Tag Archives: Greenleaf and Crosby

The Barnett National Bank Building, Its Deep Roots and Tendrils through Time

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It was “the Year of the Skyscraper.” The 10 story building next door began to tilt. Alfred duPont raised Florida from the Great Depression, merely from infusions of his personal wealth. When Barnett began the Bank of Jacksonville in 1877, he couldn’t have known it would grow into one of the largest banks in the South. After Herbert Hoover, Alfred’s wife, Jessie Ball duPont, changed direction. Her hair was graying, but her eyes still sparkled.

Barnett’s personification of its first Automatic Teller Machine frightened Southern working class families. Charles Rice said he’d never sell “Bion Barnett’s bank.” Then he checked into rehab. Then he sold. Then he drowned in his own swimming pool. Now UNF is making the Barnett “the front door to the startup community in Jacksonville.”

New Story: The clock the bus smashed

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The Seth Thomas Clock Company built 100 identical clocks for America’s streets. The Greenleaf and Crosby Clock is one of only 12 that remain.

Seth Thomas 5

A bus smashed it to the ground in 1974. A one-handed man rebuilt it. Three months after the Great Fire of 1901, this clock stood in the ashes.