Tag Archives: Jack Spottswood

New Story: Poisoning Durkeeville: Fairfax Street Wood Treaters / Howard Feed Mills / American Motors Export Company

Posted on December 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

It’s a story of an automobile empire that never was, of a “Mediterranean-style” town vetoed by the Great Depression, of a wood treatment facility that poisoned a black neighborhood for 30 years. The multiple lives of the old American Motors Export Building still haunt these 12 acres in the middle of Durkeeville.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged AMEC, American Motors Export Company, Chromated Copper Arsenate, Continental Can Company, Durkeeville, Ennis Davis, Environmental Protection Agency, Ernest Lundy, Fairfax Street Wood Treaters, Florida Departments of Environmental Protection, George Howard, Granada Jacksonville, Harold Saxelbye, Health and of Financial Services, Henry Innes, Howard Feed Mills, Innes coup, Innes producer, Innes sedan, Innes Touring Car, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville Brewing Company, Jax Beer, jax psycho geo, Lawrence Webb Howard, Marsh and Saxelbye, Moncrief Creek, Mulford Marsh, R.V. Daniels Elementary School, Reclaiming Jacksonville, Representative Tracie Davis, superfund site, Susie E. Tolbert Elementary, Tim Gilmore, Tracie Davis, Trout River, Veri-Best, Wood Treaters LLC

New Story: The Park Lane Apartment Building

Posted on December 13, 2019 | 2 comments

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

When Hurricane Irma assailed the building, all they could see from the 10th floor was the water. It had been a long time since Tim first decided, at 10 years old, he’d one day call the Park Lane home. It had been a long time since the president of Barnett Bank petitioned the church to “unclaim” his “daughter” so he could marry her, since the future author of “A Wrinkle in Time,” Madeleine L’Engle called the Park Lane home. Not so long since Ivey jetted to Newport with Brownie to meet Foxy and Mary. Nor since Evelyn Nehl, who called the penthouse suite home, brought the AIDS Quilt to Jacksonville.

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged A Wrinkle in Time, Amanda Toman, Anna Barnett, Barnett Bank, Bill Ectric, Bion Barnett, Brownie McClean, Carolina Barnett, Duncan Sawyer, Evelyn Nehl, Flora Hyman, Florida history, Florida Land Boom, George Benjamin, Hurricane Irma, Ivey Prescott, Ivey Wisenbaker Prescott, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville history, Jacksonville Jewish Temple, Jacksonville Park Lane, Jake Godbold, jax psycho geo, Jeff Martin, John Steven Hughes, KBJ, Kemp Bunch and Jackson, Leonard Marcus, Madeleine L'Engle, Mary Freels Rosborough, Mary L'Engle Avent, Memorial Park, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Park Lane, Park Lane Apartments, Park Lane Apartments Jacksonville, Park Lane Building, Park Lane Building Jacksonville, Park Lane Jacksonville, Roy Benjamin, Simon Benjamin, St Johns River, Summer of the Great-Grandmother, Tim Gilmore, Tim Toman, Wadsworth Camp, William Barnett, Wind in the Door, Year of the Skyscraper

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

Posted on August 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

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

When Jax Declared Its Center a “Slum Heart,” ‘Evil,” and Demanded Exorcism

Posted on May 5, 2018 | 1 comment

Click below for the full story:

The deep baritone drips with condescension, festers with open sarcasm.

“This very plumbing, if you can dignify it with the name of plumbing, can bring disease and death into your home through the medium of your servants.”

“Come to think of it,” Slum Heart recalls, opportunistically, “that servant girl who comes to your house each morning […] Do you know where she goes at night?”

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Alexander Crosby, Bender Cawthon, Black Bottom, Blodgett, Brentwood, Brooklyn, Durkeeville, Eartha White, Federal Housing Authority, Florida Theatre, Hansontown, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville Housing Authority, jaxpsychogeo, LaVilla, Mollie Chapman, Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, Nasrallah Building, Negro Advisory Council, One Bad Apple, Slum Heart of Jacksonville, slumlords, Springfield, State Board of Health Building, Tim Gilmore