Going to the office at Aramark Food, Facilities and Uniform business, I had questions. Was Public School Annie Beaman once at the corner of 21st and Walnut Street? Did they have photos? Who might know about this? Also, I knew that Aramark had a food contract with the Duval Schools at least dating back to 2009 so there could be some connection there.
The man wearing a blue collar shirt who buzzed me in at the front office said, “I don’t know the name of the school but it was school #17 because we’re always getting mail here.”
Former location of Annie Beaman School-East Springfield area-circa 1917-1957
According to an April 22, 1987 “List of Schools and Year Built” sheet, Public School # 17 was built in 1917. By the time the list was printed, it had been demolished as noted by hand in the right column.
Public School # 17, Annie Beaman, was indeed located at the corner of 21st and Walnut from 1917 until at least 1957. We know this because in 1957, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Rocco Morobito had taken a photograph at the school of a pet rabbit with children saluting the flag. The photograph in today’s language was taken “viral” and people in other nation’s wanted a reprint of the image. When Mr. Morobito came to my classroom in September of 1994 he shared this photograph. It was highlighted in Life Magazine in October of 1957 and in 2022, the Florida Times Union shared it as a tribute to Jacksonville’s bicentennial event #jax200.
A copy was shown to Nan Ramey’s class at Greenland Pines Elem/1994 and Florida Times Union reprint, 2022
In addition, The Florida Times Union had a write-up on June of 1949 where four principals retired: Florence Hughes of West Riverside, Ruth N. Upson , Aaron Roberts of Lackawanna, and Annie Beaman.
Beaman is listed in the 1940 census as living in “Ward 8, Jacksonville, Election Precinct 8C, FL enumeration district 68-92”. She was listed as a participant at the National Elementary School conference in a 1949 bulletin and her home at some point was on Osceola Street in the Riverside area of Jacksonville.
Former home of Annie Beaman c 1940’s-Riverside (Photo Ramey Collection)
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Facebook source, Florida Times Union, current owner of the property, Rocco Morobito, photographer, Personal visit to Aramark and 21st and Walnut.
If you believe you are a copyright owner or can help with information regarding this article, including to clarify rights or information issues, please contact me. We are willing to remove any item from public view if there is any concern regarding ownership.
It has closed. After 30 years in Jacksonville, the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum clicked the lock and will no longer service the Jacksonville area. Karpeles manuscript library was begun by David Karpeles’. He had a love for old documents and began a collection which ended up being placed in about a dozen libraries in the United States.
Karpeles closing week. Grandson and I visited to find a metal detector scanning premises.
Jacksonville’s library was housed in the old 1921 building built by Marsh and Saxelbye once was used for First Church of Christ in Springfield. David Karpeles died in January of 2022. The Jacksonville location closed in January of 2023 as will others around the country while Karpeles’ daughter, Cheryl Alleman, and her brother, Mark Karpeles downsize and reorganize. It has been reported they will go from 15 manuscript libraries to 10 over time.
Manuscripts laying on the stage the week of closing.
For thirty years, Jacksonvillians and guests could visit and find rare and authentic documents such as the first printing of the Ten Commandments from the Gutenberg Bible (c 1455), the famous E=MC2 formula by Einstein, the original manuscript of Roget’s Thesaurus, the sheet music of the Wedding March, Abraham Lincoln’s signature of 1861, the Apollo Translunar trajectory plotting America’s space flight and more. Through the years manuscripts were transferred from one library to another rotating the authentic pieces so many could view them in glass cases.
East Coast founding c 1500’s10 Commandments first printed by Gutenburg PressTaxation without Representation document
The library opened in Jacksonville in 1992 and closed its doors here in January of 2023. I am told there is a small library nearby that can be visited. It is being touted as “the smallest walk-in-museum in the United States” and is located in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine.
Mini Museum in St. Augustine, Florida-Opened 2023
You should check it out. I’m going to….
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Location:
St Augustine location for Karpeles Mini Museum-
St George’s Row- Unit L
106 St. George St.
St Augustine, Fl 32084
9:am-10:00 pm daily
FREE
Old location of the Jacksonville Karpeles-101 West 1st Street ( formerly 1116 North Laura Street)
The most secure depository in the world is said to be that of Fort Knox. It is operated by the United States Department of Treasury. It seems to me and I’m no security expert, that the original three banks of downtown Jacksonville could have given Fort Knox a “run for the money” in terms of security back-in-the-day.
