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JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - USA
Jacksonville is a city located in Duval County, Florida, USA. It is the
county seat of Duval County.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 735,617.
Geographically, it is the largest city in the contiguous 48 states of the
United States in terms of land area. It is also the largest city in Florida
in terms of population in the city proper. The Jacksonville metropolitan
area has over a million residents, which was celebrated with massive parties
on the Jacksonville Boardwalk in 1996.
The city limits are the same as the county
limits of Duval County, with the exception of Baldwin and the three beach
communties of Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach.
The area of Jacksonville is 874.3 square miles. Jacksonville was originally
named Cowford because the St. Johns River is narrow here, allowing cattlemen
to herd cows across the river. The city was renamed in 1822 for the first
territorial governor of Florida and the future 7th U.S. President Andrew
Jackson.
Geography
Jacksonville is located at 30°19'10" North, 81°39'36" West (30.319406,
-81.659999)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
2,264.5 km² (874.3 mi²). 1,962.4 km² (757.7 mi²) of it is land and 302.1 km²
(116.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 13.34% water.
History
Colonial and territorial history
In 1513, Spanish explorers landed in Florida and claimed their discovery for
Spain. In 1562, the French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault explored the St.
Johns River area and in 1564 the French established Fort Caroline. Spanish
troops, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, from nearby St. Augustine attacked
the fort and drove off the French in 1565. Spain ceded Florida to the
British in 1763, who then gave control back to Spain in 1783. The first
permanent settlement was founded at Cow Ford in 1791 and Florida became a
United States territory in 1821. On June 15th, 1822 settlers sent a petition
to the U.S. Secretary of State asking that Jacksonville be named a port of
entry; this is the first recorded use of the name. The charter for a town
government was approved by the Florida Legislative Council on February 9,
1832.
Civil War
During the Civil War, Jacksonville was a key supply point for hogs and
cattle leaving Florida and aiding the Confederate cause. Throughout most of
the war, the US Navy maintained a blockade around Florida's ports, including
Jacksonville. In October 1862 Union forces captured a Confederate battery at
St. Johns Bluff and occupied Jacksonville. Throughout the war, Jacksonville
would change hands several times though never with a battle. On February 20,
1864 Union soldiers from Jacksonville marched inland and confronted the
Confederate Army at the Battle of Olustee which resulted in a Confederate
victory. By the end of the war in 1865, a Union commander commented that
Jacksonville had become a "pathetically dilapidated, a mere skeleton of its
former self, a victim of war."
Winter Resort Era
Following the Civil War, during Reconstruction and afterward, Jacksonville
and nearby St. Augustine became popular winter resorts for the rich and
famous of the Gilded Age. Visitors arrived by steamboat and (beginning in
the 1880s) by railroad, and wintered at dozens of hotels and boarding houses.
The area declined in importance as a resort destination when Henry Flagler
extended the Florida East Coast Railroad to the south, arriving in Palm
Beach in 1894 and in the Miami area in 1896. Not even hosting the
Subtropical Exposition, a Florida-style world's fair attended by President
Grover Cleveland in 1888, served to provide a lasting boost for tourism in
Jacksonville.
Yellow Fever Epidemics
Jacksonville's prominence as a winter resort was dealt another blow by major
yellow fever outbreaks in 1886 and 1888, during the latter of which nearly
ten percent of the more than 4,000 victims, including the city's mayor, died.
In the absence of scientific knowledge concerning the cause of yellow fever,
nearly half of the city's panicked residents fled, despite the imposition of
quarantines and the (ineffectual) fumigation of inbound and outbound mail.
Not surprisingly, Jacksonville's reputation as a healthful tourist
destination suffered.
Spanish American War
During the Spanish American War, gunrunners helping the Cuban rebels used
Jacksonville as the center for smuggling illegal arms and supplies to Cuba.
Duval county sheriff, and future state governor, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward
was one of many gunrunners operating out of the city. Author Stephen Crane
travelled to Jacksonville to cover the war.
