Featured image for “THE JAXSON | History of the West Jacksonville Rail Yard”
3 days ago

THE JAXSON | History of the West Jacksonville Rail Yard

For much of the 20th century, the West Jacksonville Yard and its locomotive shops served as a key economic anchor…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The story of Dr. Julia Walker-Brown and Walker’s Business College”
March 18, 2025

THE JAXSON | The story of Dr. Julia Walker-Brown and Walker’s Business College

For nearly 50 years, Walker’s Commercial & Vocational College was a major Jacksonville educational institution. In honor of Women’s History…

Featured image for “OPINION | Battle of Olustee, now a celebration, was infamous for its cruelty to Black troops”
Battle of Olustee drawing circa 1864 | State Archives of Florida
February 9, 2025

OPINION | Battle of Olustee, now a celebration, was infamous for its cruelty to Black troops

The annual Battle of Olustee reenactment and festivities are Feb. 14 through 16.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | How Downtown’s train station was saved”
January 28, 2025

THE JAXSON | How Downtown’s train station was saved

This is the story of the Station Celebration, a forgotten dispatch that rallied thousands of Jaxsons together to help save…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | A trip down memory lane: 1970s Jacksonville”
January 22, 2025

THE JAXSON | A trip down memory lane: 1970s Jacksonville

Here’s a visual history of seven sites photographed as a part of a 1970s city of Jacksonville planning study.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 14 historic JAXPORT photographs”
December 4, 2024

THE JAXSON | 14 historic JAXPORT photographs

Here’s a photographic journey showing JAXPORT’s facilities over the past 108 years.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s San Marco neighborhood”
November 27, 2024

THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s San Marco neighborhood

Across the St. Johns River from Downtown Jacksonville, San Marco is a historic neighborhood known for its architecture, restaurants, boutiques…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Ray Charles in Jacksonville”
November 12, 2024

THE JAXSON | Ray Charles in Jacksonville

Here are six sites associated with Ray Charles’ time as an up-and-coming musician in Jacksonville.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s San Mateo neighborhood”
October 30, 2024

THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s San Mateo neighborhood

Fifteen minutes north of Downtown Jacksonville, San Mateo is a post-World War II neighborhood characterized by a mature developed landscape…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Jaxlore: Annie Lytle Elementary, ‘The Devil’s School’”
October 23, 2024

THE JAXSON | Jaxlore: Annie Lytle Elementary, ‘The Devil’s School’

The former Annie Lytle Elementary School by I-95 between Riverside and Brooklyn has long had a reputation as the “most…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 3 surviving factory buildings from Jax’s Cuban cigar-making era”
October 16, 2024

THE JAXSON | 3 surviving factory buildings from Jax’s Cuban cigar-making era

By 1895, Jacksonville was home to thousands of Cuban immigrants and 15 cigar manufacturing companies.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 9 historic Durkeeville photographs”
October 8, 2024

THE JAXSON | 9 historic Durkeeville photographs

During the early 20th century, the greater Durkeeville community became a segregation-era hub of Black culture, business and social life…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The ‘malling’ of Baymeadows”
October 1, 2024

THE JAXSON | The ‘malling’ of Baymeadows

A look at the rise, repositioning and survival of Deerwood Village Mall, one of the Southside’s oldest shopping malls.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s Norwood neighborhood”
September 18, 2024

THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s Norwood neighborhood

Located along the banks of Moncrief Creek, Norwood is a Northside neighborhood that was laid out in 1912.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Florida’s 5 largest cities in 1900”
September 10, 2024

THE JAXSON | Florida’s 5 largest cities in 1900

Even in 1900, when Florida was the 32nd largest state in the country, Jacksonville was by far its largest city.…

Featured image for “OPINION | The Mathews Bridge needs a name that reflects all of Jacksonville”
The Mathews Bridge as seen from Talleyrand on Sept. 9, 2024. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
September 10, 2024

OPINION | The Mathews Bridge needs a name that reflects all of Jacksonville

The bridge’s namesake, John E. Mathews, was quoted in 1920 as saying: “This is a white man’s country and government.”…

Featured image for “The Beatles integrated their Jacksonville concert 60 years ago this week. An event gives a look back”
The Beatles speak on Sept. 11, 1964, at Jacksonville's George Washington Hotel, where they did not book rooms in protest of the hotel's segregation policy. They had also refused to perform at the Gator Bowl until they were assured that the audience would not be segregated by race at the concert. | Vern Barchard, via Florida State Archives
September 9, 2024

The Beatles integrated their Jacksonville concert 60 years ago this week. An event gives a look back

On Thursday, Sept. 12, a tribute cover band and two noted historians will revisit what was the first major racially…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The fascinating history of Black Hammock Island’s Cedar Point Preserve”
September 4, 2024

THE JAXSON | The fascinating history of Black Hammock Island’s Cedar Point Preserve

Jacksonville’s Black Hammock Island has a fascinating history from 6,000 years of civilization. Here are four facts about Cedar Point…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Memory lane: The Chitlin’ Circuit’s famed Two Spot Club”
August 28, 2024

THE JAXSON | Memory lane: The Chitlin’ Circuit’s famed Two Spot Club

Moncrief’s Two Spot was said to be the finest dance palace in the country owned by an African American during…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s Lakeshore neighborhood”
August 21, 2024

THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s Lakeshore neighborhood

Lakeshore has a history and built environment shaped by housing booms, bubbles and busts of early 20th century Jacksonville.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 historic roads in town”
June 26, 2024

THE JAXSON | 5 historic roads in town

The First Coast is home to some of Florida’s oldest roads and highways. Here is a look behind the development…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 6 stories from Jacksonville’s LGBTQ history”
June 5, 2024

THE JAXSON | 6 stories from Jacksonville’s LGBTQ history

From Timucua two-spirits to bisexual blues musicians to today’s River City Pride, Jacksonville has a storied LGBTQ history.…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 Arab American historic sites in LaVilla”
April 9, 2024

THE JAXSON | 5 Arab American historic sites in LaVilla

Starting with the arrival of the first immigrants in the 1890s, Arab Americans have had a major impact on the…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The legacy of Eartha Mary Magdalene White”
Eartha White with male patients and hospital staff on a ward at Mercy Hospital, 1449 Milnor Street, Jacksonville, Florida. May 1958? Handwritten on back: Mercy Hospital. Circa 1958. T2-598
March 20, 2024

THE JAXSON | The legacy of Eartha Mary Magdalene White

Born in Jacksonville in 1876, Eartha Mary Magdalene White dedicated her life to improving living conditions for the city’s poor…