Tag Archives: Historic Springfield Jacksonville

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

Halloween-week story: Spence Auto Sales and Ottis Toole Death Car

Posted on October 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

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It was November 1983, six months since Spence had last seen Ottis Toole, the great fake serial killer. Detectives thought they could pin the Ottis Toole death car and a rusty machete to Spence Auto Sales. Two months later, Spencer Bennett was dead.

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Tagged 708 Day Avenue, Adam Walsh, Becky Powell, Betty Goodyear, Bob Harley, Buddy Terry, Catlin Truck Accessories, Clyde Miller, Drusilla Arzetta, Drusilla Arzetta Toole, Drusilla Toole, Florida Turnpike, Frieda Lorraine Powell, Frieda Powell, Henry Lee Lucas, Historic Springfield Jacksonville, Hollywood Police Department, Jack Hoffman, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, jaxpsychogeo, Larry Hoisington, Oakwood Street, Ottis Toole, Ottis Toole death car, Panama Gardens, Ron Hickman, Sarah Harley, Spence Auto Sales, Spencer Bennett, Spencer C. Bennett, Spencer Clement Bennett, Springfield Jacksonville, Stalking Ottis Toole, Standard Oil Station, Tim Gilmore, Vero Beach, William Catlin

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

Posted on June 17, 2019 | Leave a comment

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David Karpeles understands what Mary Baker Eddy knew: that one sheet of paper can move a planet. A decade after the founding of the Mother Church in Boston, Jax had its own Christian Science congregation. It was supposed to be a “rational approach to spirituality,” but so was Spiritualism. Now this building’s spiritual acoustics soak up the city’s art and music. And that’s appropriate.

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Tagged China Cat Sunflower Festival, Christian Science, David Karpeles, Elizabeth Baker, First Church of Christ Scientist Jacksonville, Historic Springfield Jacksonville, Hogans Creek, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Woman's Club, Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Klutho Park, Leilani Leo, Marsh and Saxlebye, Mary Baker Eddy, Mollie LeNoir, Ouija Brothers, Phineas Quimby, Richard Minor, Rose Shepherd, Solon Spencer Beman, Spencer Solon Beman, Spiritualism, Springfield Park, Tim Gilmore