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Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida, and is the county seat of Duval County. Since 1968, as a result of the consolidation of the city and county government, and a corresponding expansion of the city limits to include almost the entire county, Jacksonville has been the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States. Consequently the majority of Jacksonville's metropolitan population resides within the city limits, making it the most populous city proper in Florida and the twelfth most populous in the United States. Jacksonville is the principal city in the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, a region with a population of more than 1,313,228.
Jacksonville is located in the First Coast region of northeast Florida and is centered on the banks of the St. Johns River, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia border and about 340 miles (547 km) north of Miami. The settlement that became Jacksonville was founded in 1791 as Cowford, so named because of its location at a narrow point in the river where cattle once crossed. In 1822, a year after the United States acquired the colony of Florida from Spain, the city was renamed for Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of the Florida Territory and then-future President of the United States.
Jacksonville operates the largest urban park system in the United States, providing facilities and services at more than 337 locations on more than 80,000 acres (320 km²) located throughout the city. Jacksonville gathers significant natural beauty from the St. Johns River and Atlantic Ocean and many parks provide access for people to boat, swim, fish, sail, jetski, surf and waterski. Several parks around the city have received international recognition. Kids Kampus, in particular, is a unique facility for families with young children.
The Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens broke ground on a new center in April, 2007 and held their grand opening on November 15, 2008.
The Veterans Memorial Wall is a tribute to local servicemen and women killed while serving in US armed forces. A ceremony is held each Memorial Day recognizing any service woman or man from Jacksonville who died in the previous year.
The Treaty Oak is a massive, 250 year-old tree at Jesse Ball Dupont Park in downtown. Office workers from nearby buildings sit on benches to eat lunch or read a book in the shade of its canopy.
The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is a linear city park which runs 14.5 miles (23.3 km) from Imeson Road to a point past Baldwin, Florida.
The city center includes the Jacksonville Landing and the Jacksonville Riverwalks. The Landing is a popular riverfront dining and shopping venue, accessible by River Taxi from the Southbank Riverwalk. The Northbank Riverwalk runs 2.0 miles (3.2 km) along the St. Johns from Berkman Plaza to I-95 at the Fuller Warren Bridge while the Southbank Riverwalk stretches 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from the Radisson Hotel to Museum Circle.
Adjacent to Museum circle is St. Johns River Park (aka Friendship Park), location of Friendship Fountain, one of the most recognizable and popular attractions for locals as well as tourists in Jacksonville. This landmark was built in 1965 and promoted as the “World’s Tallest and Largest” fountain.
Just east of the fountain is the Jacksonville Maritime Museum, located in an enclosed pavilion on the riverwalk. Their collection includes models of ships, paintings, photographs and artifacts dating to 1562.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened its 60,000-square-foot (6,000 m2) facility in 2003, located adjacent to the Main Library downtown. Tracing its roots back to the formation of Jacksonville's Fine Arts Society in 1924, the museum features eclectic permanent and traveling exhibitions. In November 2006, JMOMA was renamed Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA Jacksonville) to reflect their continued commitment to art produced after the modernist period.
The Museum of Science & History (MOSH) is found on Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk, and features a main exhibit that changes quarterly, plus three floors of nature and local history exhibits, a hands-on science area and the Alexander Brest Planetarium.
Brest, founder of Duval Engineering and Contracting Co., was also the benefactor for the Alexander Brest Museum and Gallery on the campus of Jacksonville University. The exhibits are a diverse collection of carved ivory, Pre-Columbian artifacts, Steuben glass, Chinese porcelain and Cloisonné, Tiffany glass, Boehm porcelain and rotating exhibitions containing the work of local, regional, national and international artists.
Three other art galleries are located at educational institutions in town. Florida Community College at Jacksonville has the Kent Gallery on their westside campus and the Wilson Center for the Arts at their main campus. The University Gallery is located on the campus of the University of North Florida.
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens holds a large collection of European and American paintings, as well as a world-renowned collection of early Meissen porcelain. The museum is surrounded by three acres of formal English and Italian style gardens, and is located in the Riverside neighborhood, on the bank of the St. Johns River. There is also a hands-on children's section.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library is the world’s largest private collection of original manuscripts & documents. The museum in Jacksonville is located in a 1921 neoclassical building on the outskirts of downtown. In addition to document displays, there is also an antique-book library, with volumes dating from the late 1800s.
The Catherine Street Fire Station building is on the National Register of Historic Places and was relocated to Metropolitan Park in 1993. It houses the Jacksonville Fire Museum and features 500+ artifacts including an 1806 hand pumper.
The LaVilla Museum opened in 1999 and features a permanent display of African-American history. The art exhibits are changed periodically.
There are also several historical properties and items of interest in the city, including the Klutho Building, the Old Morocco Temple Building, the Palm and Cycad Arboretum, and the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, originally built as Union Station train depot.
The Art Walk, a monthly outdoor art festival on the first Wednesday of each month, is sponsored by Downtown Vision, Inc, an organization which works to promote artistic talent and venues on the First Coast.
The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens boasts the second largest animal collection in the state. The zoo features elephants, lions, and, of course, jaguars (with an exhibit, Range of the Jaguar, hosted by the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Delores and Wayne Weaver), as well as a multitude of reptile houses, free flight aviaries, and many other animals.
Shipwreck Island in Jacksonville Beach is the only waterpark in Duval County. It opened in 1995 and changes rides every few years to keep the season passholders coming back.
