Tag Archives: The Mad Atlas of Virginia King

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

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

Story #509: Riverdale Inn / Brazile House / Kelly House

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

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Walter Brazile founded B & B Exterminating Co. in his rambling old boarding house. He nurtured the business and nurtured people, including Rufus King, Jr., brother of Virginia, author of that 8,448-page book about Jax. William Kelly, turpentine magnate, built the house 115 years ago. Albert O’Neall, though a Quaker, took a job here building bombing ranges. Now the former HQ of B & B has been restored as a bed-and-breakfast. One of my favorite writers stayed here just last week.

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Tagged Albert Ellis O'Neall, Albert O'Neall, Arden Herrin, B & B Exterminating, Barnett Mansion Springfield, Benvenuto, Bret Burmeister, Charlie Towers, Claude L'Engle, Consolidated Naval Stores, Elizabeth Brazile, Eric Waln, Florida history, Gum Bunch, Haydon Burns Library, Henry John Klutho, Irma O'Neall, J.E.T. Bowden, Jacksonville Florida, jax psycho geo, Jessica Miner-Killian, Jonathan Greeley, Larry James Bana, LaVilla, Malcolm Gladwell Jacksonville, Marjorie Ann O'Neall, Mary Mychael Waln, McCoys Creek, Mellen Greeley, Memorial Park, Napier Apartments, naval stores, Orren McJunkins, Ortega Jacksonville, Palms Boarding House, Palms Hotel, Riverdale Inn, Riverside Avondale, Riverside Hospital, Rocco Morabito, Rogers Towers, Rufus King Jr., Slappey Building, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, The Row, Tim Gilmore, Tim Gilmore Florida, Tom Gilmore, Virginia King, Walter Brazile, Walter P. Brazile, William Kelly, William O'Neall

The Jacksonville Free Public Library–Whose Heads These Are I Think I Know

Posted on May 26, 2018 | 1 comment

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Shakespeare and Herodotus look out across downtown from the tops of these columns. Whose heads would I stake here?

In a special election, Jacksonville nearly rejected Andrew Carnegie’s magnanimous donation for a new library.

I’d still like to find Elizabeth Long. I wonder if she’d touch me the way she touched the armless Hermes.

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Tagged Andrew Carnegie, Bedell, Bedell Law Firm, Charles Pillans, Chester Bedell, Colored Reading Room, DeVault, Dittmar, Elizabeth Long, Florida Historical Quarterly, George Bedell, George Utley, Haydon Burns, Henry John Klutho, Horatio Bisbee, Jacksonville Free Public Library, jaxpyschogeo, Jim Crooks, Lynn Skapyak Harlin, Pillans & Coxe P.A., Rocco Morabito, T. Frederick Davis, Taylor Hardwick, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, Tim Gilmore, Virginia King

New Stories: Barnett Mansion and Springfield Tunnels

Posted on December 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

Two stories. Scroll down for both.

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“There are so many stories in this house,” he says.

In the 1970s, the police saw William Barnett, 1824-1903, standing in the shadows and drew their guns.

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Billy says he and his friends slipped through an aperture into a system of extensive tunnels beneath the Barnett Mansion in Springfield.

The great strength of conspiracy theories and urban legends is that you can’t prove a negative.

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Tagged "The O'Possum Hunt", Barnett Bank, Barnett Mansion, Bion Barnett, C. Adrian Pillars, Charles Adrian Pillars, Great Fire of 1901, Hogans Creek, Jacksonville, Jim Krahn, Joel McEachin, Ottis Toole, Solomon Lodge, Springfield, Stalking Ottis Toole, The Mad Atlas of Virginia King, Tim Gilmore, Virginia King, William Barnett