Category: Historical Properties
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Jacksonville’s History All Around Us
Since its founding in 1929, the Jacksonville Historical Society (now the Jacksonville History Center) has placed permanent markers at the locations of significant events in the city’s past. Some were erected as early as 1930. The shape and size of the markers has varied, but generally they are cast in durable metals and positioned on…
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Who Cares About Preservation in Jacksonville?
Adapting an historic building to use in the 21st century is difficult and expensive, so why bother? In particular, why should any public resources go into such a project? Whether historic preservation is worthy of public support is a question… Read more…
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Women’s History Month: Who Opened St. Luke’s Hospital?
At 314 Palmetto Street, in Downtown Jacksonville, sits the office and archive building for the Jacksonville History Center. Staff, interns and volunteers at the Center have the pleasure of working in the first building designed in Florida to serve as a modern hospital. Old St. Luke’s Hospital was built in 1878, but the organization has…
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What’s so hard about historic preservation?
Why are historic preservation projects so difficult and expensive? The most obvious answer is that architects, engineers, and contractors cannot see and never really know for sure what is within the floors, walls, and ceilings of an old building until they get into the project. When designing and building a new structure, every detail is…
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Women’s clothing styles at the turn of the 20th century
Women’s fashion in the early 1900s were often an expression of her place in society. Museum House Docent Nancy Gandy shares a look at clothing that could have been worn by the Merrill family women.
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News & Notes
Local author/historian Wayne Wood and photographer Mark Krancer (right) flank Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd at the Florida Preservation Awards. Just one piece of News & Notes…
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Helen’s Room: A look at Victorian dolls
Helen Merrill’s bedroom stops children in their tracks when touring the Merrill House Museum. Can you guess why?
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Celebrating the Merrill House Historic Landmark Status
May is National Historic Preservation Month and the Jacksonville Historical Society is pleased to manage four historic properties, three of which are landmarks.
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Jacksonville’s Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant: You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
Under construction, April 22, 1924, the Ford Motor Assembly Plant in Jacksonville, Florida. Ninety-nine years later, approved for demolition. Learn the story.
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From the Docent: Victorian Era Hygiene
The James E. Merrill House Museum is full of interesting — and sometimes strange — items common to households in the Victorian era. Each month, Merrill House Museum Coordinator Nancy Gandy takes us on a tour of the two-story house, pointing out some of the oddities.