Jacksonville is the largest city in the state of Florida and the county seat of Duval County.6 Since 1968, Jacksonville has been the
largest city in land area in the contiguous United States; this resulted from the consolidation of the city and county government, along with a corresponding expansion of the
city limits to include almost the entire county. As of the 2006 census estimate, the city proper had an estimated population of
794,555[1] with a metropolitan population of more than 1.3 million.[2] Jacksonville is the third most populated city on the
East Coast, after New York City
and Philadelphia. It is the central city of the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area, the fourth largest metropolitan area
in the state.
About miles ( km) south of the Georgia border, Jacksonville is in the
First Coast region of northeast Florida and is centered on the banks of the St. Johns River. The settlement that became Jacksonville was founded in 1791 as Cowford, because
of its location at a narrow point in the river across which cattle were once driven. The city was renamed in 1822 for
Andrew Jackson, the first military
governor of the Florida Territory and eventual seventh President of the United States.
History
-
The history of Jacksonville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's unique geography and location. The
first settlement in the area, called Ossachite, was made over 6,000 years ago by the Timucua
Indians in the vicinity of modern-day downtown Jacksonville.
European explorers first arrived in 1562, when French
Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the
St. Johns River. René Goulaine de
Laudonnière established the first European settlement at Fort Caroline two years
later. On September 20, 1565, a Spanish force attacked Fort Caroline from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, and killed all the French soldiers defending it (except Catholics).[citation needed] The Spanish renamed it Fort San
Mateo. Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured the settlement from the Spanish and slaughtered all of the Spanish
defenders. After the initial destruction of Fort Caroline, St. Augustine became the most important settlement in Florida. Florida
was a Spanish possession until it became a territory of the United States in 1821. The
Florida Legislative Council approved a charter for a town government on February 9,
1832.
During the American Civil War, Jacksonville was a key supply point for hogs and
cattle leaving Florida and aiding the Confederate cause. The city was
blockaded by the Union, changing hands several times. Though no battles were
fought in Jacksonville, the city was left in a considerable state of disarray after the war.
A view of Jacksonville in 1909
During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age,
Jacksonville and nearby St. Augustine became popular winter resorts for the rich and famous. Visitors arrived by steamboat and later by railroad. The city's tourism, however, was
dealt major blows in the late 1800s by yellow fever outbreaks and the extension of the
Florida East Coast Railway to south Florida.
On May 3, 1901, downtown Jacksonville was ravaged by a fire that
was started at a fiber factory. Known as the "Great Fire of 1901", it was one of the
worst disasters in Florida history and the largest ever urban fire in the Southeast; it destroyed the business district and
rendered 10,000 residents homeless in the course of eight hours. It is said the glow from the flames could be seen in Savannah,
Georgia; smoke plumes in Raleigh, North Carolina. Famed New York architect Henry John
Klutho was a primary figure in the reconstruction of the city. More than 13,000 buildings were constructed between 1901
and 1912.
In the 1910s, New York-based moviemakers were attracted to Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic locations, excellent rail
access, and cheap labor. Over the course of the decade, more than 30 silent film studios were established, earning Jacksonville
the title "Winter Film Capital of the World". However, the city's conservative political climate and the emergence of
Hollywood as a major film production center ended the city's film
industry. One converted movie studio site (Norman Studios) remains in Arlington; It has been converted to the Jacksonville Silent Film Museum at Norman
Studios.[3]
During this time, Jacksonville also became a banking and insurance center, with companies such as Barnett Bank, Atlantic National Bank, Florida National Bank, Prudential, Gulf Life, Afro-American
Insurance, Independent Life and American Heritage Life thriving in the business district. The U.S. Navy also became a major employer and economic force during the 1940s, with the installation of
three major naval bases in the city. Jacksonville, like most large cities in the United States, suffered from negative effects of
rapid urban sprawl after World War II.