Diebold vault workers (Sass Collection-Diebold via Jacksonville Blogger)
There are, at this moment still, in 2023, huge vaults under banks in downtown Jacksonville. If you take the Gary Sass tour you can see at least two and actually walk inside of one of them. Don’t close the door because if they can’t open some of the safes that have been there since 1877, they may not have the combination or key to the huge circular tumblers that open the vault. On the tour you can walk under the city streets , in tunnels prepared for vault use in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s by Jacksonville bankers.
Early Banks in Jacksonville (Florida Memory via Jacksonville Blogger)
It has been suggested that the vaults were so big, they were put in the ground first and the banks built on top of them. For years they were used to store three of the biggest banks in Florida’s money. When the downtown Jacksonville boom burst, the vaults were left unoccupied and unused.
The Barnett Bank of Jacksonville opened on the corner of Forsyth and Main in 1877. It would become the largest commercial bank in Florida with an excess of 600 offices and over $40 billion in deposits. The buildings with vaults beneath them still stand.
The Atlantic National Bank began in 1903. Banking efforts have changed hands over the years and today it is called Wells Fargo.
The Florida National Bank opened in 1905 which would become the 2nd largest bank in Florida at some point. All of those banks used the vaults for transferring money.
Through the years there have been many changes. There was the Great Fire of Jacksonville, Indian ‘wars, the Civil War, but one thing that has not changed is the huge vaults that once provided safe storage for the millions and millions and million of dollars, certificates and actual gold stashed in them for safety. Of course, there is no money there(that we know of) but the vaults are safe.
The tour begins by going underground and walking through several tunnels. The tunnels, for the most part look like office walls and walkways until you realize you’re under Forsyth Street, and then Julia Street and you look to see how the path goes down.
When you get to the end, you walk through a door to see a huge Diebold vault. This company was known for it’s security of money, valuables, records and more late in the 1880’s. It’s truly an “ah ha” moment when you see the huge gold-bronze looking safe. It makes you want see more, turn its tumblers and close the door. In the vault area, are old lock boxes that individuals would rent, some that are still closed and no one knows the combinations or have keys to the century old relics. If confederate money is in there, there is no value anyhow. Right?
The Woodstock Park area where Annie R. Morgan School sits is bounded by McDuff Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Edgewood Avenue and West Beaver Street. Because of the outgrowth of the resurgence after the 1901 Great Fire of Jacksonville, neighborhoods around the city began popping up and the Woodstock area was one of them . It was located west of the city and platted in 1917.
Annie R. Morgan- School # 21
According to “thejaxsonmag”, there were “three major rail yards and shops operated by the Seaboard Air Line, Atlantic Coast Line, and Southern Railroads”. It was beginning to be a busy neighborhood with a need for homes and schools.
Annie R. Morgan Class Ms. Padgett, teacher (Paxon Facebook)
In 1915 Duval County voters approved a $1 million bond issue to build a dozen elementary schools. In 1919, School # 21 was built at 964 St. Claire Street. It was known as the Seaboard Shop School. According to the obituary of longtime principal Ruby Johnson, “there were four rooms, which now house the principal’s office, media center, teacher’s lounge, and the classroom adjacent to the principal’s office and auditorium”.
Annie R. Morgan, (Ramey Collection)
According to Ms. Johnson, Maida Lipscomb was the first principal assuming the position on May 8, 1917. On May 10 that same month, Miss Annie R. Morgan “was appointed to fill Miss Lipscomb’s place.” The details of this are unknown.
Records indicate that October 8, 1926, the Woodstock Parent-Teacher Association began. The name was changed in 1959 to Parent Teacher Organization with Mrs.Frances Austin serving as the first president.
Mrs Ruby S. Johnson came to the Woodstock school in 1935 and became principal upon the retirement of Miss Morgan in 1945. Ms. Johnson served Annie R. Morgan from 1945-1971.
She was followed by Mrs. Mildred Marshall. Other principals serving at Annie R. Morgan school were: Jon Thompson (1974), John Grieder (1976), Christine Solomon (1987-1991, Doris Deprell, Skip Hatcher and others.
