Old Brewster Hospital Historic Marker

Inscription: Built in 1885 as a private residence, Old Brewster Hospital and Nursing Training School was the first medical facility to serve Jacksonville’s African-American community. Located in the LaVilla neighborhood, the hospital opened in 1901 through the efforts of the Women’s Home Missionary Society of Read More …

1960 Civil Rights Demonstration Historic Marker

Inscription.  On Saturday, August 27,1960, 40 Youth Council demonstrators from the Jacksonville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) advised by local civil rights leader Rutledge H. Pearson (1929-1967), sat in at the W.T. Grant Department Store, then located at Read More …

Florida’s First African-American Insurance Company Historic Marker

Photographs from The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Front Inscription.The Afro-American Insurance Company, formerly the Afro-American Industrial and Benefits Association, was founded in 1901 to provide affordable health insurance and death benefits to the state’s African-Americans. Read More …

Duval County Historic Marker

Duval County Historic Marker Duval County was established August 12, 1822, named for Governor William Pope Duval. Inscription. Born 1784-Died 1854. Captain Mounted Rangers, War of 1812. 1813-1815, U.S. Congressman from Kentucky 1821-1822, U.S. Judge, Eastern Florida. 1822-1834, First Civil Governor of Territory of Florida. Read More …

Speedway Park

Speedway Park, also known as Jacksonville Speedway, Opened in 1947. It was a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) dirt oval auto racing track, located at the intersection of Lenox Avenue and Plymouth Street on Jacksonville’s West-side. The track hosted NASCAR Grand National Series, now known as Monster Read More …

Ray Charles got his start in Jacksonville, playing piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla

Ray Charles Robinson, who had attended the Deaf and Blind School in St. Augustine, moved to LaVilla to stay with friends of his mother after she passed.   He stayed for just over a year, earning $4 a night. He then moved to Seattle as he Read More …

Skirmish at Cedar Creek Historical Marker

A marker to note the location of the battle resulting in the highest number of casualties in Duval County during the Civil War was recently placed at the location of the “Skirmish at Cedar Creek”. The text reads as : ” On March 1, 1864, Read More …