Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville redirects here. Alternate meanings: Jacksonville (disambiguation)

Jacksonville is a city located in Duval County, Florida, USA. It is the county seat of Duval County ⁶. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 735,617. It is the largest city in the contiguous 48 states of the United States in terms of the land area it includes. The city limits are the same as the county limits of Duval County, with the exception of Baldwin and the three beach communties of Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach. The area of Jacksonville is 874.3 square miles. Originally named Cowford because the St. Johns River is shallow here, allowing cattlemen to herd cows across the river. The city was renamed in 1822 for the first territorial governor of Florida and the future 7th U.S. President Andrew Jackson.

Table of contents

1 Geography

2 History

2.1 Colonial and territorial history
2.2 Moss Fire of 1901
2.3 Racial tension

3 Government

3.1 History
3.2 Structure

Geography

Jacksonville is located at 30°19'10" North, 81°39'36" West (30.319406, -81.659999)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2,264.5 km² (874.3 mi²). 1,962.4 km² (757.7 mi²) of it is land and 302.1 km² (116.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 13.34% water.

History

Colonial and territorial history

In 1513, Spanish explorers landed in Florida and claimed their discovery for Spain. In 1562, the French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault explored the St. Johns River area and in 1564 the French established Fort Caroline. Spanish troops, led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, from nearby St. Augustine attacked the fort and drove off the French in 1565.

Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763, who then gave control back to Spain in 1783. The first permanent settlement was founded at Cow Ford in 1791 and Florida became a United States territory in 1821. On June 15th, 1822 settlers sent a petition to the U.S. Secretary of State asking that Jacksonville be named a port of entry; this is the first recorded use of the name. The charter for a town government was approved by the Florida Legislative Council on February 9th, 1832.

Moss Fire of 1901

On May 3, 1901 hot ash from a shantyhouse's chimney landed on the drying moss at Cleaveland's Fiber Factory. At half past noon most of the Cleaveland workers were at lunch, but by the time they returned the entire city block was engulfed in flames. The fire destroyed the business district and rendered 10,000 residents homeless in the course of eight hours. Florida Governor William S. Jennings declared a state of martial law in Jacksonville and dispatched several state militia units to Jacksonville. Reconstruction started immediately, and the city was returned to civil authority on May 17.

Racial tension

Jacksonville has a history of racial segregation and violence. This came to a head on "Ax Handle Saturday", August 27, 1960. A group of white men (allegedly some were also members of the Ku Klux Klan) armed with baseball bats and ax handles attacked civil rights protesters conducting sit-ins at segregated restaurants. The violence spread, and the white mob started attacking all African-Americans in sight. The police did not make an attempt to stop the violence until the "blacks started holding their own."

Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African-Americans in Jacksonville were denied healthcare services at every hospital except the all-black Brewster Hospital, even when their condition was critical or life-threatening.

In the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act and Ax Handle Saturday, the previously segregated African-American and European-American communities worked together in open dialog, integration, and participatory government.

Despite the progress, racial tension was very evident when the public schools in Jacksonville were integrated in 1967. The black students attending integrated schools endured racial epithets, being spit on and, in some extreme cases, being stoned by their white classmates.

On June 1, 2003, John Peyton became Mayor of Jacksonville after defeating the first African-American candidate for mayor, Nat Glover. Matt Carlucci, a white Republican endorsed Glover (a Democrat) after being defeated in the open primary. Afterwards, Carlucci's business was vandalized with the words "NIGGER LOVER", and Glover's campaign headquarters was vandalized with "NO NIGGER MAYOR".

Government

History

The Flag of the City of Jacksonville

After World War II, the government of the City of Jacksonville began to increase spending to fund new building projects in the boom that occurred after the war. However, problems with education, sanitation, and traffic plagued the city but received no increases in spending. In 1958, it was recommended by a study to the City of Jacksonville that it begin annexing outlying communities in order to create the needed tax base to improve services in the city. But, voters outside the city limits rejected the referendums every time they were proposed. In the mid 1960s, corruption scandals began to arise among many of the city's officials. After a Grand Jury was convened to investigate, several officials were indicted and more were forced to resign. As the scandals came to a close, another study recommended that the city's government be merged with that of the county. This would help to elevate the crisis of revenue that the city was experiencing, while unifying the services of the city and county to provide better coverage for all citizens of Duval County. Lower Taxes, increased economic development, unification of the community, better public spending and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as reasons for a new consolidated government. On October 1, 1968, the governments merged to create the Consolidated City of Jacksonville.

Structure

Jacksonville uses the Mayor-Council form of city government. The mayor is the Chief Executive and Administrative officer, called the Strong-Mayor form. He holds veto power over all resolutions and ordinances made by the city council. He also has the power to hire and fire the head of various city departments. The city council has nineteen members, fourteen of whom are elected from districts, and five who are elected at-large. Four municipalities within Duval County voted not to join the consolidated government. These communities consist of only 6% of the total population within the county. The municipalities are Baldwin, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach. Not all city services were merged, making for a less-than-full consolidation of the city-county. Several authorities remain independent of the combined city-county government, including the school board, electric authority, port authority, and airport authority. Fire, police, health and welfare, recreation, public works, and housing and urban development were all combined under the new government. The four separate communities provide their own services, while maintaining the right to contract the consolidated government to provide services for them. Under the new government structure, anyone living in Duval County is eligible to run for Mayor of the City of Jacksonville, even those living in the four separate municipalities.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 735,617 people, 284,499 households, and 190,614 families residing in the city. The population density is 374.9/km² (970.9/mi²). There are 308,826 housing units at an average density of 157.4/km² (407.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 64.48% White, 29.03% African American, 0.34% Native American, 2.78% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.33% from other races, and 1.99% from two or more races. 4.16% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 284,499 households out of which 33.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% are married couples living together, 16.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% are non-families. 26.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.53 and the average family size is 3.07.

In the city, the population is spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $40,316, and the median income for a family is $47,243. Males have a median income of $32,547 versus $25,886 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,337. 12.2% of the population and 9.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 16.7% are under the age of 18 and 12.0% are 65 or older.

Higher education

Jacksonville is home to Edward Waters College, Jacksonville University, and the University of North Florida

Transportation

Interstate Highways 10 and 95 intersect in Jacksonville. Interstate Highway 10 ends at this intersection (the other end being in California). The eastern terminus of US-90 is in nearby Jacksonville Beach. Public transportation is provided by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. The city has the Jacksonville Skyway Monorail. Interstate 95 has a spur route, I-295, which currently bypasses the city to the west. Jacksonville is also home to the world headquarters of CSX Transportation.

There are also numerous bridges over the St. Johns River at Jacksonville. They include (starting from furthest downstream) the Dames Point Bridge, the Matthews Bridge, the Isaiah D. Hart Bridge, the Main Street Bridge, the Acosta Bridge, the Fuller Warren Bridge (which carries I-95 traffic) and the Buckman Bridge (which carries I-295 traffic).

Jacksonville is served by Jacksonville International Airport.

Sports teams

The city is home to the:

Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League
Jacksonville Suns, a minor league baseball team
Jacksonville Barracudas of the WHA2 ice hockey league

Current issues

Some issues the city deals with today include how to fix the school system (including violence on school buses), controversies over a public high school named for Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, and how to solve transportation problems (The Better Jacksonville Plan).

Also, Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 presents a host of problems and challenges for the Jacksonville area. Many of the current transportation issues revolve around this event.