pejorative language and tone throughout the film. “This short piece, produced by long-time Florida Theatre projectionist Bender Cawthon, includes rare footage of Hansontown and LaVilla from around 1950 and seems to have Read More …
The “Gainesville Sun” was first published on this date in 1876. Originally called the “Gainesville Times,” it was bought and sold a number of times over the course of the next few decades, and was known at different points as “The Gainesville Sun and Bee” Read More …
The Acosta Bridge Centennial Celebration begins today as the San Marco Preservation Society, Jacksonville Historical Society, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) host a historical presentation by local author and historian Wayne Wood at the Southside Baptist Church located at 1435 Atlantic Blvd. The presentation begins at 6pm. For Read More …
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on this date in 1983. The flight (STS-7) lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:33 UTC and flew over 2.5 million miles in six days. During this historic flight, the crew Read More …
“Let’s celebrate #Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday by recognizing the generations of enslaved Black people who fought so hard for their freedom. And one of the best ways to do that is by fortifying our sacred right to vote. Right now, we have the opportunity to Read More …
On October 1, 1968, the government of the City of Jacksonville and the government of Duval County were replaced with a new government called the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. On that same day, Jacksonville’s new City Council passed an ordinance declaring the official seal of Read More …
Thousands of Floridians, and men from other states who had trained in Florida, took part in the largest amphibious military operation in human history on the Normandy coast of France 76 years ago on this date in 1944. Over 150,000 Allied troops participated in what Read More …
Today in 1963 The Florida Supreme Court responded, in a 5-2 decision in the Green v. American Tobacco Company suit, with the opinion that cigarette companies are not liable for the deaths of cigarette consumers. However they did argue, for the first time, that cigarettes Read More …
The first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Florida was established in Eastport near Jacksonville on this date in 1933. The CCC was a federal worker-relief program designed to get young men working on construction and conservation projects throughout the United States, as part of Read More …
Jacksonville was named for General Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of Florida who, incidentally, never visited Jacksonville. Duval Street, like the county, was named for William Pope Duval, the first Territorial Governor of Florida. Isiah Hart, who founded Jacksonville, named two of the city’s Read More …
Today in 1972, the Jacksonville Symphony held a sesquicentennial concert that featured an original composition by Duke Ellington entitled “Celebration”, written specifically for Jacksonville’s 150th birthday. Ellington himself was on hand at Jacksonville’s Civic Auditorium for the special evening and the performance received rave reviews. Read More …