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THE JAXSON | 14 historic JAXPORT photographs

Published on December 4, 2024 at 11:35 am
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Here’s a photographic journey showing JAXPORT’s facilities over the past 108 years.

A view inside a warehouse at the Municipal Docks on April 8, 1916. JAXPORT’s Talleyrand Marine Terminal is located 21 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The terminal opened as the Municipal Docks and Terminal Company in 1916 after the Board of Port Commissioners approved its construction in 1914. The site has previously been occupied by the Old Soldiers Home off Talleyrand Avenue.
A train of 75 cars carrying Tidewater Red Cypress was shipped from the Municipal Docks to J.C. Turner Lumber Company in Irvington, NY.
An aerial of the Blount Island Marine Terminal in February 1964. A year earlier, the original Jacksonville Port Authority was created by a special act of the Florida Legislature in 1963 to develop, maintain and market Jacksonville’s port facilities. 
Madagascar Coffee being unloaded at Talleyrand Marine Terminal in March 1965

International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1408 workers inside a Talleyrand Marine Terminal coffee warehouse.
Coffee being moved by forklift in February 1966.
Ships at JAXPORT in 1966.
An International Longshoremen’s Association 1408 photograph from an August 1967 Talleyrand Marine Terminal open house. From left to right: Charles Stewart, Paul Fields, Robert Bennett, Unidentified with A and B Union Cards, Landon Williams and Romia Johnson, Sr.

In the early 1970s, Jacksonville was a major hub for international trade, ranking among the top five ports for coffee and automobile imports. Each year, approximately 120,000 tons of green coffee beans and 150,000 automobiles passed through the Jacksonville Port Authority’s facilities. Additionally, the port exported more than 250,000 tons of linerboard annually. To accommodate this growing trade, the authority completed a new container terminal on Blount Island, featuring a 1,400-foot wharf, 12 acres of parking, and a powerful 45-ton twin-lift container crane.

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The Seatrain San Juan at Talleyrand Marine Terminal in August 1972. The Seatrain San Juan was a container ship that provided service to Puerto Rico and the U.S. East Coast beginning in 1967.
Lumber at Talleyrand in 1977.
Datsun trucks at Talleyrand Marine Terminal in 1978.
A late 1970s aerial of the Talleyrand Marine Terminal.
Roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships, like this one at Blount Island in the 1990s, are used to transport wheeled cargo, such as cars, trucks, buses, and trailers, across oceans and waterways. Ro-Ro ships are also used as passenger/car ferries, especially on short-sea routes. 

author image The Jaxson email Ennis Davis, AICP is an urban planner and member of the city of Jacksonville's Downtown Development Review Board. He is also co-owner of The Jaxson and Modern Cities.

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