Geography and climate
Geography
Jacksonville is located at 30°19′10″N, 81°39′36″W (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), making Jacksonville the largest
city in land area in the contiguous United States. 1,962.4 km² (757.7 mi²) of it is land and 302.1 km² (116.7 mi²) of it (13.34%)
is water. The city is almost three times the area of New York City but with just under
800,000 people, Jacksonville has a low density rate. The St. Johns River runs through
the city. The Trout River, a major tributary of the St. Johns River, is located entirely within Jacksonville.
Climate
Jacksonville has a humid subtropical climate, with mild weather during
winters and hot weather during summers. High temperatures average 64 to 91 °F (18-33 °C) throughout the year.[4] High heat indices are not uncommon for
the summer months in the Jacksonville area. High temperatures can reach mid to high 90s with heat index ranges of
105-115 °F. The highest temperature ever recorded in Jacksonville was 105 °F (43 °C) on July 21, 1942. It is common for
daily thunderstorms to erupt during a standard summer afternoon. These are caused by the heating of the land and water, combined
with extremely high humidity.
During winter, the area can experience hard freezes during the night. Such cold weather is usually short lived. The coldest
temperature recorded in Jacksonville was 7 °F (-14 °C) on January 21, 1985, a day that still holds the record cold for many
locations in the eastern half of the US. Even rarer in Jacksonville than freezing temperatures is snow. When snow does fall, it
usually melts before touching the ground, or upon making contact with the ground. Most denizens of Jacksonville can remember
accumulated snow on only one occasion—a thin ground cover that occurred a few days before Christmas of 1989.
Jacksonville has suffered less damage from hurricanes than other east coast cities.
The city has only received one direct hit from a hurricane since 1871, although Jacksonville has experienced hurricane or
near-hurricane conditions more than a dozen times due to storms passing through the state from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic
Ocean.[5] The strongest effect on Jacksonville was from
Hurricane Dora in 1964, the only recorded storm to hit the
First Coast with sustained hurricane force winds. The eye crossed St. Augustine, with winds that had just barely diminished to
mph ( km/h), making it a strong Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson
Scale.
Rainfall averages around 52 inches a year, with the wettest months being June through September.
| Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
| Rec High °F |
85 |
88 |
91 |
95 |
100 |
103 |
105 |
102 |
100 |
96 |
88 |
84 |
| Norm High °F |
64.2 |
67.3 |
73.4 |
78.6 |
84.3 |
88.7 |
90.8 |
89.4 |
86.1 |
79.1 |
72.5 |
65.8 |
| Norm Low °F |
41.9 |
44.3 |
49.8 |
54.6 |
62.5 |
69.4 |
72.4 |
72.2 |
69.4 |
59.7 |
50.8 |
44.1 |
| Rec Low °F |
7 |
19 |
23 |
34 |
45 |
47 |
61 |
59 |
48 |
36 |
21 |
11 |
| Precip (in) |
3.69 |
3.15 |
3.93 |
3.14 |
3.48 |
5.37 |
5.97 |
6.87 |
7.9 |
3.86 |
2.34 |
2.64 |
| Source: USTravelWeather.com[6] |
Infrastructure
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. Mayor W. Haydon
Burns' Jacksonville Story resulted in the construction of a new city hall, civic auditorium, public library and
other projects that created a dynamic sense of civic pride. However, the development of suburbs
and a subsequent wave of "white flight" left Jacksonville with a much poorer population
than before. Much of the city's tax base dissipated, leading to problems with funding education, sanitation, and traffic control
within the city limits. In addition, residents in unincorporated suburbs had difficulty obtaining municipal services such as
sewage and building code enforcement. In 1958, a study recommended that the City of Jacksonville
begin annexing outlying communities in order to create the needed tax base to improve services throughout the county. Voters
outside the city limits rejected annexation plans in six referendums between 1960 and 1965.
In the mid 1960s, corruption scandals began to arise among many of the city's officials, who
were mainly elected through the traditional good ol' boy network. After a
grand jury was convened to investigate, several officials were indicted and more were forced
to resign. Consolidation, led by JJ Daniel and Claude Yates, began to win more support during this period, from both inner city
blacks (who wanted more involvement in government) and whites in the suburbs (who wanted more services and more control over the
central city). The simultaneous disaccredation of all fifteen of Duval County's public high schools in 1964 added momentum to the
proposals for government reform. 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.
