City of Jacksonville history

One of Jacksonville’s earliest ethnic migrations can be traced to pioneer Philip Dzialynski, who arrived in the city in 1850 at the age of 17 and was its first Jewish entrepreneur.

Oliver Hardy, of the famous Laurel and Hardy comedy team, began his career in Jacksonville in 1915.

Speaking of movies, Norman Studios was founded in 1920 by Middleburg-born silent filmmaker Richard Norman.

He also would visit Pete's Bar, which just happens to be the first bar in Jacksonville to receive a liquor license at the end of the prohibition in 1933.

That changed after December 15, 1940, when the decision was made to locate Camp Lejeune in Onslow County.

Jacksonville has grown rapidly since 1941, when Camp Lejeune was established.

Pictured: Guests opened windows and tried to escape from the smoke that filled the building at the Roosevelt Hotel in 1963.

The simultaneous loss of accreditation of all fifteen of Duval County's public high schools in 1964 added momentum to the proposals for government reform.

Jacksonville consolidated (1968) with most of Duval county and thereby became one of the nation’s largest cities in area (841 square miles [2,178 square km]). The city is the focus of one of the state’s most populous urban areas.

The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve (established 1988) protects an area of 72 square miles (185 square km) of coastal wetlands just north of the St Johns River, and Guana River State Park is south along the coast.