Tag Archives: San Marco

Leaving the Carl Swisher Mansion

Posted on January 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

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Lori Boyer has called the old Carl Swisher mansion in San Marco home for 35 years. She mourned one husband here, married another. John Swisher, manufacturer of King Edward Cigars, built this house for his son right beside his own in 1930. Boyer says she’s a period in the house’s history and now it’s time for another family.

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Tagged Alan Wilson, Angela Schifanella, Carl Swisher, Edward Moorhouse, Epping Forest, Herbert Swisher, Hugh Nicholson, Jno H. Swisher and Son, John Swisher, Lori Boyer, Lori Nemeyer, Lori Tofflemire, Marsh and Saxelbye, Martha Mitchell, Ron Nemeyer, San Jose Hotel, San Marco, San Marco Square, Swisher International, Swisher Mansion, Tim Gilmore, Tyrie Boyer, Villa Alexandria

New Story: Schools Named for Confederates and the Demise of Manhattan Beach

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Leave a comment

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Joseph Finegan Elementary School, named for a Confederate general, stands where segregated black Manhattan Beach once was. White developers said they wanted “Negroes removed from the oceanfront” and the one business whose family didn’t sell was destroyed in a “mysterious fire.” So, “what’s in a name?” Juliet asked.

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Tagged Agnes Lloyd Cobb, Alfred duPont, American Beach, An American Beach for African Americans, Atlantic Beach, Avondale, Bob Rutter, Camilla Thompson, Chloe Merrick, Davis Street Blues, Deerwood, Dew Drop Alley Stomp, Don Mabry, Donal Godfrey, Eartha White, Ed Ball, Edward Ball, Hanna Park, Harcourt Bull, Henry Flagler, jax psycho geo, jaxpsychogeo, JEB Stuart, Jefferson Davis Junior High, Jefferson Davis Middle School, Jessie Ball duPont, Joseph Davin, Joseph E. Lee, Joseph Finegan, Joseph Finegan Elementary School, Kathryn Abbey Hanna, Ku Klux Klan, Lackawanna Elementary, Mack Wilson, Mack Wilson's Pavilion, Manhattan Beach, Marsha Dean Phelts, Nathan Bedford F, Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach, RCBS Corporation, Robert Hayden, Rogers Crawford Swartz and Bull, San Marco, Stockton Whatley Davin, Sugar Underwood, Tim Gilmore

New Story: Epping Forest

Posted on April 15, 2021 | 1 comment

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Epping Forest is the grandest historic estate in Jacksonville. Well known, the summits of world leaders here. Well known, its original owner’s personal manipulation of banking in the Great Depression. Why, however, did Alfred Dent believe his grandmother, Jessie Ball duPont, and her brother, Edward Ball, had murdered his grandfather, Alfred duPont? Also, what’s up with the pelicans and squirrels and vampire faces?

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Tagged Alfred Dent, Alfred duPont, Alfred duPont murder theory, Anwar Sadat, Bolles Hall, Bolles School, E.I. duPont and de Nemours and Co., Ed Ball, Edward Ball, Emir of Sharjah, Epping Forest, Florida East Coast Railway, Florida National Bank, Florida Probate Act, Francis X. Donnelly, Gate Petroleum Co., Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger, Herb Peyton, Jacksonville Jewish Community Council, jax psycho geo, Jessie Ball duPont, Jessie Ball duPont murder theory, John Peyton, Marsh and Saxelbye, Mayor Hans Tanzler, Mediterranean Revival, Priscilla Jennerette, Raymond Mason, Raymond Mason Jr., Ruth Ball, San Jose, San Jose Hotel, San Marco, St. Joe Paper Company, Ted Pappas, Tim Gilmore

The Oldest House at Atlantic Beach: The Christopher / Bull / Hionides House

Posted on September 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

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It’s the oldest house at Atlantic Beach, its original owner’s “party house,” home to the family of the town’s first mayor for seven decades, to the Hionides family for three. Here the fate of black Manhattan Beach played out and the mysterious Jax blues musician Sugar Underwood played at dances. Inside, bright sunlight coruscates across golden heartwood pine. Outside, grandchildren run up from the ocean.

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Tagged Alfred du Pont, Atlantic Beach, Atlantic Beach Corporation, Atlantic Beach Hotel, Avondale, Blind Blake, Chris Hionides, Christopher Aguilar, Davis Street Blues, Deerwood Country Club, Dew Drop Alley, Dew Drop Alley Stomp, Don Mabry, Doyle Carlton, Edward Ball, Florida Land Boom, Foundation Academy, FSCJ Downtown Campus, Gamal Abdel Nasser, George Bull, Hansontown, Harcourt Bull, Henry Flagler, Jacksonville Blues, Jacksonville Science Fair, Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage, jax psycho geo, jaxpsychogeo, Jesse Ball du Pont, John G. Ch, John G. Christopher, Joseph Davin, Jr., Landon Junior and Senior High School, Manhattan Beach, Mary Bull, Mary Lou Bull, Mat(t)hew Emanuel “Sugar” Underwood, Mayport Naval Station, Murray Hall, Murray Hall Hotel, Mutamassirun, Nadia Hionides, Pablo Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, Queen of the St. Johns, RCBS Corporation, Richard Bull, Ruby Florida, San Marco, Seminole Cyprus Lumber Company, Sr., Stockton Whatley Davin, Subjinski House, Subjinski House Jacksonville Beach, Telfair Stockton Company, The Row Riverside Avenue, Tim Gilmore, William Morgan, William Morgan architect

New Story: Polio in Florida, Ann Adams, the Artist Who Painted with her Teeth

Posted on March 27, 2020 | 1 comment

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The caption said, “This card was drawn by mouth by Ann Adams, a polio patient in Jacksonville, Florida.” Ann was paralyzed from the neck down. She slept in an iron lung. For most of her life, she never drew a breath on her own. “Through perseverance, she trained herself to draw by holding a pencil between her teeth. Each original drawing takes up to two months to complete.”