It is believed that Annie R. Morgan was born in 1880. She graduated from Quincy Academy Teacher’s Institute as discovered by Richard Gainey the admin for the Annie R. Morgan Alumni Facebook page. Her relatives were as found by Mary Browning, an Alumni member, were Robert Marcellus Morgan who is buried at Evergreen cem, F. F. Morgan of Quincy, Fl. , George M. Morgan of Mobile, Al, Sister- Eva M. Blalock, Tallahassee, Fl.
Annie R. Morgan-2nd left (Florida Memory), (Richard Gainey Collection).
She lived at 305 East Duval Street when she was teaching and later lived on Wolfe Street in the Murray Hill area when she served as principal.
The homes at 305 East Duval are gone. The YMCA is being remodelled.( Ramey Collection).Homes just down from 305 Duval are still standing. (Ramey Collection).Homes in the Murray Hill area on Wolfe Street. ( Ramey Collection).
Ms. Morgan retired in 1945 at the age of 65. Her date of death and burial is unknown.
Tiffany Green began her teaching at Annie R. Morgan, taught at Woodland Acres Elementary School became an Assistant Principal and Principal. She is the current principal of School number 21, Annie R. Morgan.
If you have any details to add to this school history, please contact me.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Paxon Facebook page, Sources: Ruby S. Johnson obituary, Ennis Davis of The Jaxson Magazine, United States Census, Richard Gainey, Mary Browning, Christine Solomon, Personal visit.
Please contact me if you have any additional information to add to this history. TY.
Category: History, People, Schools | Comments Off on Annie R. Morgan Elementary School #21
In February of 2014, the portraits of three Jacksonville residents were re-discovered, improved upon and placed in a primary place on the walls of a Jacksonville Northside library. According to the Florida Times Union article, the staff at the Dallas James Graham Branch Library took special interest in the portraits of Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary White Blocker and Dallas James Graham, cleaned them up and had a ceremony to give them new prominence on the walls of the library.
The wall in the Dallas James Library (Ramey Collection).
I visited that library on Tuesday and a most kind person, Christina showed me their place on the wall. The frames looked new, the portraits large and a description highlighted all three people.
It was reported The Jacksonville Myrtle Avenue Library Branch opened in 1964. There was not even a plan for integrating Duval public schools until 1967. May 27, 1999, 28 years later, a judge indicated that the Duval Public School System was in “unitary status”. Progress was being made.
Just down the street from the library was Mt. Ararrat Baptist Church whose pastor was the Reverend Dallas Graham. Mr. Graham was known for being a pastor, owner of a funeral home and one outspoken about important social justice issues. He was the man who filed a lawsuit with the Duval County courts to allow Blacks to vote in either/or Republican or Democrat primaries. The judge ruled in his favor and in 1946 allowed Blacks to vote for either party. Mr. Graham died in April of 1976 and a year later, the library was named in his honor.
Dallas James Graham. ( Ramey Collection).
Mary McLeod Bethune was born in South Carolina “to parents who had been slaves”. Through a turn of events and with the help of someone, she attended college in hopes to become a missionary. Now living in Florida, she began a school for Black girls which over time merged with the Cookman school for boys of Jacksonville in 1923. Mary was president of Bethune-Cookman College from 1923-1942 and from 1946-1947. There is so much more about her life which begs attention including the fact that President John D. Roosevelt donated $62,000 to help her in her progressive network. Also, while serving as President of Bethune-Cookman she made the school library of use to all people. As a result, it became the first free library to Black Floridians.
Mary McLeod-Bethune (Ramey Collection)
Mary White Blocker was born in 1871. She was the daughter of William and Josephine White. She died in 1965 but not before making a huge difference in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1941, Ms. Blocker filed suit in Jacksonville, Florida “on behalf of herself and Duval County COLORED TEACHER’ ASSOCIATION and others similarly situated, in the Jacksonville courts so that Black teachers could be paid the same salary as White teachers. Of course.
Mary White Blocker (Ramey Collection).
When I read the article about these people, I just had to go see for myself the tribute, read about it and then share it.
According to Google’s question area, Florida inmates still make license tags. Their labor today is not so much “car tags, cheap labor and chain gangs” like it once could have been but prisoners still make tags that ride on the back of today’s autos. And upon their death, a tag is placed on their tombs. The prison system as we know it began after the Civil War somewhere about 1868, long before autos but the basic human behavior has stayed consistent. Man needs limits.
