A Tour of Historical Downtown Jacksonville (approx. riding time: 3 hours)

Long before Europeans landed here, the Timucuan Indians used a crossing point in the St. Johns River. They named the site, "Wacca Pilatka," the place of cow crossing. In earlier times Jacksonville was known as "Cowford" because of this crossing point. After the Civil War, Jacksonville was rebuilt and flourished as tourism became a substantial part of the economy. Jacksonville was known as "The Winter City in a Summer Land," and the annual number of tourists grew to nearly 100,000 during the 1880s.

A little after noon, May 3, 1901, a spark from a chimney ignited some moss laid out to dry at the Cleveland Fiber Factory. Workmen were at lunch and the fire got out of control quickly. The column of smoke from the burning of Jacksonville was reportedly seen in Raleigh, NC, 500 miles away. The glow of the flames could be seen on the horizon in Savannah. When the fire was finally quelled at around 8:30 that night, 466 acres had burned along with 2,368 buildings. Ten hotels, 23 churches and all the downtown public buildings with the exception of the Federal Building, had been destroyed. Miraculously, only seven people perished in the fire. Jacksonville began rebuilding immediately.

Architects from around the country flocked to the demolished city seeking the opportunity to experiment with new forms of building construction. Most notably, architect Henry John Klutho staked his fame and fortune in rebuilding Jacksonville. Jacksonville has one of the greatest collections of buildings in the Prairie School tradition that became synonymous with Klutho. The first high-rise structure to be built after the fire was the Dyal-Upchurch Building. Designed and built by Klutho in 1902, it is an excellent example of the Second Renaissance Revival style.

On April 8, 1927, The Jacksonville Journal reported, "on the spot where once stood an unkempt police station that had housed in its sordid career many of the riff-raff of the world, there has come into being a thing of beauty, a palace of dreams," - the Florida Theatre. Theater-goers were entranced by the lavish interior, reminiscent of a Moorish courtyard at night. Elvis Presley made his first appearance in an indoor theater in Florida in 1956. This building proudly hosts a variety of performances in the grand style of the bygone days and is a Jacksonville treasure on the National Register of Historic Places.

Between 1901 and 1919, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped finance over 2,800 public libraries across the United States. Architect Henry Klutho won a 1903 design competition and built the beautiful Neo-Classical Revival Jacksonville Public Library, that served the community until 1965.

Built by the Shriners in 1911, the Morocco Temple is one of downtown's most exotic and interesting buildings. Its architecture combines Prairie Style with mid-eastern imagery. The main facade features terra-cotta columns and sphinx-like sculptures. President Howard Taft once spoke in the building's auditorium on the third floor.

St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral was the site of the first Episcopal service in the city in 1829. Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1901 by "freedmen" for $18,000.

Perhaps the most significant building designed and built by Henry Klutho was the St. James Building, bordering Hemming Park to the north. On this site sat the Windsor and St. James Hotels, two of the greatest Jacksonville hotels during the tourist boom of the 1870s and 80s. The plaza is named for banker C.C. Hemming, a confederate war hero, who donated $20,000 for the statue of a confederate soldier that still remains. After the Great Fire of 1901, the lot was vacant until the Cohen brothers of New York purchased the land and commissioned Klutho to design and build a department store in the grandest of styles. When it was completed in 1912, it was the largest building in Jacksonville and the ninth-largest department store in the United States. The six story, 335,000 square foot store was open for 66 years. Following a $25.4 million renovation, the building was dedicated as the new seat of city government in December 1997.

When the Jacksonville Terminal opened just after the stroke of midnight on November 7, 1919, it was reminiscent of local railroad architecture dating back to the 1850s. It is one of Jacksonville's most visible and popularly revered landmarks.

On the day that it opened, the terminal handled more than 110 trains and 20,000 passengers. Those were the years when everybody who was anybody passed through Jacksonville by train. The famous and the infamous, from John D. Rockefeller to Al Capone; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. Former CSX chairman Prime F. Osborn III rescued the old terminal from the wrecking ball in 1982. In October 1986, the restoration and new construction were complete and the Jacksonville Terminal reopened to a new glory as Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center.

Engine 1504 rests as a national landmark in the back parking lot of the convention center. Built by the American Locomotive Company for the United States Railway Administration in 1919, it became one of the flagship engines of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The 1504 is a well-preserved example of one of the most popular steam locomotives ever built. Also on the grounds of the convention center stands a restored railroad car, the "Orange Blossom Special."

As the tour around historic Jacksonville nears its end, don't miss three other sites that tell the unfolding story of Jacksonville, past to present. Visit The Jacksonville Landing, Jacksonville's festive riverfront marketplace, complete with shopping, dining and entertainment venues. Head east on Bay Street and visit the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wall and Alltel Stadium (formerly the Gator Bowl), home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, 30th expansion team of the National Football League.