Great Fire of 1901
On May 3, 1901 hot ash from a shantyhouse's chimney landed on the drying
moss at Cleaveland's Fiber Factory. At half past noon most of the Cleaveland
workers were at lunch, but by the time they returned the entire city block
was engulfed in flames. The fire destroyed the business district and
rendered 10,000 residents homeless in the course of eight hours. Florida
Governor William S. Jennings declared a state of martial law in Jacksonville
and dispatched several state militia units to Jacksonville. Reconstruction
started immediately, and the city was returned to civil authority on May 17.
Famed New York architect Henry Klutho helped rebuild the city. Klutho and
other architects, enamored of the "Prairie Style" of architecture then being
popularized by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago and other Midwestern
cities, designed exuberant local buildings with a Florida flair. While many
of Klutho's buildings were demolished by the 1980s, a number of his
creations remain, including the St. James Building from 1911 (a former
department store that is now Jacksonville's City Hall) and the Morocco
Temple from 1910. Despite the losses of the last several decades,
Jacksonville still has one of the largest collections of Prairie Style
buildings (particularly residences) outside the Midwest.
Motion Picture Industry
In the early 1900s, Jacksonville was a center of the fledgling motion
picture industry. The city's warm climate, excellent rail access, and low
costs all helped to make Jacksonville the "Winter Film Capital of the
World". By the early 1910s, Jacksonville hosted over 30 studios employing
over 1000 actors. However, some residents objected to the hallmarks of the
early movie industry, such as car chases in the streets, simulated bank
robberies and fire alarms in public places, and even the occasional riot
scene. In 1917, a conservative mayor was elected on the platform of taming
the city's movie industry. Subsequently the film studios opted to move to a
more hospitable political climate in California.
"Gateway to Florida"
The 1920s brought significant real estate development and speculation to the
city during the great Florida land boom (and bust). Hordes of train
passengers passed through Jacksonville on their way south to the new tourist
destinations of South Florida, as most of the passenger trains arriving from
the population centers of the North were routed through Jacksonville.
Completion of the Dixie Highway (portions of which became U.S. Highway 1) in
the 1920s began to draw significant automobile traffic as well. An important
entry point to the state since the 1870s, Jacksonville now justifiably
billed itself as the "Gateway to Florida."
US Navy
A significant part of Jacksonville's growth in the 20th century came from
the presence of navy bases in the region. October 15, 1940, Naval Air
Station Jacksonville ("NAS Jax") on the westside became the first navy
installation in the city. This base was a major training center during World
War II, with over 20,000 pilots and aircrewmen being trained there. After
the war, the Navy's elite Blue Angels were established at NAS Jax. Today NAS
Jax is the third largest navy installation in the country and employs over
23,000 civilian and active-duty personnel.
In June 1941, land in the westernmost side of Duval County was earmarked for
a second naval air facility. This became NAS Cecil Field, which during the
Cold War was designated a Master Jet Base, the only one in the South. RF-8
Crusaders out of Cecil Field detected missiles in Cuba, precipitating the
Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1993 the Navy decided to close NAS Cecil Field and
in 1999 this was completed. The land once occupied by this installation is
now known as the "Cecil Commerce Center".
December 1942 saw the addition of a third naval installation to Jacksonville:
Naval Station Mayport at the mouth of the St. Johns River. This port
developed through World War II and today is the home port for many types of
navy ships, most notably the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. NS
Mayport current employs about 14,000 personnel.
Jacksonville is also not far from Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in St.
Marys, Georgia, which is home to part of the US Navy's nuclear-powered
submarine fleet.
The naval base became a key training ground in the 1950s and 1960s and as
such, the population of the city rose dramatically. More than half of the
residents in Jacksonville had some tie to the naval base, whether it be a
relative stationed there, or due to employment opportunities, by 1970. While
the city is more independent from the Navy today, it is still a strong
influence in the community.