Early example of Fl State Prison
As Florida began to grow, workers were continually needed and the prison was a crowded place where businesses went to “lease laborers”. In 1877, Florida Governor George Drew and the first President of Jacksonville’s board of trade, ensured a leasing program whereby private businesses and industries could get the workers needed to move forward their workforce. To lease workers they would need to house them, feed and clothe them.
In 1911 the legislature began providing funds for establishing an actual prison farm which was completed in 1914. Prisoners were leased out to help build the new Florida growth. By 1915, prisoners grew crops on the prison farm, tended to animals and more. The prison was a working Florida farm. Men tended to harder labor and women to cooking, gardening and sewing.
According to Scott Winters’ article, “Do Prisoners Really Make License Plates?”, the answer is that about 80% of plates made in the U.S. are made by about eight prisons.
The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles indicates that “its first motor vehicle registration certificate” was on August 1, 1905. With popular demand, over the years the department has “developed ways to regulate the motor vehicle industry”. From paper file to micro-film and now online
First tag issued ( Dept corrections)
With the onset of the new automobile, a man from Jacksonville and also the 19th Governor of Florida, Napoleon Bonaparte Bowden signed new laws requiring residents to pay a $2. registration fee to register their vehicles. The first tag was made of leather and issued in 1906. Some people made homemade tags at the onset but by 1915 certified tags were required and by 1907 Florida had 132 automobiles registered.
Tag office- Florida Memory
In the 20th century it is said that the early prison system could be harsh and unreasonable to inmates so by 1923 reforms were made. In 1927 the Florida Department of Corrections built an auto tag plant thus giving inmates clear work schedules and ways to pay their debt to society. Over the years there have been continued reforms for inmates but making tags is still an option.
Making Tags ( Florida Memory)
The PRIDE(Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversity Enterprises) program began in 1981 and a rehabilitative program for prisoners. For years, prisoners made license plates for PRIDE’s prison work program and they were sold to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Scott Winters of FGR radio, says when he was small “his parents would tell him that if he didn’t behave he’d end up having a life in prison making license plates”. I’m glad to see he must have paid attention being at a broadcasting business when his article was written.
In 2013 a program run by Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversity Enterprises ( PRIDE) continues to organize work efforts for inmates and tag making is one of the tasks. On their website it says: “PRIDE is a self-funded enterprise whose mission makes a positive difference in Florida. We make communities safer and save taxpayers money by training eligible inmates in vocational skills and transitioning them into the job market upon completion of their sentences. This job-centered approach lowers the number of repeat offenders and reduces criminal justice costs for all citizens.”
One of the few women inmates at Raiford Cemetery
When an inmate dies in the Union County prison, a tag is made for the tomb stone of the inmate. The cemetery is located on the grounds of the prison just down the road from the front gate to the prison. The tag is simple, has the name of the inmate, the inmate’s prison number and DOD (Date of death).
There are some former Jacksonville residents buried there such as Frank Johnson, Will Champion, Roy Dunwood, John Simmons, and Lloyd Odell Salter, to name a few; all convicted criminals. Donald Davidson died at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford this week. There is no word if a tag was made for his grave. If and when it will say “Donald Dillbeck, 068610, DOD-2-23-23 (DOD-date of death).
Tags that were detached from graves. Raiford
At the time of death, nothing matters but the relationship to one’s Maker. Of course, we hope rehabilitation for each person in the cemetery has taken place with God. May we all realize- “There go I save the grace of God”. Trust Him today.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
“Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. Exodus 23:7”
“Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13
Sources: Bible, Florida Department of Corrections , Rob Goyanes, Wikipedia, dc.state.fl.us- Personal visit.
On May 1 1924, the Jacksonville Journal, former “Metropolis”, printed the first known picture of the first electric chair in Florida. It was on display at 10 Newnan Street, Jacksonville, Florida where both White and Black people dropped in to view and “discuss among themselves”.
It is said to have been built by inmates of the Florida State Prison. According to Wikipedia, the “electric chair was the sole means of execution in Florida from 1924 until 2,000 when the Florida State Legislature, under pressure from the Supreme Court, signed lethal injection into law”. Because of sparks emitted by the chair when being used from time to time, it caused great controversy and was named “Sparky”. A new chair was put in use in 1998 but no one has been executed by the chair in Florida since 1999.
Jacksonville Journal, 1924 (Ramey Collection).
Funds for the first Florida State Prison Farm, as it was known, were provided by the Florida Legislature in 1911. The very earliest days of the prison system is sketchy but in 1877, lawbreakers were a part of a “convict leasing program” whereby corporations leased their services having to also “clothe, feed, house and provide medicare for the prisoner”.
