Jacksonville in the 1870s is an unrecognizable place when compared to today. No bridges existed, the St. Johns River was wider, the city limits consisted of present-day Downtown, and in 1870, the population was just over 9,000. A walk through this Jacksonville would kick up dust and dirt, as the roads were not paved with concrete. Two-story or three-story brick buildings could be seen from Bay Street to Forsyth Street. And Main Street was called Pine Street.
Despite its size at the time, Jacksonville was beginning to grow into the industrial powerhouse of North Florida. The waterfront wharfs were busy with incoming and outgoing ships. A new luxury hotel opened in 1870 called the St. James Hotel. Another luxury hotel a few blocks away, the Grand National Hotel, displayed a grand exterior design complete with an opulent clock tower. As tourists came to Florida to stay for the winter, they realized that Jacksonville could be a winter home. Tourism led to the building of boarding houses and an increase in ship traffic.
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The Civil War had ended not long before, and Southerners still had fresh memories in their minds. The city rebuilt itself after being occupied continually by Federal troops and suffering a fire that destroyed several buildings, including the courthouse. Some areas of Jacksonville were spared from the destruction that the Civil War caused throughout the South. One photograph shows a market in 1875 that had been in a photograph taken during the Civil War. The fire in 1870 destroyed buildings south of Bay Street. However, the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed most remnants of the 1870s in Jacksonville, which are now only seen in photographs or sketches.
These photos, mostly from stereoscopic postcards by Robert Dennis, are from the New York Public Library archives They reveal the post-Civil War era of Jacksonville as it laid the foundation for the major city it would soon become.
Looking east on Bay Street in 1876 from the Grand National Hotel. The TIAA Bank Center building currently occupies this location.
For perspective, here is a photo of Bay Street looking east in 1982, taken at roughly the same spot. This photo shows a smaller width of Bay Street, narrower St. Johns River, and a new street to the right of Bay Street called Water Street, which was underwater in pre-19th century Jacksonville. | University of North Florida, Lawrence V. Smith collection
Bay Street looking west in 1875
On Ocean Street in front of C. Parkhurst, a wholesale and retailer in goods such as hay, flour, corn, liquor and cigars, circa 1875.
The Grand National Hotel opened around 1874 as a luxury hotel. It was built on the former site of the Judson House, a hotel that was burned down in 1862 during the Civil War. This photo was taken on a dock on the St. Johns River looking north at the hotel. The Grand National Hotel was later renamed the Everett. The hotel survived the Great Fire of 1901 but did not survive Jacksonville’s demolition ways.
View on the St. Johns River at Jacksonville in 1875.
Bay Street looking west in 1875.
The luxury St. James Hotel opened in 1869 for the influx of tourists coming to Jacksonville. In 1872, a three-story brick addition was built to the left of the original hotel, extending toward Hogan Street. This photo shows a busy day at the St. James in 1875 with the new addition to the left. The Great Fire of 1901 destroyed the St. James Hotel and it was not rebuilt. In 1910, the St. James Building, initially Cohen Brothers Department Store, was opened on the former site of the hotel.
A view of the St. James Hotel and St. James Park. This park later became Hemming Park, which is now James Weldon Johnson Park. It is also interesting to note that Johnson’s father, James Johnson, was the head waiter at the St. James Hotel in the 1870s.
The Windsor Hotel was built in 1875 on the corner of Hogan and Monroe streets. The Windsor Hotel burned down in the Great Fire of 1901, was rebuilt immediately afterwards, and was demolished in 1950. The Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse now occupies the former site of the Windsor Hotel.
The Carleton Hotel opened in 1876 on the corner of Bay and Market streets.
Tremont House was a large hotel built in 1871 on the corner of Pine and Forsyth streets.
The Warner House was built in 1871 on Union Street as one of the smaller hotels for tourists.
The lumber wharf somewhere in the vicinity of McCoys Creek, 1875.
Wharfs and shipping on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville around 1875.
A market in 1870 that survived the Civil War. A photograph taken during the Civil War showed this market with a Federal steamer docked behind it.
The Stanton Institute opened in 1868 at Ashley and Broad streets as Florida’s first public secondary school for Black children. Around 62,000 newly emancipated slaves settled in Florida, and many of them came to Jacksonville for opportunities. One notable student who attended Stanton in the 1870s was James Weldon Johnson.
Bay Street looking west from Pine Street around 1870.
This stereograph was taken in 1875 at an unknown location near Bay Street. Its caption says “15th Amendment” with no other information. The 15th Amendment was passed in 1870 and states in Section 1: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Section 2 of the 15th Amendment states, “The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” Because the caption only reads, “15th Amendment,” this may indicate that it was photographed during a local election. Only 10 years prior to this photograph, the 13th Amendment had officially abolished slavery in the U.S.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Mandarin in 1875. Stowe is notable for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, which showed the brutality of the American slave system and is believed to have influenced anti-slavery rhetoric in the North and angered the pro-slavery South, thereby hastening the Civil War. In 1867, Stowe and her husband built a house in Mandarin where she spent winters until 1888.
Edited by Kelsi Hasden
Andrew R. NicholasContributor, The JaxsonAndrew Nicholas is a writer and local historian. He has written several books for Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series including Lake City and Columbia County, Jacksonville in the 1920s and Exploring the St. Johns River. Andrew has lived in Jacksonville the majority of his life with a brief stay in Greenville, South Carolina. Andrew has a bachelor's degree in history from the University of North Florida and an MBA from Anderson University.
