The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE. I. The county seat of Duval co., Florida, port of entry of the district of St. John's, and the largest city of the state, situated on the left bank of St. John's river, 25 m. from its mouth, and at the terminus of the Jacksonville, Pensacola, and Mobile railroad, 155 m. E. of Tallahassee, and 125 m. S. S. W. of Savannah; pop. in 1850, 1,045; in 1860, 2,118; in 1870, 6,912, of whom 3,989 were colored. The population in 1874, including the suburbs, was estimated by local authorities at 12,000. The city is regularly laid out, with streets crossing each other at right angles and shaded with trees. On the S. W. and N. E. are picturesque bluffs, covered with fine residences, and commanding a beautiful view of the river. There are several suburban villages, which are connected with the city by ferry. The commerce of Jacksonville is important. The chief business is the cutting and shipping of lumber. There are several large saw mills, and the shipments amount to about 50,000,000 feet annually, cotton, sugar, fruit, fish, and early vegetables are also shipped to northern and foreign ports. The value of the foreign com- merce for the year ending June 30, 1873, was $91,162, chiefly exports. The entrances were 26 vessels of 3,456 tons, and the clearances 40 vessels of 6,455 tons. In the coastwise trade the entrances were 100 steamers of 69,123 tons, and 345 sailing vessels of 66,962 tons; clearances, 101 steamers of 69,439 tons, and 383 sailing vessels of 76,089 tons. There were 12 steamers of 1,442 tons and 20 sailing vessels of 2,212 tons belonging to the port. A semi-weekly line of steamers runs to Savannah and Charleston, and the river steamers furnish daily communication with St. Augustine via Tocoi and the St. John's railroad and with Palatka, and tri-weekly with Enterprise, 205 m. above Jacksonville. The city is much resorted to by invalids on account of its mild and salubrious climate. It is governed by a mayor and a board of eight aldermen, and contains a branch of the Freedmen's savings bank and trust company, 9 hotels, 2 public schools (one white and one colored), a Catholic female seminary, several private schools, 2 tri-weekly and 4 weekly newspapers, and 10 churches, viz.: 3 Baptist (2 colored), 1 Episcopal, 4 Methodist (2 colored), and 2 Presbyterian. Of the Methodist (white) and Presbyterian churches, one each belongs to the northern and one to the southern branch. The Roman Catholic church, which was burned during the civil war, is now nearly rebuilt. A session of the United States circuit and district courts for the N. district of Florida is held here annually. II. A city and the capital of Morgan co., Illinois, situated near Mauvaiseterre creek, an affluent of the Illinois river, 30 m. W. by S. of Springfield, and 200 m. S. S. W. of Chicago; pop. in 1850, 2,745; in 1860, 5,528; in 1870, 9,203, of whom 2,098 were foreigners. It is pleasantly built in the midst of an undulating and fertile prairie, at the intersection of the Jacksonville division of the Chicago and Alton railroad with the Toledo, Wabash, and Western, the Peoria, Pekin, and Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville, Northwestern, and Southeastern railroads. The streets are wide and adorned with shacfe trees; the houses are partly of wood and partly of brick, and surrounded with flower gardens and shrubbery. The principal manufactories are a woollen mill, a machine shop, four flour mills, two planing mills, two soap factories, an iron foundery, gas works, and a car shop. There are two national banks, with $400,000 capital, and a savings bank. Jacksonville is the seat of the state institution for the education of the deaf and dumb; of the state institution for the blind; of a state hospital for the insane; of the state institution for the education of feeble-minded children; and of a private insane asylum. Illinois college (Congregational), organized in 1830, in 1874 had 13 professors and instructors, 150 students (50 collegiate), and a library of 10,000 volumes. Illinois female college (Methodist), organized in 1847, had 10 instructors, 172 students (81 collegiate), and a library of 2,000 volumes. Jacksonville female academy had 11 instructors and 218 students (128 collegiate). There are another female college, an academy and commercial college combined, an orphan asylum, seven public school houses with a system of graded schools, including a high school, a daily and three weekly newspapers, a free reading room, a free public library of 1,600 volumes, and 20 churches.