Comic con and Graphic Novels:

Adventures in the Archives

by Taryn Rodriguez-Boette

Many of you might be following the latest Comic Con event this summer. For the uninitiated, “Comic Con” is the acronym of Comic Book Conventions - events “dedicated for the appreciation of comics and related art forms and the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture”. Although I grew up following Archie, Veronica and Betty comic books, I have become a convert to Marvel Universe comic books.

Recently the JHS Archives received as a gift a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Although we have various editions of this classic, this new gift is a graphic ... [Read more...]

"Missing Downtown"

When: NOW!
Where: Old St. Luke's, JHS Archives

The Historical Society Archives is currently featuring images and objects from our collections. The two small exhibits, "Missing Downtown" and "Cabinets of Curriosities" are open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Fort George Mansion: The Neff House

The Neff House, located at 11435 Fort George Road near Kinglsey Plantation on Fort George Island, was built by Jacksonville architect, Mellen C. Greeley in 1927 as a winter home for Chicago businessman Nettleton Neff. According to Greeley, the Neff family was struck by tragedy early, about six months into its construction when Neff lost his wife, two small children and his older son. Neff, himself, died before the completion of the house and he never saw the completed version of his "castle-like" home.

The house sat vacant for many years until Kenneth Merrill, of Merrill Stevens Ship Building Co., the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Co., and the Merrill Dynamite Co., purchased the home as a holiday retreat for the Merrill family. The Merrill's made ...[Read more...]

July 10, 1937: Cross-Florida Canal appropriation rejected by City Council.

This map shows the proposed route of the canal crossing Florida from the mouth of the St. Johns River, Jacksonville, to Port Inglis on the Gulf of Mexico. The length of the canal proper was 175 miles with a width of 200 to 400 feet.

Formal beginning of excavation began near Ocala on September 19, 1935 when President Roosevelt "pushed an electric button at his Hyde Park residence in New York, setting off a heavy charge of dynamite". The (1935) plan called for a sea-level canal, making locks and their operation unnecessary.

In the early 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the canal work as an unemployment relief project. By 1935, the Ship Canal Authority asked FDR to make it a Works Progress Administration project, and so he set aside $5 million to begin construction under the Corps of Engineers. By late 1936, the WPA funds were exhausted and the project was abandoned due to lack of funds and possible damage to the underground water supply. On July 10, 1937, the Jacksonville City Canal rejected the appropriation of funds for the Canal.

The Cross-Florida Barge Canal would continue to be an economic and environmental issue for the next 40 years.

July 17, 1967 : While on his way back from photographing a railroad strike in Northwest Jacksonville, Jacksonville Journal photographer, Rocco Morabito began to take photos of Jacksonville Electric Authority lineman working on the electric poles. When Morabito saw lineman Randall Champion hanging upside down from a pole and realized he had been electrocuted by a high voltage wire he summoned rescue and continued taking photos. Another lineman, J.D. Thompson, climbed up the pole and gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Champion -- and that is the famous image Morabito captured.

Not only did Thompson save Champion's life, but the photo that Rocco Morabito took that day would go on to win the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News.

July 19, 1915: One of the earliest movie theaters in Jacksonville, the Arcade Motion Picture Theatre opened on this day.

The theatre had 1,250 seats, a balcony, six ceiling fans, a ladies parlor and a special children's section, for mothers who wanted to leave their children "in the care of a maid". The building had two entrances, one through an arcade of shops that led from the Bisbee Building on Forsyth Street and one along Adams Street.

In the 1930s, original architect Roy A. Benjamin (who designed almost 200 movie theatres nationwide and countless other buildings in and around Jacksonville) renovated the facade to reflect the Art Deco style typical of movie houses of the day.

In 1960, the theatre was renamed to Center Theatre. It closed in 1983 and in 2002, "the 90-year old building partially collapsed sometime during the early morning hours" (Florida Times-Union).