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Jacksonville, Florida

Florida: Empire of the Sun

1930

Jacksonville—Twenty miles up the St. Johns River, Jacksonville's impressive industrial waterfront overlooks the broad expanse of its deep-water harbor. From a mere trading post in 1820, Jacksonville has grown to be the largest city in the state, with industrial advantages which by no means hamper its appeal to tourists. It has been called the Gateway City of Florida because of its position at the focal point of transportation routes entering Florida by land, sea and air.

The St. Johns River, which extends southward from Jacksonville for two hundred miles through a chain of lakes, offers infinite possibilities for fishing, boating and water sports the year round. Five golf courses, one of them municipally owned, seventy city parks, a zoo and a well-equipped municipal airport are features of interest to the visitor.

Just eighteen miles away, are the wide white stretches of Jacksonville Beach and Atlantic Beach, where surf bathing and midway amusements attract throngs of visitors. A picturesque golf course and clubhouse has been built south of Jacksonville Beach on the Atlantic Coastal Highway. The many fine hotels in town and at the beaches are fortunate in having available year-round vegetable crops and a plentiful supply of fresh-water and saltwater fish from this vicinity. The tourist may feast on pompano, shrimp, oysters, little-neck clams, stone crabs, shad and many other delicacies, with the appetizing knowledge that they are fresh from their native habitat.

Many yachtsmen refuel and provision their boats here and continue to St. Augustine by the Inland Waterway, which is now being deepened and widened by government dredges. The motor tourist on his way southward proceeds either along the Atlantic Coastal Highway from Jacksonville Beach to St. Augustine, a beautiful drive beside the ocean, or takes the inland route over the Old Spanish Trail.

South Jacksonville, just across the great million-dollar bridge on the south shore of the St. Johns River, has an airport almost in the heart of the business section, and several beautiful residential suburbs. The alligator and ostrich farm, said to be the largest in the world, attracts many tourists each year. San Jose, farther south on the highway to St. Augustine, is the site of the Florida Military Academy and the San Jose Country Club.

Source:
Excerpt from "Florida: Empire of the Sun" Published by the Florida State Hotel Commission, Tallahassee, Florida. 1930.