After 1913, prisoners were housed at the often called “Raiford Prison”, located northwest of Jacksonville, Florida in a small town named Raiford. It became a place where prisoners were used to build bridges, field crops, dig ditches and more. Women inmates sewed, made clothing, gardened and cooked. The inmate leasing program ended in 1923.
On February 23, 2023, Donald Dillbeck, the convicted killer of a precious soul, Faye Vann was executed by lethal injection, although he could have chosen the electric chair. Lethal injection was passed by the courts in January of 2000, however the choice of that or the alternative of the electric chair at the execution chamber would be that of the inmate.
The last chair was built in 1998 was a three-legged chair made out of solid oak. Hangings, which waere the means for execution in early 1800’s have not been used since the April 18, 1927 where a “large crowd gathered.” In South Florida. Schools were closed for the day and it is said “onlookers stood on rooftops”. The gallows were built behind the jail in Volusia County. While the Florida State Legislature had changed the methods for executions after 1924, “ a surprising Florida Supreme Court ruling called for one last local hanging” according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.”
The first inmate executed by chair was in 1924. This chair, that sat at 10 Newnan in Jacksonville was taken to Raiford and used for many years. There is quite of list of inmates who used that practice and others.
Dept. of Corrections
The most recent execution was that of Dillbeck who was the 100th prisoner executed since the death penalty was reinstate in Florida in the mid 1970’s. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant and though his attorneys tried to stop the execution, the Supreme Court declined the request. Dillbeck declined use of the electric chair which was one of his last decisions. In all sincerity, I hope he decided to trust Jesus, a decision we all must make. That would be the decision of true life or death.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
If you travel to Fort Caroline, near the mouth of the River, off the coast of Mayport, in Jacksonville, Florida, you can see the Fort Caroline monument “, Standing tall in the sand, it marks the spot on which Jean Ribault, became the first Protestant to set foot on American soil. The marker was unveiled “with appropriate ceremonies” by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1924 Jacksonville Journal. Photo O’Brien E. Watt via Ramey Collection
That same week, there were festivities throughout the city of Jacksonville to celebrate this obviously exciting event. Gatherings and street parties were had with a “most brilliant close” to the placing of this historic monument according to the Jacksonville Journal. At the closing event held at the Mason Hotel Mason, Mrs. W. S. Jennings opened “with grace and charm”. The Honorable Mayor John T. Alsop of the city, expressed his “pleasure at having in Jacksonville a distinguished gather and welcomed the guest.” Also at the event was T. C. Imeson, chairman of the city commission, Dr. R. H Carswell, Mrs. Florence Murphy Cooley, and others. Mrs. James A. Craig thought it important to introduce her children and quoted Longfellow’s poem, “Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints in the sands of time”.
I highly recommend that you take your families to see the monument and while you’re there remind them that they too can make a difference for Christ.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Kingsley Plantation, Mayport documents, Jacksonville Journal, Personal visit.
Jacksonville celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2022. The beginning of the city was documented as being platted in 1822 only a year following Spain releasing Florida to the United States. The Sesquicentennial booklet of 1972 indicates there were “ fully 250 people up and down the river in 1821”. They were called “Inhabitants of the St. Johns”. The land of Cowford, on the Northside where Jacksonville was to grow was owned by Lewis Z. Hogans, John Brady and Isaiah D. Hart.
A town was laid out at the insistence of Isaiah David Hart. “They came by covered wagon and boxcar, bumping along the Kings Road from Georgia, filtering down from the Carolinas and Virginia. They came too by sailboat or sloop, or simply in a jammed-packed canoe” writes the author of the booklet.
Credit:Jacksonville Historical Society
With 250 people along the St Johns River, there was a need for caring for the lost, dying and the dead. That ’s where the hearse was established. The hearse would carry the dead through the stages of loss to their resting place. The word hearse is a “middle English word and became associated with a horse and carriage transporting the deceased”. Early on, the horse-drawn carriage was used to carry the sick and the dead from place to place. Doctors traveled with a flat-back buckboard used to carry patients and people when needed. Over time, it was customised to meet the need and eventually was specific to funeral home use.