A consolidation referendum was held in 1967, and voters approved the plan. On October 1, 1968, the governments merged to create the Consolidated City of
Jacksonville.
The St. James Building, the seat of city government in Jacksonville.
Structure
The most noteworthy feature of Jacksonville government is its consolidated nature. The Duval County-Jacksonville consolidation
eliminated any type of separate county executive or legislature, and supplanted these positions with the Mayor of Jacksonville and the City Council of the City
of Jacksonville, respectively. Because of this, voters who live outside of the city limits of Jacksonville, but
inside of Duval County, are allowed not only to vote in elections for these positions, but to run for them as well. In
fact, in 1995, John Delaney, a resident of Neptune Beach, was elected mayor of the City of Jacksonville.
Jacksonville uses the Mayor-Council form of city government, also called the
Strong-Mayor form, in which a mayor serves as the city's Chief Executive and Administrative officer. The mayor holds veto power
over all resolutions and ordinances made by the city council, and 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 single-member districts, and five who are ostensibly
elected at-large. However, although these five additional council members are elected at-large, they are required to meet
an unusual residency requirement. In the early 1990s, because these five "at-large" members were generally all elected from the
same area, voters approved a change in the city government which divided the city up into five districts unrelated to any other
districts, solely for the purpose of electing these at-large council members. Thus, at-large council members are elected
from each of these five districts by the voters of the county as a whole.
Some government services remained—as they had been prior to consolidation – independent of both city and county authority. In
accordance with Florida law, the school board continues to exist with nearly complete autonomy. Jacksonville also has several
quasi-independent government agencies which only nominally answer to the consolidated authority, including, 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.
Four municipalities within Duval County voted not to join the consolidated government. These were the communities of Baldwin,
Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach, which consist of only 6% of the total population within the county. The
four separate communities provide their own services, while maintaining the right to contract the consolidated government to
provide services for them. For example, in December of 2005, the city council of Baldwin voted to eliminate the Baldwin Police
Department, a decision which was consummated in March of 2006. Since that time, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has assumed
policing responsibilities for the one-square mile town, located in the far western portion of Duval County. The main
environmental and agricultural body is the Duval County Soil and Water Conservation District,
which works closely with other area agencies.
- See also: List of mayors of
Jacksonville, Florida
Education
Jacksonville is home to Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Edward Waters College, Art Institute of Jacksonville,
Florida Coastal School of Law, Trinity Baptist College, Jones College,
Florida Technical College, Logos Christian
College, and Brewer Christian College.
Former mayor John Delaney has been president of the University of North Florida since
leaving office in July 2003, parlaying his widespread popularity in the city into a position
of leadership in the state university system.
Jacksonville, along with the standard district schools, is home to three International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme ("IB") high schools. They are Stanton
College Preparatory School, Paxon School for Advanced Studies
and Jean Ribault Senior High School.Jacksonville also has a notable magnet high school devoted to
the performing and expressive arts, Douglas Anderson School of the
Arts. The Advanced International Certification of Education Program (""A.I.C.E") is available at Mandarin High School and
William M. Raines Senior High School. Raines also offers the Pre-A.I.C.E. program (for 9th and 10th graders) See also:
List of high schools in Jacksonville
Jacksonville is home to two Catholic secondary schools: Bishop Kenny High
School and Bishop John Snyder High School.[7]
The prestigious Bolles School and Episcopal High School of Jacksonville are also located in Jacksonville.
Transportation
A 1992 map of four of the bridges.
