Tag Archives: Springfield Jacksonville

Lost Smiles on Moving Day, 1973

Posted on August 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

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The moment would have vanished entirely, but for these few photos Lon King took in 1973. The Housing Department was demolishing the house and the duplex where the five kids lived next door. Fifty years later, the land is still empty. He’d moved downtown for work, grown his hair, rode his bikes through the empty streets. He still wonders what happened to those kids.

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Tagged Centennial Towers, Confederate Street Jacksonville, Dorothy Kimbrell, Herschel Shepard and George Fisher, Hogans Creek Jacksonville, Jacksonville Housing Authority, James Kimbrell, Ju'Coby Pittman, Kimbrell Apartments Jacksonville, Kimbrell Real Estate, Lon King, Sareeda James, Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, Springfield Jacksonville, Terry Parker High School, Tim Gilmore

How the Applegate House Became Kiley Secrest’s

Posted on March 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

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When architectural portraitist Kiley Secrest first moved to Springfield a decade ago, he set about drawing it, one house at a time. He illustrated The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, about that strange woman who wrote an 8,448 page book about Jax. He’s fascinated with Fillmore Applegate who built for his wife Stella the cottage Kiley just bought, where he hopes to spend the rest of his life.

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Tagged Arthur Perry, Drysdale Street, Drysdale Street Jacksonville, Fillmore Applegate, Fleming Island Clay County, Hart Furniture Company, horseshoe arches, Hurley Winkler, jax psycho geo, Kiley Secrest, Kiley Secrest Jacksonville, Mad Atlas of Virginia King FSCJ, Northwest Quadrant Springfield Jacksonville, Pat Nodurft, Perversion magazine, Redwing Street Jacksonville, Residential Renderings Jacksonville, Residential Renderings Kiley Secrest, Richard Drysdale, Springfield Jacksonville, Stella Applegate, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, Tim Gilmore, Virginia King

New Story: Architect Ted Pappas’s Design for St. John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church

Posted on December 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The first solo design for architect Ted Pappas, son of Greek immigrants, was the new home of the city’s Greek Orthodox church. The history of St. John the Divine reflects the history of the Greek community in Jacksonville. The icon screen, built by George Doro a century ago, moved to Pappas’s postmodern design from the original church, a historic landmark demolished for a parking lot. Now, a new congregation has saved this sanctuary for another generation.

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Tagged Architect Ted Pappas, Athens Cafe, Congregation Ahavath Chesed Synagogue, Dellwood Street, E.B. Papazisis, Eleftherios Pappas, Ernest Street, Fifika Pappas, First Baptist Church, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Doro, George Doro Fixture Company, Gilmore Street, Greek Orthodox church Jacksonville, Henry John Klutho, J.H.W. Hawkins, James Kalogerakos, jax psycho geo, Margaret Street, Mark Pappas, Mary L. Singleton Senior Center, Mary Roman, Metropolitan Community Church of Jacksonville, Michael Sarris, Nick Louh, Phillip Pappas, Riverside Avondale, Robert Broward, Robert E. Lee High School, Springfield Jacksonville, St John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church, St. John Episcopal Cathedral, St. John of Damascus, Stockton Street, Taylor Hardwick, Ted Pappas, Tim Gilmore, Tom Christon

Wesley Plott’s Downtown Bottlescape

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

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He knew all the best places to dig downtown, in Springfield and in Riverside for hundred year old bottles. He found Indian pottery, toys, newspapers, parts of skulls and Civil War munitions. His 40 year old 50 page book, Antique Bottles Found in Northeast Florida, contains chapters called “Locating Dumps,” “Known Bottle Dumps” and “Hidden Treasures Just for You!” He also claims to have unearthed an ancient body, then reburied it, downtown on Adams Street. Click below for the story.

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Tagged A Century of Medicine in Jacksonville and Duval County, A.S. Baldwin, Antique Bottle Club of Jacksonville, bottle collecting Northeast Florida, Dr. A.S. Baldwin, Duval County Board of Health, Florida history, Henry John Klutho Park, Independent Life Building, Jacksonville Free Public Library, Jacksonville history, jaxpsychogeo, McCoys Creek, Old St. Luke's Hospital, Purple Petunia, Springfield Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Timucua, Timucuan Indians, Tudor Revival, Webster Merritt, Wesley B. Plott, Windsor Hotel

Springfield’s Florence Court Apartments

Posted on June 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

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Cyara likes to imagine herself “Queen Florence.” More than a century before, the builder of the Florence Court named these apartments for his wife. On the sidewalk, you’d buy linen spats and a ham and beef tongue sandwich. So why was the architect’s name an open secret for 50 years? Mushrooms grow downward from ceilings. This building’s declined almost all its life. Who’s ready to step forward and save it?

