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Surprising Facts About Jacksonville

Thu, March 03, 2011 2:30 pm EST

History
Jacksonville was named for General Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of Florida who, incidentally, never visited Jacksonville.

The fire of 1901, sparked from a chimney and igniting a fiber factory, destroyed the heart of the city - 466 acres and 2,368 buildings were destroyed, 8,677 residents were left homeless and seven people died. The damage was $15 million - $2 billion today.

The Confederate statue in Hemming Plaza survived the Great Fire of 1901. It is one of only two items that survived in the Downtown area.

The ten years following Jacksonville’s Great Fire of 1901 more than 11,000 new buildings were constructed.

In the early 1900s the Ostrich Farm, located on what is today’s Southbank of Downtown, was the city’s biggest tourist draw.

Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island is Duval County’s oldest resident and is Florida’s only still-standing plantation house with 10 tabby slave quarters ruins.

Arts & Culture
The Florida Theatre was home to Elvis Presley’s first indoor concert in 1956. A local judge sat through the performance to ensure Presley’s body movements would not become too suggestive.

In 1916, over 30 movie companies called Jacksonville home with stars such as Oliver Hardy and Fatty Arbuckle making movies in town. Citizens became fed up with the noise and the industry moved to California.

Elvis Presley performed in Jacksonville eight times during his career, beginning in 1955 when he performed at Wolfson Park and ending in 1977, a few months before his death, at the old Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The oldest, continuously operating community theater in the country is Theatre Jacksonville, in operation since 1919.

Sports
In 1901, Jacksonville hosted the first-ever college football game played in Florida, with a crowd of 2,000 watching Florida Agricultural College take on Stetson University.

Food & Dining
Local chocolate shop, Peterbrooke Chocolatier, was named after the owners two children – Peter and Brooke.

Sweet Pete’s is Jacksonville’s first all-natural candy shop. Creator Peter Berhinger is the son of legendary local chocolatier owner Phyllis Geiger, who started Peterbrook in 1983.

The Jacksonville’s Farmers Market is the oldest, still operating outdoor farmers market in Florida (since 1938). Local restaurants and residents purchase the freshest produce, herbs and ethnic specialties directly from over 200 farmers and year-round.

Beaches
The American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps in Jacksonville Beach is the oldest, still-operating of its kind in the country.
In 1935, A.L. Lewis opened American Beach, a retreat for African Americans who were refused entry to public beaches.

Transportation
The Mayport Ferry is Florida’s only public auto ferry and connects Jacksonville’s beaches to the Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island areas.