Interstate Highways 10 and 95
intersect in Jacksonville. Interstate Highway 10 ends at this intersection (the other end
being in Santa Monica, California). The eastern terminus of US-90 is in nearby Jacksonville Beach near the
Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, several other roads as well a major local expressway,
J. Turner Butler Boulevard (SR 202) also connect Jacksonville to the beaches.
Public transportation is provided by the Jacksonville Transportation
Authority. The city has the JTA Skyway, an elevated monorail, which travels through the central business district. However, there are few Skyway stations and as
such, traffic is light. The Skyway has been criticized in that it goes from "nowhere to nowhere" along its limited route, which
encompasses only downtown and is of no help in commuting from suburban neighborhoods. Interstate 95 has a bypass route, with I-295, which bypasses the city to the
west, and SR-9A, bypassing the city to the east. I-295 and SR-9A circumscribe the
most populated portion of Jacksonville.
Jacksonville is also home to the world headquarters of CSX Transportation, which
owns a large building on the riverbank downtown that is a significant part of the skyline. The Amtrak passenger railroad serves Jacksonville from a station on
Clifford Lane in the northwest section of the city.
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.
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.
Four modern seaport facilities, including America's newest cruise port, make Jacksonville a full-service international
seaport. In 2004, JAXPORT handled 7.7 million tons of cargo, including 533,000 vehicles. In
2003, the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal opened,
providing cruise service to Key West, Florida, the Bahamas, and Mexico.
|
St. Johns River crossings in the Jacksonville, Florida area |
| Upriver from Downtown |
|
| Downtown Jacksonsonville |
|
| Downriver from Downtown |
|
People and culture
Jacksonville, Florida, ca. 1910
Demographics
Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, and the twelfth most populous city in the United
States. As of the census2 estimates of 2005, there were 782,623 people, 284,499 households, and 190,614
families residing in the city. The population density was 374.9/km² (970.9/mi²).
There were 308,826 housing units at an average density of 157.4/km² (407.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.48%
White, 34.03% Black or 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
were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Jacksonville has, as named by the United States Census the 10th largest Arab population in the
United States. There were 284,499 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age
of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 16.0% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7%
had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was
3.07. In the city, the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For
every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $40,316, and the median income for a family was $47,243. Males had
a median income of $32,547 versus $25,886 for females. The per capita income for the
city was $20,337. About 9.4% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty
line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.
Languages
As of 2000, English spoken as a first
language accounted for 90.60%, while Spanish was at 4.13%, and Tagalog spoken as a mother tongue made up 1.00% of the
population. In total, all languages spoken other than English were at 9.39%.[8]
Religion
Jacksonville has a diverse religious population. Since 1906, the city's Unitarian
Universalists have worshipped at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville [9] The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has its seat in St. John's Cathedral, the
current building dating from 1906. There is a good representation of various Lutheran Synods, as well. The city is estimated to
contain 265,158 Evangelical Protestants and 89,649
Mainline Protestants who attend a total of 794 churches. Several of these are
megachurches, including First Baptist
Church downtown and Christ's Church in the Mandarin area. There are 162,329 Roman
Catholics who attend 51 Catholic churches within the Roman
Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine.[10] The greater
metropolitan area also has a Jewish population of 14,000, mostly residing in the suburb of
Mandarin, Florida. There are two Reform, four Conservative, and four Orthodox synagogues, three of them Chabad-affiliated,[11]. There are over 3,000 members of various Eastern Orthodox church jurisdictions in eight parishes or missions, and 18,050 of other
religious affiliations. Within the city limits there are also seven Mormon church buildings housing twelve congregations of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints,[12] a population of Muslims centered around the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida,[13], a Baha'i center,[14] and New Age and Neopagan communities.[15]
Annual cultural events and fairs
Jacksonville is home to a number of annual cultural events. The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is held every April and is the
second-largest jazz festival in the nation. Other popular music festivals include The Spring Music Fest, a free concert sponsored
by the city that features some of today's most popular artists, Planetfest, featuring a
variety of modern rock artists, and Springing the Blues, a free outdoor blues festival held in Jacksonville Beach.
The Jacksonville Film Festival is held every May and features a variety of independent films, documentaries, and shorts
screening at seven historic venues in the city. Past attendees of the festival have included director John Landis and Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and winner Graham Greene, both of whom were
awarded the Tortuga Verde Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Art Walk, a monthly outdoor art festival, is sponsored by Downtown Vision, Inc, an organization which works to promote
artistic talent and venues on the First Coast.
