The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-01-04

Jacksonville. Fla. Jan 5 Jackson
vile is the gateway to Florida and sun
shine. When one is bound for a summer
sky In a winter month, ard seeks MS
haven in Florida or Cuba. he must so
through jacksonville Every winter
hundred thousand tourists alight from
railroad trains in Jacksonville Most OF
them viii take another train. within TWO
hours OF two days ard be on Tampa
wav or down the east coast Many OF
them stay all winter. But practically
every one OF the winter travellers who
leave the annual contribution Of S2oooo,e0o
in Florida stops a while IN Jacksonville.
Naturally Jacksonville takes care 70
provide for these tourists. and its hotels,
and its souvenir shops, and its ostrich
farm. and its alligator nurseries get their
share Of that s20.0oOOoO. But II any one
thinks for a moment that Jacksonville is
q tourist town and depends upon the
winter trade for its livelihood. that per
son is sadly mistaken
For Jacksonville IS a business town,
wide-awake and hustling- It's business
acumen is that OF the North; its hustle
g that OF the West. and its courtesy IS
that Of the South It's board Of trade
spends some thousands OF dollars to az
verJise it as the New York OF the
South" and the occasional visitor IS
Quick TO indulge the ambition. even II he
IS slow 10 admit the comparison
II Is the new jacksonville because Il is
all new Nearly eight years aso-it was
f7ar frv7v Wis
tied destruction upon the city, and al
NEST al q the business. as WEI as
large portion Of the residence section OF
the city, was wiped out The property
loss amounted 10 sl5oo0.Go0. Of which only
100000 was protected by insurance Sew
eral lives were sacrificed. and the city
was so completely wrecked that for sew
eraI days the problem Of feeding and
sheltering the homeless was most din
cult. Jacksonville felt then that it would
be many a decade before il would re-
cover from the blow.
Eight years have passed The city IS
rebuilt On the burned area stand a
greater number Of buildings than ever
before. and their actual value is almost
twice as great as that Of the buildings
which were destroyed. Not only rebuilt
but rebuilding. Jacksonville IS now tear
ing away the buildings which were erect
ed after the fire and replacing them with
even better ones A ten-stOry building
may not come under the category Of
'skysCraper' in these days o. fOrty-story
structures but Jacksonville may be par
doned us pride in the fact that four ten
story buildings Of the most modern type
Of steei. construction are now being built
IN one city block on Forsyth street,
which is the Wall street Of Florida
Nine years ago. when the last United
States census was taken. Jacksonville
had almost 3a.G00 inhabitants Il has al
most doubled IN size since them, and has
multiplied itself BIZ six N wealth and
commercial importance. Its people are
confident that the census next year will
show more than 5000 population
Jacksonville is the OutgrOWth OF the
ancient settlement OF COwford, so called
because Of the shaIIowness OF the ST
Johns River. Just above the city When
the Spanish flag came down and the
stars and Stripes were hOisted over Flor
ida IN 1921 the Americans IN the PENN
suIa knew that they owed the change OF
sovereignty 70 certain acts Of Andrew
Jackson. more or less unconstitutional
but certainly very effective Gen. Jack
son was made the first governor Of the
Territory. Cowford took on American ag-
gressiveness. decided 10 make itself a
city. and called the City-tO-be Jackson
VILE in honor OF Old Hickory.
Its growth was slow and the devasta-
ton Of civil war held IL hack for many
years BY $3.50 it was e considerable
town. by 1896 IL had more than 1890 peO-
pie. and il doubled itself in the next ten
years The development Of transpOrta-
tion facilities and the increased industrial
activity Of the State have contributed
10 its rapid growth in recent years. until
# is now the largest city OF the largest
state. IN area. east Of the Mississippi
River
The beautiful St Johns River, broad
and placid. gives Jacksonville an outlet
10 the Atlantic Ocean twenty-seven miles
away. The channel has twenty-fOur feet
AZ mean low tide and the port is becom-
ing more and more important ali the
time Several lines OF steamships con
meet L with the other Atlantic ports and
and with Tire Gulf OF Mexico Tramp
steamers without number come here TO be
loaded with naval stores, with phosphate
rock. with manufactured fertilizer. and
with cotton This little city sends more
than a ship load Of freight TO sea every
day in the year
Within the city limits there IS a wafer