Vintage Jacksonville

“Two ships that were in repair at the Merrill-Stevens Ship Yard.  A 8X10 camera was used.  Photo taken in the 60’s.”  LS

The shipyards located on the North bank of the St Johns River between downtown Jacksonville and what would become Metropolitan Park started in the 1850’s and operated until 1992 under a number of different owners.  The shipyard was actually the Rawls Brothers Shipyard if this photo was taken in the in the 1960’s, having been sold by Merrill-Stevens in the 1950’s.  It had operated as Merrill-Stevens since the late 1800’s.  The property now sits empty after a number of failed attempts to redevelop the prime riverfront property along Bay Street.

Tags: Bay Street, Cable Splice, historic photograph, Merrill-Stevens, Rawls Brothers Shipyard, riverfront, ship, shipyard, St. Johns River, vintage photography

A nice view looking through the front doorway of the Rexall Drug Store located at the intersection of Forsyth and Main Streets in Downtown Jacksonville.  Looks like you would be visually assaulted with advertising as you entered the store.  To make matters worse they even used the presidential race between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stephenson to sell Dial soap.  I can’t date the image exactly but it had to be 1952 or 1956.  Both years the two candidates faced off against each other and both years Eisenhower won the election.  You can see an earlier post from the Rexall Drug Store here.

Tags: Adlai Stephenson, advertising, business, drug store, Dwight Eisenhower, election, Forsyth Street, historic photograph, Main Street, politics, Rexall, vintage photography

“Homer A. Rodeheaver, (with trombone).  He was a publisher and writer of over 1,000 religious songs.  He was a great showman also, he was a preacher also.  This picture was taken here in Jacksonville in 1948.”  LS

According to his obituary from December 19, 1955 in the Warsaw Times-Union Homer Rodeheaver was born October 4, 1880 and as a child would “place chairs in the form of an audience in the sitting room, then get up on another and sing and preach to this self-made congregation. ”  At 16 he enlisted in the Spanish-American war.  He joined the famous evangelist Billy Sunday in 1910 and worked as his Music Director for over 20 years.  He is credited with using his trombone to avert crowd panic on two different occasions.

“In Kansas a severe wind storm struck in the middle of the closing meeting of a revival campaign. Lightning, thunder and heavy rains, as well as near-hurricane winds caused chaos under the big canvas. Winds began to pull the big tent poles. The top and sides began to sag. One of the quarter poles fell, striking a woman on the head. The crowd was prepared to panic, nearly everyone jumped up to run. Dr. Rodeheaver picked up his trombone and began to play. The crowd quieted down. He was able to maintain the crowd’s attention until the storm ended. Newspapers headlined Rodeheaver’s action. A similar incident occurred in Toledo, O., when a section of bleachers crumbled in the armory where a meeting was being held. Again Dr. Rodeheaver’s trombone saved the day.”

In 1952 he established the Rainbow Ranch for Boys in Palatka, FL which provided a “wholesome home environment with religious, school and vocational training” for abused and abandoned boys.  It was later renamed the Rodaheaver Boy’s Ranch and is still in operation today.

Tags: Billy Sunday, historic photography, Homer Rodeheaver, men, music, preacher, trombone, vintage photograph, women

“This is a picture of a ship that was loading up with equipment to be shipped overseas to Vietnam for the war effort.  Shortly after this picture was taken they asked me to go on this concrete cube (about 5 feet) to get a picture looking towards the ship.  I did and after I got back on the ship the whole cube and cable broke and sank in the water.  I sure thanked God that day.”    LS

Tags: cargo, historic photography, International, port, ship, tractor, Vietnam, vintage photograph

“This picture was taken from the Mayflower Hotel looking East to Northeast.  Almost all the buildings you see in this picture have been torn down.  The first street you can see in the foreground is Hogan.  About 1955.”  LS

Actually quite a few of the buildings in the upper left half of the photograph are still standing in one form or another but the majority of the buildings in the lower right half of the image age long gone.  Of particular note is the Hotel Seminole with its roof top sign advertising ‘100% Air Conditioned’.

Tags: Barnett National Bank, Buildings, downtown, historic photography, hogan street, Mayflower Hotel, seminole hotel, skyline, vintage photograph

A transaction taking place at the ticket window of the Greyhound Bus station in downtown Jacksonville.  I’d place this photograph from the late 1940’s or early 1950’s and it was probably the Bay and Hogan Street location which predated the current Greyhound station downtown.  Great informational signage.

Tags: advertising, bus, bus station, Greyhound, historic photograph, man, ticket window, tickets, vintage photography, woman

“Here is a picture of the crowd at the Miss Jacksonville Contest of 1954.  The contest was held in the Palace Theatre.  Note the young photographer near center.  People were pretty well dressed compared with today.”  LS

Anyone recognize the young photographer wielding the Speed Graphic in the crowd?

Tags: audience, crowd, historic photographs, men, Miss Jacksonville, Palace Theatre, photographer, speed graphic, vintage photography, women

A nice action photo of three boats from Jacksonville’s Borum Boat Company in formation as they skim the surface of the St Johns River.  These wood runabouts had great lines and borrowed their distinctive fins from the cars of the late 1950’s when these boats were being made.  You can find more information about Borum Boats at this previous post.

Tags: boating, boats, Borum, Borum Boat Company, historic photogaphy, men, St. Johns River, vintage photograph, wood boat, wormen

“The Levy’s store in downtown Jacksonville, 1955. Note on the right was the Kodak store, the tall building on the right was the Greenleaf Building.  All buildings still stand but all the names and businesses have changed.”  LS

Judging by the station wagon on Adams Street I would say this is more likely the 1960’s but take away the building awnings and change some signage and this corner of Adams and Hogan Streets looks pretty much the same today.

Tags: Adams Street, building, downtown, historic photograph, hogan street, Kodak, Levy's, vintage photography

“Here is a picture of where the Windsor Hotel was.  Today, the bottom right is where the Ball Building is.  The big parking lot is where the Woolworth Store is and also on the left is where the Robert Meyer Hotel stands.  The middle left is where the city Electric Building is, it was the Independent Ins. Co.  1951.”  LS

Looking at the photos of downtown from Loyd Sandgren’s collection makes me realize how fleeting so many things in the history of the city really are.  The buildings that occupy the city are often just temporary occupants of a particular plot of real estate.  Structures that we view as permanent were built for a specific purpose at a particular point in time and when they becomes obsolete they enter a tenuous period where they are simply viewed as old.  The lucky ones that are so unwanted that they are left neglected sometimes get a second life when their unique architecture or character is rediscovered after a period of being out of circulation.  Others occupy a desirable location and are demolished to make way for the latest new project.  This photograph illustrates the full spectrum of downtown’s evolution. In the last 100 years this particular parking lot has housed The Windsor Hotel, a replacement for the original structure that burned down in the 1901 fire.  It was demolished in the 1950 and the lot was used as a parking lot.  In 1954 the Woolworth’s and Penny’s opened for business facing the Hogan Street side of the lot and in 1959 The Robert Meyer Hotel opened on the back portion of the lot.  Those made way for the new Federal Courthouse which opened for business in 2003.  Across the street is Hemming plaza and many of the surrounding buildings have been there for most of the last 100 years, having been preserved and eventually repurposed.

Tags: cars, Cohen Brothers, Federal Courthouse, Hemming Plaza, historic photography, parking, Penny, Robert Meyer, Seminole Club, skyline, St. James, vintage photograph, Woolworth