Every July 4 is the Freedom, Fanfare & Fireworks celebration, one of the nation's largest fireworks displays, held at
Metropolitan Park and on the surface of the St. Johns River. A very large fireworks display is also held at Jacksonville Beach,
centered on the rebuilt pier. The Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair is held every November at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds
& Exposition Center, featuring an array of carnival rides, live entertainment, agriculture and livestock. Other annual
cultural events include the Great Atlantic Seafood and Music Festival in March, the Blessing of the Fleet Parade of Boats and the
Jacksonville International Boat Show in April, the World of Nations Celebration in May, and the Jacksonville Light Parade in
November.
Museums and art collections
Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art (JMoMA) opened its square foot ( m²) facility in 2003, located adjacent to the
Main Library downtown. Tracing its roots back to the formation of Jacksonville's Fine Arts Society in 1924, the museum features
eclectic permanent and traveling exhibitions. In November 2006, JMOMA was renamed Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA Jacksonville) to reflect their
continued commitment to art produced after the modernist period.
The Museum of Science and History (MOSH) is found on Jacksonville's South Riverwalk, and
features three stories of hands-on science and local history exhibits, including the Alexander Brest Planetarium.
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens holds a large collection of European and American paintings, as well as a world-renowned
collection of early Meissen porcelain. The museum is surrounded by three acres of formal English
and Italian style gardens, and is located in the Riverside
neighborhood, on the bank of the St. Johns River.
There are also several historical properties and items of interest in the city, including the Klutho Building, the
Old Morocco Temple Building, the Palm and
Cycad Arboretum, and the Prime F. Osborn III Convention
Center.
Libraries
-
Jacksonville Public Library
Main Library.
The Jacksonville Public Library had its beginnings when May
Moore and Florence Murphy started the "Jacksonville Library and Literary Association" in 1878. The Association was populated by
various prominent Jacksonville residents and sought to create a free public library and reading room for the city.[16]
Over the course of 127 years, the system has grown from that one room library to become one of the largest in the state. Now
featuring twenty branches - from the sq ft ( m²). West Regional Library (located on Chaffee Road in the western
part of the city) to smaller neighborhood libraries like Westbrook and Eastside (located in the central part of the city) - the
Library annually receives nearly 4 million visitors and circulates over 6 million items. Nearly 500,000 library cards are held by
area residents.[17]
On November 12, 2005, the new sq ft ( m²). Main Library opened to the public. The largest public library in
the state, this opening was a historic event for the library system and the City of Jacksonville. It marks the completion of an
unprecedented period of growth for the system under the Better Jacksonville Plan.[18] It adds to the city's architectural and cultural landscape and provides
a gathering place downtown for the entire community. The new Main Library offers specialized reading rooms, public access to
hundreds of computers and extensive collection of books and other materials, public displays of art, and special collections
ranging from the African-American Collection to the recently opened Holocaust Collection.[16]
Media
The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville's largest circulation newspaper
The Florida Times-Union is the major daily newspaper in Jacksonville.
Another daily newspaper is The Daily Record. Popular magazines
include Folio Weekly, MetroJacksonville.com, Jacksonville Free Press,
Jacksonville Business Journal, The Florida Star, Saint Augustine Catholic, Arbus and
Jacksonville Magazine.
Jacksonville is served by television stations affiliated with major American networks
including WTLV (NBC), WJXX
(ABC), WTEV (CBS), WAWS (FOX/My Network TV), WJCT (PBS),and WCWJ (CW). WJXT is a former longtime CBS
affiliate that turned independent in 2002.
Jax4Kids.com is a resource available to Jacksonville-area parents, grandparents and educators to find current and upcoming
events, classes, camps, sports and other programs for cultural and educational enrichment for children.
Jacksonville's radio market is dominated by the same two large ownership groups that dominate the radio industry across the
United States: Cox Radio[19] and Clear Channel Communications.[20] The dominant AM radio station in terms of ratings is