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Tagged 1748 Bakehouse, Anthony Scott, Benjamin Tucker, Bernard Mitchell, Capitol Theatre, Crispy's Springfield, Cyara Williams, Florence Court, Florence Court Apartments, Florida Hotel, Florida Life Building, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank M. Richardson, Harry Atlas Shoe Repair, Henry John Klutho, Hyperion Brewing, Ken Amaro, Kingsbury Norton, Klutho Apartments, Klutho House, Louis C. McCormick, Morocco Temple, Newell's Bakery, Paul's Luncheonette, Prairie Style Cross, Robert Broward, Slide Kelly Slide, Social Grounds Coffee, Springfield Court, Springfield Jacksonville, Syrup of Figs, The Architecture of Henry John Klutho: The Prairie School in Jacksonville, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, The Yankee Clipper, Tim Gilmore, Tree of Life, Virginia King, W.H. Newell, William Hoff

Ellenelle: An Architectural Tribute and Shrine to a Great Writer

Posted on January 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

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The house called Ellenelle is a tribute to the architecture of Henry John Klutho. It’s also a sacred space, a private literary and family temple. Ed had hoped that perhaps in his aunt’s last years, the great writer might come to live here. The bedroom to the side of the library is hers, even if she never inhabited it.

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Tagged Amasa Coleman Lee, Ed Conner, Ellenelle, Frank Lloyd Wright, Great Books Program, Henry John Klutho, Herschel Henry Conner III, Jacksonville architecture, Jacksonville history, Jason Fisher, jax psycho geo, Kentucky State University, Klutho House, Prairie style architecture, Robert Broward, Springfield Jacksonville, Springfield Usonian, Tim Gilmore

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

New Story: First Baptist Church

Posted on October 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

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First Baptist Church has perhaps received more love and more hate than any other entity in Jacksonville. It dates to a ca.-Civil War split with black church members who retained the original name, Bethel Baptist. In 1923, Pastor W.A. Hobson welcomed 200 Klansmen in full regalia into his farewell sermon. In the 1980s, Pastors Homer Lindsay and Jerry Vines ignited a showdown with more “liberal” members of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2019, what once seemed unthinkable occurs: the church plans to sell 90 percent of its downtown campus.

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Tagged A.C. Shuler, Bethel Baptist Church, Billy Graham, Bob Gray, Calvary Baptist Church, Celebration Church, Christian Alamo, Donald Trump, Eleven22, FBC Watchdog, First Baptist Church, First Baptist Church Watchdog, Fuller Warren, Heath Lambert, Henry John Klutho, Hobson Auditorium, Homer Dome, Homer Lindsay, Homer Lindsay Jr., Human Rights Ordinance, James Fifield, Jerry Falwell, Jerry Vines, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, Lester Roloff, Liberty University, Mac Brunson, Martin Luther King, Moral Majority, Prosperity Gospel, Rebekah Home for Girls, Robert Calhoun Gray, Robert Morris, Southern Baptist Convention, Springfield Jacksonville, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Trinity Baptist Church, W.A. Hobson

New Story: Ottis Toole’s Mother’s House (Until He Burnt It Down)

Posted on July 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

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The first time Ottis Toole burnt down his mother’s house, he was 10 or 11 years old. When he burnt down his mother’s house on Day Avenue in 1981, his name wasn’t yet famous as either one of the worst serial killers in history, or one of the biggest fakes.

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Tagged Adam Walsh, Becky Powell, Buddy Terry, Day Avenue, Death Diploma, Drusilla Powell, Drusilla Toole, Frank Powell, George Sonnenberg, Hammond Grocery, Henry Lee Lucas, Jacksonville history, Joel Norris, Murray Hill Heights, Ottis Toole, Springfield Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore

Big Jim, Mouthpiece of the City’s Wild Soul

Posted on January 19, 2019 | 1 comment

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Rexall Drugs sold the Americanitis Elixir to salve the nerves of anxious city dwellers suffering from noises like Big Jim. The State Board of Health condemned the old steam whistle, said it brought strong, rugged men to the breaking point.

John Einig, the same inventor who built Jacksonville’s first automobile, had designed Big Jim. The whistle sounded the end of world wars, the dawn of electric lighting, the Great Fire of 1901, and the death of its inventor. The 140 year old whistle still sounds four times a day over Springfield and Downtown.

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Tagged Americanitis Elixir, Big Jim, Big Jim steam whistle. Americanitis, Florida State Board of Health, Jacksonville Electric Authority, Jacksonville Waterworks, James Patterson, jaxpsychogeo, JEA, John Einig, Kiley Secrest, Lou Winnard, Patsy Bryant, S.B. Hubbard, Sandy Strickland, Sarah Clarke Stuart, Springfield Jacksonville, St. James Hotel, T. Frederick Davis, Tim Gilmore, Waterworks Building

Tag Archives: Springfield Jacksonville

Lost Smiles on Moving Day, 1973

How the Applegate House Became Kiley Secrest’s

New Story: Architect Ted Pappas’s Design for St. John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church

Wesley Plott’s Downtown Bottlescape

Ellenelle: An Architectural Tribute and Shrine to a Great Writer

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

New Story: First Baptist Church

New Story: Ottis Toole’s Mother’s House (Until He Burnt It Down)

Big Jim, Mouthpiece of the City’s Wild Soul

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