J Magazine Winter 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CASKET A storage room in the former Florida Casket Factory next door to the Jacksonville Historical Society’s headquarters in the former St. Luke’s Hospital building. Yes, the former Casket Factory is located next to the hospital, an eerie situation, but the original buildings were not in operation at the same time. St. Luke’s Hospital, constructed in 1878, was especially needed during yellow fever and typhoid epidemics and after the Great Fire of 1901. St. Luke’s also established the first modern nursing school in Florida. In 1914, the hospital moved to a larger complex in Springfield. The Florida Casket Company Building was constructed in 1924. Both buildings were purchased by the Jacksonville Historical Society in 2012 from the Florida Arthritis Foundation. At that time the new Duval County Courthouse was opening and a number of old record books were about to be thrown in the trash, JSO so the Jacksonville Historical Society stepped up, said Alan Bliss, executive director of the society. In the 1990s many archivists said there was no need to save hard copies, there even was no need for books. That is no longer the case. It’s common for citizens to ask to view some of the city’s old record books because the digital records are lost or illegible, Bliss said. Old books containing items like deed records are now stored in the Casket Factory. There are also hundreds of old photo negatives from The Florida Times-Union. When the newspaper staff moved N to its new location in the Wells Fargo Center, there was no longer 80 J MAGAZINE | WINTER <strong>2019</strong> NEW LIFE FOR OLD BUILDINGS DUVAL ST. Jail The former St. Luke’s Hospital MARSH ST. St. Johns River The former Florida Casket Factory Maxwell House Coffee Co. MONROE ST. Hogans Creek BAY ST. PALMETTO ST. HART BRIDGE EXPY VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena ADAMS ST. LAFAYETTE ST. A. PHILLIP RANDOLPH ST. JEFF DAVIS (MAP)
Alan Bliss, executive director of the Jacksonville Historical Society, is looking forward to renovating the Casket Factory and the added space it brings. space to store files of newspaper stories and photos. The clip files are at the Main Library Downtown where they are available to the general public. “I was determined that the Times- Union collection would be preserved, and be preserved in Jacksonville,” Bliss said. The society and the library staff worked diligently to arrange the safe storage of newspaper items. Newspaper photos at the old Casket Factory still need to be catalogued and organized. That’s a job for volunteers led by Chief Archivist Mitch Hemann. The old St. Luke’s Hospital building is crammed with material, but it is carefully organized and the items are recorded in a database. But the old building is not state-of-the-art because it still has too much ultraviolet light, there is inadequate climate control and the building is vulnerable to severe storms. “We are excruciatingly short on processing space,” Bliss said. “We need space and resources that can function in a secure, organized, safe professional way.” Enter the Casket Factory. The old building needs major renovations to give archivists the room to do their work. Only one floor of the three-story Casket Factory is air conditioned. That is why the Historical Society is raising $300,000 to renovate the building. Thanks goes to Delores Barr Weaver for an initial $50,000 grant that is designed to be matched. The grant honors Emily Lisska, who retired after 21 years as executive director of the Historical Society. The archivists do a lot of sorting and sometimes discover real finds. Recent discoveries include the second edition of Zephaniah Kingsley’s treatise on slavery from 1829. There are a few yellow fever immunity cards that residents used to move around freely, including one from the governor’s son, Francis Fleming Jr., with a physician’s name on it. There is a letter from W.E.B. DuBois on Crisis <strong>Magazine</strong> letterhead looking for information on African-American judges. Included in the archives is 16 mm film from the JAX Chamber promoting Jacksonville as well as political campaign film from the 1950s and 1960s. A collection from the Jacksonville Women’s Club dates to the late 1800s. A part-time archivist is working on it. Too often the artifacts are like orphans. “We are very accustomed to getting rich collections of old photographs with no information,” Bliss said. In fact, many of the old Times-Union photographs have no identifying information on the back. Much of the Times-Union material can be recovered digitally, Bliss said. Some material is badly deteriorated. But nothing will be thrown out until everybody signs off. The Casket Factory will provide the space to organize the work with limited ultraviolet light, secure from storms. In fact, the location is relatively high even though it is near Hogans Creek. Windows on part of the second floor have been bricked over, so most of the sensitive material will be stored there. Jacksonville has a rich and fascinating history. Thanks goes to the Jacksonville Historical Society for continuing to preserve it in a professional manner. MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of The Florida Times-Union and Editor of J. He has been a reporter and editor for the Jacksonville newspapers since 1973. He lives in Nocatee. Mitch Hemann, archivist for the Jacksonville Historical Society, will have plenty of work researching and cataloging artifacts once the Casket Factory in renovated.
Page 1 and 2:
THE MAGAZINE OF THE REBIRTH OF JACK
Page 3 and 4:
architecture ◆ engineering ◆ co
Page 5 and 6:
KEEPING AMERICA MOVING CSX is the n
Page 7 and 8:
David Cawton II, Manager of Media &
Page 9 and 10:
FROM THE EDITOR Indicators show pro
Page 11 and 12:
«««««««««««««««««
Page 13 and 14:
SPRINGFIELD NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY V
Page 15 and 16:
64-year-old building for $3.7 milli
Page 17 and 18:
2019 T he St. James Building - curr
Page 19 and 20:
Man WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 19
Page 21 and 22:
Todd Brearley, the Design and Const
Page 23 and 24:
{ } “At the end of the day, what
Page 25 and 26:
Steven Frich of First Transit dusts
Page 27 and 28:
{ } “I had a number of people who
Page 29 and 30: We know Jacksonville. Times-Union i
Page 31 and 32: Workers put the finishing touches o
Page 33 and 34: Work continues on the framework of
Page 35 and 36: for Speed Virgin Trains USA is expa
Page 37 and 38: JEFF DAVIS (MAP); ASSOCIATED PRESS
Page 39 and 40: VIRGIN TRAINS USA STATIONS /// ///
Page 41 and 42: While Jacksonville is one of the co
Page 43 and 44: To ride in the core city, a cyclist
Page 45 and 46: With the closing of The Jacksonvill
Page 47 and 48: spaces that are designated for the
Page 49 and 50: WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 49
Page 51 and 52: Work continues on Riverplace Boulev
Page 53 and 54: lanes and two lanes won’t hurt tr
Page 55 and 56: Decades ago, an experiment to add o
Page 57 and 58: But this time, they faced a popular
Page 59 and 60: ServingJacksonvilleforover40years N
Page 61 and 62: One of Beach Buggy San Marco’s el
Page 63 and 64: short ride as fun as possible. “G
Page 65 and 66: Earlier this fall, Downtown’s Fir
Page 67 and 68: Pastor Jerry Vines delivers a sermo
Page 69 and 70: “I would love for the city to rec
Page 71 and 72: BEAUTIFUL. MADE AFFORDABLE. PROUDLY
Page 73 and 74: A streetlight illuminates the sidew
Page 75 and 76: The lack of light and the absence o
Page 77 and 78: E V E N T S MAGAZINE J MAGAZINE INT
Page 79: WINTER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 79
Page 83 and 84: A group of Bolles School students l
Page 85 and 86: BOB SELF As thousands of Downtown w
Page 87 and 88: that runs smarter and leaner by plu
Page 89 and 90: PREMIER MEDIA AND MARKETING IN GREA
Page 91 and 92: Downtown Investment Authority turne
Page 93 and 94: are nonprofits. We have 635 apartme
Page 95 and 96: Parking Continued from page 88 Broo
Page 97 and 98: Innovation Continued from page 87 w
Page 99 and 100: Top-ranked and trusted. Your family
show all

J Magazine Winter 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?