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Tagged ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Ann Adams, Ann V. Adams, Central Carolina Convalescent Hospital, Empire Point, FJC, Florida history, Florida Junior College, Florida Junior College Southside Campus, Frank Anderson, Greensboro Polio Hospital, Harbor Oaks Road, Harry Doll, Infantile Paralysis, Inwood Park, Inwood Terrace, Iron Lung, Joan Gilmore, Joan Irene Gilmore, Jonas Salk, Kenneth V. Adams, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Lynn Tieslau, March of Dimes, pandemic, Polio, rocking bed, Rosilynd Jackson, San Marco, San Vizcaya Drive, Sandra Earley-Marsh, Sidney Fields, South Jacksonville, South Jacksonville Grammar School, Tim Gilmore, William D. Dando

This Week’s Story: The Final Flooding of This Particular History–Marjenhoff Park

Posted on November 14, 2019 | Leave a comment

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In five years, this neighborhood will be flooded and returned to swamp. When Hurricane Irma turned Marjenhoff Park and its surrounding houses into a swirl of swill, long after the 25 year history of South Jacksonville as a city, long after those little boys chased an alligator through city pipes, almost a century after South Jax City Councilman and son blurred ages, still: once “haunt” and “home” meant the same thing.

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Tagged A.D. Marjenhoff, Abbott Simmons, Alex Marjenhoff, C.E. Steinhauser, climate change, Debra Webb Rogers, Derrida, Dwight Carpenter, E.O. Painter, Fred Marjenhoff, Harrison Reed, hauntology, Hendricks Plantation, Hurricane Irma, J. Turner Butler, J.F. Jones, J.M. Lorimer, jaxpsychogeo, John Fletcher White, Lenny Curry, Lilla White, Marjenhoff House, Marjenhoff Park, San Marco, South Jacksonville, South Jacksonville City Council, South Jacksonville City Hall, Southampton Park, T.J. Harris, Tim Gilmore, Van Valkenburgh

Craig Creek: From River Oaks to Oriental Gardens to Jax Ghats

Posted on June 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

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Craig Creek floods herons and frogs and oak roots. William Craig prepared to lead his army for the Republic of East Florida against the Spanish Empire. “Oriental Gardens” overflowed from George W. Clark’s Riverside residence across the St. Johns River to just south of San Marco.

The cypress trees along Craig Creek rise yet, love letters still molder in a particular attic, and the gardens still descend stone steps, Jax ghats, into the ancient river.

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Tagged " Mirror Lake, "Hell Screen, Craig Creek, George W. Clark, ghats, Great Blue Heron, Jax Ghats, jaxpsychogeo, Klutho, Oriental Gardens, Panama Park, Republic of East Florida, River Oaks Park, Riverside, Robert Broward, Rosa Parks, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, San Marco, singing gardens, Springfield Realty Company, Tim Gilmore

The Balis House / the Herbert Swisher House

Posted on February 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

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Herbert Swisher was a “trust fund baby.” His grandfather built him a house. Sheffield and Abla Balis left the Franco-Syrian War in the Middle East and made Herbert’s house their home. When Sheffield died, Abla built him a tower.

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Tagged Abla Balis, Arnold Southwell, Balis House, Balis Tower, Carl Swisher, Debra Pataky, Herbert Swisher, Immigrant Jacksonville, Jacksonville, jaxpsychogeo, John Swisher, Jon Pataky, Katherine Cohen, Lilian Davin Park, River Road, Robin Robinson, San Marco, Sheffield Balis, Swisher House, Tim Gilmore, Villa Alexandria

San Marco’s Swisher House (John H.) and Villa Alexandria

Posted on January 13, 2018 | Leave a comment

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All big houses harbor the loneliness of unpeopled space. When Heather was a little girl, she didn’t understand the elevator went up and down. She thought it somehow “swapped the rooms around.”

Christina says, “I don’t think Mrs. Mitchell liked that they tore her house down.”

Carl Swisher always carried jokes in his pocket. Workers rolled 600 to 700 cigars a day.

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Tagged Alexander Mitchell, Carl S. Swisher, Christina Gatlin, Frank Gatlin, Franklin Gatlin, Gae Cavanagh, Great Depression, Heather Cavanagh, Herbert Swisher, Jacksonville, jaxpsychogeo, John Cavanagh, John H. Swisher, Johnnie Swisher, Joseph Davin, King Edward Cigars, Lillian Davin, Little Theater, Martha Mitchell, River Road, San Marco, Stuart Cavanaugh, Swisher and Son, Swisher Brothers, Swisher House, Swisher International, Swisher Place, Telfair Stockton, Theater Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Villa Alexandria

Tag Archives: San Marco

Leaving the Carl Swisher Mansion

New Story: Schools Named for Confederates and the Demise of Manhattan Beach

New Story: Epping Forest

The Oldest House at Atlantic Beach: The Christopher / Bull / Hionides House

New Story: Polio in Florida, Ann Adams, the Artist Who Painted with her Teeth

This Week’s Story: The Final Flooding of This Particular History–Marjenhoff Park

Craig Creek: From River Oaks to Oriental Gardens to Jax Ghats

The Balis House / the Herbert Swisher House

San Marco’s Swisher House (John H.) and Villa Alexandria

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