Tag Archives: Andrew Jackson High School

The Ballad of Skimp Tillman

Posted on January 29, 2022 | 1 comment

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Skimp Tillman, one-eyed owner of Skimp’s Bar at Main and State Streets, occasionally shot and killed a customer, the last time because of a patron’s opinion of a Jax “gangland slaying.” Skimp served his liquor at the nexus of organized crime and a corrupt Jax sheriff’s office, then died in the electric chair. His son became a judge.

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Tagged Ambassador Hotel Jacksonville, Andrew Jackson High School, Armory Jacksonville, Auburn Todd, Beaver Street Baptist Church, Bernice Tillman, Christina Todd, Curtis Tillman, Curtis V. Tillman, D.M. Stevens, Dolly Young, Don M. Stevens, Edmund Wood, Edna Myers Tillman, Frank Costello, Frank Wood, Frank Wood Henry Tillman, George Hickman Palace Theater, H.V. Tillman, Henry Tillman, Henry V. "Skimp" Tillman, Henry V. Tillman, Irving Novitsky, James Melvin, jaxpsychogeo, Jimmie Murdock, Joe Adonis, John A. Rush Jacksonville, John Rush attorney, Judge Curtis V. Tillman, Justice Roy Harrison Chapman, Leslie Oldham, Ludie Tillman, M.B. Lee, Margaret Elsie Johnson, Milton Plumb, organized crime Jacksonville, Palace Theater Jacksonville, Peggy Tillman, Reverend George Hodges, Rex Sweat, Richard "Smitty" Melvin, Skimp Tillman, Skimp's Bar, Skimp's Bar Jacksonville, Smitty Melvin, Tallulah Avenue Jacksonville, The Arena Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Walter "Bull" Novitsky, Walter Novitsky

Spiritual Lighthouse Church

Posted on January 29, 2021 | 2 comments

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It was home, in the old days, to Southern preaching, bluegrass mandolin, and séances. Bluegrass gospel musicians Billie and Gordon Hamrick were staunch Southern Baptists, but Billie had “psychic visions.” The line of Spiritualist pastors here, almost all women, dates back to training by the famous psychic Edgar Cayce. In one of Jill Cook Richards’s first séances at the church, she says, her guardian angel came to her.

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Tagged Andrew Jackson High School, Anna Fletcher, Association for Research and Enlightenment, Atlantis, Billie and Gordon Hamrick, Billie Hamrick, Bob Gray, Chris Hansen, Cosmic Church of Truth, Crestwood Street, Duncan Fletcher, Duncan U. Fletcher, Edgar Cayce, Glidden, Glidden Chemical Company, Gordon Hamrick, Grace Brewer, Ida Pierce, Jacksonville Woman's Club, Jill Cook, Jill Cook Richards, Jimmy Cox, Katie Seltzer, Kirby Smith Junior High School, Lemuria, Marty Hamrick, Mary Ann Lindley, Mary Cox, Millennium Specialty Chemicals, Naomi Hansen, Norwood, Old Country Church TV show, Playtime Drive-In, Southern Gothic Jacksonville, Spiritual Lighthouse Church, Standard Turpentine Co., Symrise, Tim Gilmore, Tina McAlister, Trinity Baptist Church, William C. Hansen

Harry Crews’s Childhood Nightmare Northside

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The novelist Harry Crews chronicled how Jacksonville imported desperation from half the state of Georgia. It offered hope, but required human sacrifice. First coming to Jax when his stepfather-uncle aimed a rifle at his mother’s head, Harry lived in half a dozen houses across the Northside, all of which his family called “the Springfield Section.” When Harper Lee read Crews’s second novel, she said William Faulkner had come back to life.

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Tagged " E.E. Cummings, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Abraham Joseph, Andrew Jackson High School, Bacon County Georgia, Biography of Harry Crews, Blood Bone and Marrow, Drew Mansion, Erskine Caldwell, Fairfield, Florida Gothic, Franklin Street Baptist Church, Grit Lit, Harper Lee, Harry Crews, Historic Springfield Jacksonville, Hoyett Crews, Jacksonville Northside, jax psycho geo, Jeeter Lester, Junior Lister, King Edward Cigars, Klutho Apartments, Klutho House, Leland Lister, Myrtice Crews, Naked in Garden Hills, New Springfield, North Jacksonville, Okefenokee Swamp, Paschal Crews, Phoenix, Phoenix Avenue, Public School no. 8, Ray Crews, Scar Lover, Southern Gothic, Springfield, Swisher and Son, Ted Geltner, Tim Gilmore, Tobacco Road, University of Florida, white flight, William Faulkner

Jax Zoo (For Harry Crews, Jiggs and Gandai)

Posted on September 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

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In Harry Crews’s 1992 novel Scar Lover, the Jax Zoo becomes the scene of Southern Gothic anti-epiphany. For years, descriptions of the zoo in the news sounded hardly more pathetic than in Crews. If what happened to Jiggs seems unforgiveable, maybe, hopefully, the baby gorilla named Gandai can offer us all redemption.

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Tagged " E.E. Cummings, "A Day at the Zoo, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, Andrew Jackson High School, Angel Dust, Bacon County Georgia, Beth Reese Cravey, Bulera, Colo the Gorilla, Columbus Zoo, Doug Dean, Enoch Emery, Flannery O'Connor, Gainesville Florida, Gandai, Hans Tanzler, Harry Crews, Hazel Motes, J.J. Vitale, Jack Meyer, Jacksonville Florida, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Zoo, James Savoy, jaxpsychogeo, Jiggs the orangutan, King Edward Cigars, Kumbuka, PCP, Pete Butcher, Peter Lipkovic, Phencyclidine, Russell-Barton Film Co, Scar Lover, Swisher and Son, Taulkinham Georgia, Tim Gilmore, Trout River, Turlington Hall, University of Florida

This Week’s Story: Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Posted on August 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

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Helen’s mother could take a sip and tell which city had bottled the Coke. When the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant opened in New Springfield, Charles Guth–“ruthless rascal,” murderer, future president of Pepsi–opened a bottling plant across the street. In later years, William played hide-and-seek amidst abandoned equipment while his parents cleaned at night.

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Tagged Albert Kahn, Andrew Jackson High School, atherine Hobbs Seneath, Bludwine, Charles Guth, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, CV Sales Fire Protection Equipment, Gayle Cooper, George Murphy, Guth Chocolate, Guth Cola, Harold Saxelbye, Helen Sauls, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville history, James Bullock, jax psycho geo, John Wesley Young, King Edward Cigars, Levin L. Dirickson Jr., Loft Candy Company, Marsh and Saxelbye, Mavis Candies, Mavis Cola, Maxwell House, Mulford Marsh, New Springfield, Pure Oil Filling Station Riverside, Purple Petunia, Richard Tedlow, Swisher and Son, Tim Gilmore, Tip-Top Bread, Ward's Bakery, Wesley Plott, William Compton