Racial tension
Jacksonville has a history of racial segregation and violence. This came to
a head on "Ax Handle Saturday", August 27, 1960. A group of white men (allegedly
some were also members of the Ku Klux Klan) armed with baseball bats and ax
handles attacked civil rights protesters conducting sit-ins at segregated
restaurants. The violence spread, and the white mob started attacking all
African-Americans in sight. The police did not make an attempt to stop the
violence until the "blacks started holding their own."
Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African-Americans in
Jacksonville were denied healthcare services at every hospital except the
all-black Brewster Hospital, even when their condition was critical or life-threatening.
In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act and Ax Handle Saturday, the
previously segregated African-American and European-American communities
worked together in open dialog, integration, and participatory government.
Despite the progress, racial tension was very evident when the public
schools in Jacksonville were integrated in 1967. The black students
attending integrated schools endured racial epithets, being spit on and, in
some extreme cases, being stoned by their white classmates.
On June 1, 2003, John Peyton became Mayor of Jacksonville after defeating
the first African-American candidate for mayor, Nat Glover. Matt Carlucci, a
white Republican endorsed Glover (a Democrat) after being defeated in the
open primary. Afterwards, Carlucci's business was vandalized with the words
"NIGGER LOVER", and Glover's campaign headquarters was vandalized with "NO
NIGGER MAYOR". The only witness to the crime said he saw two black males
running from the scene.
It should be noted that Nat Glover was the first (and only) African-American
sheriff in the state of Florida, winning two elections before running for
mayor.
Government
History
After World War II, the government of the City of Jacksonville began to
increase spending to fund new building projects in the boom that occurred
after the war. However, problems with education, sanitation, and traffic
plagued the city but received no increases in spending. In 1958, it was
recommended by a study to the City of Jacksonville that it begin annexing
outlying communities in order to create the needed tax base to improve
services in the city. But, voters outside the city limits rejected the
referendums every time they were proposed. In the mid 1960s, corruption
scandals began to arise among many of the city's officials. After a Grand
Jury was convened to investigate, several officials were indicted and more
were forced to resign. As the scandals came to a close, another study
recommended that the city's government be merged with that of the county.
This would help to alleviate the crisis of revenue that the city was
experiencing, while unifying the services of the city and county to provide
better coverage for all citizens of Duval County. Lower Taxes, increased
economic development, unification of the community, better public spending
and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as
reasons for a new consolidated government. On October 1, 1968, the
governments merged to create the Consolidated City of Jacksonville.
Structure
Jacksonville uses the Mayor-Council form of city government. The mayor is
the Chief Executive and Administrative officer, called the Strong-Mayor form.
He holds veto power over all resolutions and ordinances made by the city
council. He also has the power to hire and fire the head of various city
departments. The city council has nineteen members, fourteen of whom are
elected from districts, and five who are elected at-large. Four
municipalities within Duval County voted not to join the consolidated
government. These communities consist of only 6% of the total population
within the county. The municipalities are Baldwin, Neptune Beach, Atlantic
Beach and Jacksonville Beach. Not all city services were merged, making for
a less-than-full consolidation of the city-county. Several authorities
remain independent of the combined city-county government, including the
school board, electric authority, port authority, and airport authority.
Fire, police, health and welfare, recreation, public works, and housing and
urban development were all combined under the new government. The four
separate communities provide their own services, while maintaining the right
to contract the consolidated government to provide services for them. Under
the new government structure, anyone living in Duval County is eligible to
run for Mayor of the City of Jacksonville, even those living in the four
separate municipalities.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 735,617 people, 284,499 households, and
190,614 families residing in the city. The population density is 374.9/km²
(970.9/mi²). There are 308,826 housing units at an average density of 157.4/km²
(407.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 64.48% White, 29.03% African
American, 0.34% Native American, 2.78% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.33%
from other races, and 1.99% from two or more races. 4.16% of the population
are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 284,499 households out of which 33.9% have children under the age
of 18 living with them, 46.7% are married couples living together, 16.0%
have a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% are non-families.
26.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.7% have someone
living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is
2.53 and the average family size is 3.07.