Early Dr. wagon-Ramey Collection
The Florida Morticians Association indicates that the first Black-owned funeral director and home in Jacksonville was run by Japhus M. Baker in 1895. It was located at 767 W. Beaver Street in Jacksonville according to reports. Wyatt Geter, his nephew was born in 1883, is said to have become the first Black man to become a licensed undertaker. His home was at 441 Beaver Street was occupied by his wife, Alice, Mother, Fannie Presley and brother Frank. Geter is listed in the 1940 census as being 83.
Credit:Schepp funeral Home
Wooden pews were used in many of the early funeral homes. Hillman-Pratt Walton Funeral home where one of the first Black licensed funeral directors once served still has those pews according to Anthony Walton who runs the business. It began in 1900 and has the original curtains and Bible from the days of Pratt. Pratt, according to Walton built his own caskets and had a factory on the 2nd floor of the funeral home. The Pratt family, according to Florida Memory, also lived on the 2nd floor. According to the Daily Record the business began in 1900 by Pratt and “operated in the 400 block Broad Street until moving into the building at 527 W. Beaver street in 1915” . It closed in 2019. The new owner, Eric Adler wishes to preserve the history. Pratt is also the founder of the Florida Negro Embalmers and Mortician’s Association Dan McDonald reported.
Early on, Jacksonvillians used wagons of sorts for carrying the deceased. By 1909, H. D. Ludlow of Chicago was credited as having used a “rebooted Cunningham horse-drawn hearse body remounted on a Thomas bus chassis by Coey’s Livery Company” for an actual funeral procession; the first of its kind. There is believed to be the birth of the funeral carriage.
Early hearse
According to the Begg’s Museum in Madison, Florida, Jacksonville’s Samuel Allen Kyle of Moulton- Kyle Funeral Home, a Jacksonville undertaker ordered, along with T. J. Beggs, Sr. the first two Dodge hearses in Florida. The first one was delivered by train to Beggs in Madison, Florida distinguishing him as the “first” to own a motorized Hearst in Florida. S.A. Kyle’s motorized hearse was delivered to Jacksonville second being the first in Jacksonville but the second in Florida. The Begg’s hearse has been remodelled and is on the floor in their museums. Seeing it, we can get an idea of what was used in our city by S. A. Kyle Funeral Home in 1919.
Beggs Hearse ordered along with one by S. A. Kyle of Jacksonville, Fl-Photo-Beggs Museum
Looking back at the first funeral homes in Jacksonville, one is documented to 1851, when Calvin Oak, known as a “gunsmith, funeral director and watchmaker” moved his family from Vermont to Jacksonville for health reasons. He would live some 30 years building several businesses in the city including a gun factory which manufactured barrels, cartridges and all things related to guns. He owned and operated a jewellery store on Bay Street. In 1856, he and his son Byron Edgar, opened a funeral home business which was eventually was owned by Harry S. Moulton and S. A. Kyle and of the Moulton and Kyle Funeral Services. Calvin’s son, Byron and brother would continue with his businesses even adding tomb stones being a “marble cutter” at 25 Laura Street by 1870. Oak who died July 26, 1881 and was carried by horse and wagon to the Old Cemetery for burial. Byron died October 28, 1889 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Oak family-Mortuary and Stone business-Florida Memory
The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission documents a sketch of the early design of the Moulton-Kyle funeral home. It was located west of Main Street and on the north side of Union Street.The 1914 drawing by architects Earl Mark and Leroy Sheftall would come to fruition over time. In 1976, the First Baptist of Jacksonville, Florida would have a block-size parking lot built across from it.
Entrance of the funeral home- Video grab- Channel 4
Over the years there were several owners until it closed in A brick garage was added in 1926. Harry Moulton died in 1936. The business fell to different businesses and finally closed in the 1960’s. It fell into disrepair and burned in 2022. The most recent owner of the building was Peeples Funeral Services, J. Robert Peeples, President, now operating a funeral home on Main Street of Jacksonville. A 1976 hearse was said to have been removed.
An interesting document found by “Abandoned Southeast”, an urban explorer in the defunct Moulton-Kyle funeral home was the information for the wife of William W. Adams who died on March 2 1914. It seems her body was prepared and she was shipped or sent by train to her hometown in Steuben County, New York. Her husband, William W. Adams would also be buried in NY beside her in 1931.
Both William and his wife Francis were buried in NY.
