Big Jim, Mouthpiece of the City’s Wild Soul

Posted on January 19, 2019 | 1 Comment

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Rexall Drugs sold the Americanitis Elixir to salve the nerves of anxious city dwellers suffering from noises like Big Jim. The State Board of Health condemned the old steam whistle, said it brought strong, rugged men to the breaking point.

John Einig, the same inventor who built Jacksonville’s first automobile, had designed Big Jim. The whistle sounded the end of world wars, the dawn of electric lighting, the Great Fire of 1901, and the death of its inventor. The 140 year old whistle still sounds four times a day over Springfield and Downtown.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Americanitis Elixir, Big Jim, Big Jim steam whistle. Americanitis, Florida State Board of Health, Jacksonville Electric Authority, Jacksonville Waterworks, James Patterson, jaxpsychogeo, JEA, John Einig, Kiley Secrest, Lou Winnard, Patsy Bryant, S.B. Hubbard, Sandy Strickland, Sarah Clarke Stuart, Springfield Jacksonville, St. James Hotel, T. Frederick Davis, Tim Gilmore, Waterworks Building. Bookmark the permalink.

One response to “Big Jim, Mouthpiece of the City’s Wild Soul”

Brett Waller | January 19, 2019 at 10:34 am |

I love Big Jim and I never knew the story. I used to run a lunchtime AA meeting in downtown off 1st street which I named the Yabba-Dabba-Doo Meeting because of that whistle and it’s cultural reference to the Flintstones TV show. That meeting is still going on and the whistle still blows. Thanks for the schooling Tim.

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