In the city, the population is spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18,
9.7% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100
females there are 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $40,316, and the median
income for a family is $47,243. Males have a median income of $32,547 versus
$25,886 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,337. 12.2% of
the population and 9.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 16.7% are under the age of 18 and 12.0% are
65 or older.
Higher education
Jacksonville is home to Edward Waters College, Jacksonville University, and
the University of North Florida, as well as the Florida Community College at
Jacksonville, Trinity Baptist College and Florida Coastal School of Law.
Transportation
Interstate Highways 10 and 95 intersect in Jacksonville. Interstate Highway
10 ends at this intersection (the other end being in California). The
eastern terminus of US-90 is in nearby Jacksonville Beach. Public
transportation is provided by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The
city has the Jacksonville Skyway Monorail, which loops around the city and
is fairly cheap to use. However, there are very few monorail stations and as
such, traffic is quite light.
Interstate 95 has a spur route, I-295, which currently bypasses the city to
the west. Jacksonville is also home to the world headquarters of CSX
Transportation.
There are also numerous bridges over the St. Johns River at Jacksonville.
They include (starting from furthest downstream) the Dames Point Bridge, the
Mathews Bridge, the Isaiah D. Hart Bridge, the Main Street Bridge, the
Acosta Bridge, the Fuller Warren Bridge (which carries I-95 traffic) and the
Buckman Bridge (which carries I-295 traffic).
Major commercial air service in Jacksonville operates out of Jacksonville
International Airport. Smaller planes can fly to Craig Airport on the
southside and Herlong Airport on the westside. The city also operates an
airfield at Cecil Commerce Center that is intended for aerospace
manufacturing companies.
In 2003, the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal opened, providing cruise service to Key
West, Florida, The Bahamas, and Mexico.
Tourism and recreation
Jacksonville is home to a number of professional sports teams:
Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League
Jacksonville Suns, a Southern League minor league baseball team
Jacksonville Barracudas of the WHA2 ice hockey league
Jacksonville is also a hub for the world famous golf opportunites of North
Florida. In Ponte Vedra lies the Sawgrass Country Club, one of the most
famous golf courses in the world and home to the annual PGA TPC (The
Player's Championship) tournament. Nearby St. Augustine is home to the World
Golf Village and World Golf Hall of Fame. Jacksonville also features dozens
of other golf courses and country clubs.
Professional tennis is in town each year when the WTA holds the Bausch &
Lomb Champsionships at Amelia Island Plantation near Fernandina Beach, just
north of Jacksonville. Other sports events include the annual Kingfish
Tournament held in July, the Florida-Georgia football game, commonly known
as "The_World's_Largest_Outdoor_Cocktail_Party" held every November, and the
Gator Bowl held in early January. Both the University of North Florida and
Jacksonville University also field athletic teams in a number of sports.
The city's biggest cultural event is the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, an
annual event featuring many of the biggest names in jazz. Jacksonville also
features two art museums, the Cummer Gallery of Art and the Jacksonville
Museum of Modern Art. The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra makes regular
performances at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts near downtown.
Jacksonville also has significant natural beauty from the St. Johns River
and Atlantic Ocean. The city center includes the Jacksonville Landing
shopping center and the Riverwalk. Downtown Jacksonville has a memorable
skyline with the tallest building being the Bank of America Building,
constructed in 1990 with a height of 617ft (188m). Other notable structures
include the Modis Building with its distinctive flared base and the
Riverplace Tower, which is the tallest pre-cast, post-tension concrete
structure in the world.
Current issues
Some issues the city deals with today include how to fix the school system (including
violence on school buses), controversies over a public high school named for
Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, and how to solve transportation
problems (The Better Jacksonville Plan). Jacksonville has also lagged behind
some of its "sister cities" (such as Charlotte, North Carolina and Nashville,
Tennessee) in generating high-paying jobs.
Also, Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 presents a host of problems and challenges
for the Jacksonville area. Many of the current transportation issues revolve
around this event, and many services, such as the Jacksonville monorail,
have been obsolete for many years. The Jacksonville monorail, specifically,
has been criticized in that it goes from "nowhere to nowhere".
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