Tag Archives: Jacksonville University

In the Ghost of Delius’s Lost Orange Grove

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After he died, his sister said his spirit still visited this place. But how do you lose an orange grove? Two miles down a flooded dirt road, I’m looking for a lost memorial and the ghostly remains of old orange trees. The cottage was moved 60 years ago, but the coquina marker to Frederick Delius and the “sound of place” still stands.

When Artis Gilmore Led a Whole City to the NCAA Championship

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In 1970, Jacksonville University marched toward the NCAA championships, David v. Goliath, and enraptured its city in the process. Sports Illustrated called JU a “transformed junior college” and Jax the urban heart of the Okefenokee Swamp. The first page of the yearbook caught the front of one shoe, nothing more: Artis Gilmore stood 7’2″, but some added six inches for his afro.

New Story: Wandering the Ruins of the Thunderbird Motor Hotel

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The Thunderbird Motor Hotel lies in ruins on 19 acres. We wander through it. It was “one of the brightest jewels in the Florida Crown,” created to “give Jacksonville a Las Vegas, New York, big-city type of night club atmosphere.” It featured multiple lounges like The Zodiac Room and The Wonderfall, dinner theatre and convention space. The stars came. For a while. Few realized its full history of financial troubles. Now a hawk flies over the abandoned swimming pool. Click below for the story.

New Story: Jacksonville University Apartment District: French Quarter Apartments / University Townhomes

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It was an optimistic time. 50 years ago this Christmas. Today Richard Minor stands where he first learned to walk. His father taught astronomy at Jacksonville University, across the street from this then-new apartment district. His mother, a stenographer, played the ukele, read thick novels and made the martinis at 5. The ’60s promised a younger, more prosperous and more educated America.