In 2009, Navy pilot Scott Speicher and graduate of Forrest High School and FSU was stationed at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fl. when he was the first American commit casualty of the Persian war. His plane was shot down in Iraq and when his remains were found 18 years was later met with crowds of people lining the streets to welcome him home in a bittersweet tribute.
Nancy Scott Speicher carried in closed hearse with Navy Seal on side-(US. Military Photo-Chief Specialist A. C Casullo)Jacksonville Memory Gardens now has a fleet of hearses . Ramey
In February 2019, the following was posted about Sarah L. Carter with Sarah L. Carter Funeral Home: “Ms. Carter is the first African American woman in the state of Florida to open a funeral home from start-up and has marked her 17th year in the business as an independent owner.” Ms. Carter has a degree in Mortuary Science and a bachelor’s in Biblical studies.
Photo Credit: Sarah L. Carter Funeral Service websiteSarah L. Carter Funeral Home- New Kings RoadSarah. L. Carter Funeral Home Fleet of hearses
Different hearses are used by various funeral homes. The services for police officer Jimmy Judge was honoured in 2023.
Giddens hearses
There are those who provide horse and buggy services even today. When I went to give my support and regards to the family of Queen Elizabeth II, a horse and carriage carried her to a hearse where she was taken to Windsor Castle to be buried. “God Save The Queen” was sung by her people as the coffin rode past. It was quite moving.
Queen Elizabeth II honors in London-2022- Photo:Ramey
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Category: Buildings, Cemeteries, History | Comments Off on First Woman Funeral Business Owner, First Black Funeral Director, First Hearse(Well Second)
The 1890 Store Jacob’s Jewelers Closed the last day of January 2023.
On the day following the closure of Jacob’s Jewelers, a store that has been in Jacksonville since 1890, I received from a person I did not even know, a bronze-looking “Jacob’s” token. On the front, it has an engraved diamond symbol with the words, “Jacobs” at the top and at the bottom in circular fashion, “Fine Jewelers since 1890”. On the back it has the logo and words, “Member of the Fine Jewelers Guild” and in circular fashion, “Redeemable against any purchase of over $100* Twenty Five Dollars”. So, my new friend, who sent this, gave me a token now worth far more than $25 since it now is certainly a collector’s item. Thank you new friend, Sandra J. D.
I had been online reviewing items people collect in Jacksonville and a person posted that she had some coins and willing to give them to interested people. People can be nice. She mailed one to me free of charge and I even asked to pay. When she wrote “No need to pay me, I’d rather see them go to someone whom likes these, I promised to “pay it forward” and I will.
The envelope was sent with her name at top on the left and the coin tucked into a nice plastic, clear-faced coin container. Grateful. At the moment it sits prominently in my den so I can see it.
I visited Jacobs Jewelers last month after learning they were relocating and talked with Roy and Delores Thomas who bought Jacobs Jewelers in 1968. The building where Jacobs Jewelers is located at the corner of Laura and Adams is where our now-famed Jacksonville clock sits. The Greenleaf Building was bought by JWB Real Estate. Apparently, the old clock which had once sat at the old Jacob’s Bay Street location would remain a Jacksonville landmark and icon since the Thomases donated it to the city some years ago. It is a 15 foot tall Seth Thomas clock and supposedly only one of the two left in the world. It is iconic in that people still “meet at the clock” and taken photos at that Laura and Adams location. That’s a story for another day.
The Thomases initial thought was they would relocate Jacobs Jewelers but as time went on, they changed their thinking and decided to “retire”. I think that both with beautiful grey hair, will find that their kids and grandkids will probably love the time they will be able to spend with them. The current signs in the windows say “Retirement Sale”. They moved the “Moving Sale” signs after their wrestling with moving the location vs retiring to a new life after over fifty-five years.
Looking from the outside of the store, it’s difficult to see if the business is open. It’s dark-looking going in but when inside, the beauty of the merchandise was stunningly brilliant. There was in all of the glass cases beautiful jewerly of every kind including, watches, rings, bracelets and throughout the store their were other items on shelves and tucked in corners and cabinets. I went during the Christmas season and found it full of seasonal decorations including at least 2 Christmas trees.
The 132 year old store has had a great run in Jacksonville. There are a lot of different stories telling of it’s great beginning on Bay Street and now it comes to a close leaving the 208 N. Laura Street address at the corner of Adams Street.
It will be missed as will Roy and Deloris Thomas but they will be cashing in their tokens for full value in a new life.
