In Downtown Jacksonville’s Sports & Entertainment District, the Jacksonville History Center maintains and manages four historic buildings. Over the past year, the largest of these, our three-story brick factory/warehouse at 318 Palmetto Street, has been under renovation. On May 6, the $3.5M project received a Certificate of Completion from the City of Jacksonville. Anyone who has ever restored an old building, even just once, knows that this resulted from a lot of planning, fundraising, preparation and painstaking effort. To keep things interesting, the 105-year-old building threw us a few curveballs along the way. As History Center board member Willam H. Bishop III says historic renovations are full of surprises, and few of them are good. Bishop, an AIA architect specializing in historic renovations and adaptive reuse, knows whereof he speaks.
Bill Bishop helped lead a team that set ambitious goals, overcame surprises, navigated around obstacles and drove this project to completion on schedule. The History Center’s Property Management Committee includes Bishop; board member and licensed general contractor Jeffrey A. Thompson; immediate past board chair G. David Auchter IV, and current chair Kristanna Broward Barnes. History Center Chief of Staff Kate A. Hallock has provided critical organizational support for every aspect of the project.
The project architect was Lane Architecture, P.A., led by Jeff Lane, AIA, together with senior associate Michael Blake, AIA, and designer Sumner Coddington. Lane Architecture came aboard four years ago, when we were still unclear as to exactly how we would pull this ambitious venture off. Crabtree Construction was our general contractor, who performed the project with commitment and expertise that made their team invaluable partners as well as a genuine pleasure to work with. The Haskell Company’s Structural Steel Division went out of their way in fabricating critical components, and the company has supported the project in other ways, including the generous donation of quality office furniture. The involvement of many other local subcontractors and suppliers has ensured that the History Center is an organic Jacksonville project.
The financial resources for this phase of the History Center depended in the beginning on dozens of private donors. Early support came from the Delores Barr Weaver Fund, followed by a major gift from Preston H. Haskell III. In early 2024, the Jacksonville City Council voted 17-2 to support the new History Center initiative with a reimbursement grant of $2.527M, which enabled us to sign contracts and break ground. We are grateful to the entire City Council, the Mayor’s administration and City staff for their confidence in our vision.
Our next project is to furnish and equip the newly renovated building as the home of the Jacksonville History Center and the Haskell Archive of Jacksonville History. At 203 years old this month (on June 15), Jacksonville needs and deserves a venue devoted exclusively to its rich, complicated history. So many great Jacksonville citizens have been with us that we have launched the next phase with confidence. Over the summer we will be working with museum design consultants to plan galleries and exhibits that will share unique Jacksonville stories in ways that are innovative, engaging and memorable. We are devoted to this work because history matters to the future of this great American city. If you care about Jacksonville, please contact us to learn how you can help in this ambitious enterprise!
Alan J. Bliss, Ph.D.
CEO, Jacksonville History Center