Adventure Landing in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach are the only amusement parks in Duval County.
Jungle Quest, located across from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, is the only Jungle Quest store located outside of Colorado. Jungle Quest features zip lines and rock climbing for children.
Annual events
One of the most popular sporting events is the annual Gate River Run, the US National Championship 15K since 1994 and largest 15K race in the country. The 13,000+ recreational runners—some running for the first time—are joined by a few thousand more supporters, spectators and volunteers who make this Jacksonville's largest participation sporting event. The 9.3-mile (15.0 km) race has taken place every March since 1977.
The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, an annual event in early March, is one of the nation's premier automotive concours events. Also in March is the Blessing of the Fleet and the Great Atlantic Seafood and Music Festival.
The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is held every April and is the second-largest jazz festival in the nation. Springing the Blues is a free outdoor blues festival held in Jacksonville Beach, also in April.
The Jacksonville Film Festival is staged every May and features a variety of independent films, documentaries, and shorts screening at seven historic venues in the city. Past attendees of the festival have included director John Landis and Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and winner Graham Greene, both of whom were awarded the Tortuga Verde Lifetime Achievement Award.
The World of Nations Celebration is also in May. The Spring Music Fest is a free concert Memorial Day weekend that is sponsored by the city that features some of today's most popular artists.
Every July 4 is the Freedom, Fanfare & Fireworks celebration, one of the nation's largest fireworks displays, held at Metropolitan Park and on the surface of the St. Johns River. A very large fireworks display is also held at Jacksonville Beach, centered on the rebuilt pier.
The AT&T Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament is an annual event held in July. The first contest was held in 1981 and it has grown to be the largest Kingfish tournament in the United States. Participation is limited to 1,000 boats that compete for over $500,000 in prizes, attracting approximately 30,000 spectators.
The Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair is held every November at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds & Exposition Center, featuring an array of carnival games & rides, food, live entertainment, vendor merchandise booths and agriculture/livestock exhibition & judging.
Planetfest, an annual corporate music festival in November, features a variety of musicians and is sponsored by the Clear Channel radio station WPLA, Planet 107.3.
Thanksgiving weekend is a busy time, with the lighting of Jacksonville's official Christmas Tree at the Jacksonville Landing on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The Jacksonville Light Parade happens on Saturday night following Thanksgiving.
"The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" or "Florida/Georgia-Georgia/Florida" college football game.
Entertainment and performing arts
The Florida Theatre, opened in 1927, is located in downtown Jacksonville and is one of only four remaining high-style movie palaces built in Florida during the Mediterranean Revival architectural boom of the 1920s.
Theatre Jacksonville was organized in 1919 as the Little Theatre and is one of the oldest continually producing community theatres in the United States.
The Riverside Theater opened in 1927. It was the first theater equipped to show talking pictures in Florida and the third nationally. It is located in the Five Points section of town and was renamed the Five Points Theater.
The Ritz Theatre, opened in 1929, is located in the LaVilla neighborhood of the northern part of Jacksonville's downtown. Rebuilt and opened in October, 1999.
The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts consists of three distinct halls: the Jim & Jan Moran Theater, a venue for touring Broadway shows; the Jacoby Symphony Hall, home of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra; and the Terry Theater, intended for small shows and recitals. The building was originally erected as the Civic Auditorium in 1962 and underwent a major renovation and construction in 1996.
The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which opened in 2003, is a 16,000-seat performance venue that attracts national entertainment, sporting events and also houses the Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame. It replaced the outdated Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum that was built in 1960 and demolished on June 26, 2003.
The Alhambra Dinner Theatre, located on the Southside near the University of North Florida, has offered professional productions that frequently starred well-known actors since 1967. There are also a number of popular community theatres such as Players by the Sea at Jacksonville Beach. Atlantic Beach Experemental Theatre (ABET), and Orange Park Community Theatre.
In 1999, Stage Aurora Theatrical Company, Inc. was established in collaboration at Florida Community College at Jacksonville North Campus as. Currently, Their goal is to produce theatre that enlightens, and is the most popular theatre on the Northside, and is located at Gateway Town Center.
Jacksonville is also home to The Teal Sound Drum and Bugle Corps, a junior team that competes in Drum Corps International Open Class competition.
Jacksonville also houses live improv comedy. The Mad Cowford Improv Troupe performs weekly at Northstar Substation every Friday night. Mad Cowford is Jacksonville's only improv group. Shows consist of 100% on-the-spot material and audience participation. The troupe is led by director John Kalinowski.
In the early 1900s, New York-based moviemakers were attracted to Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic locations, excellent rail access, and cheaper labor, earning the city the title of "The Winter Film Capital of the World". Over 30 movie studios were opened and thousands of silent films produced between 1908 and the 1920s, when most studios relocated to Hollywood, California.
Since that time, Jacksonville has been chosen by a number of film and television studios for on-location shooting. Notable motion pictures that have been partially or completely shot in Jacksonville since the silent film era include Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988), Brenda Starr (1989), G.I. Jane (1997), The Devil's Advocate (1997), Ride (1998), Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998), Forces of Nature (1999), Tigerland (2000), Sunshine State (2002), Basic (2003), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Lonely Hearts (2006), Monster House (2006), Moving McAllister (2007), The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008).
Notable television series or made-for-television films that have been partially or completely shot in Jacksonville include Intimate Strangers (1986), Inherit the Wind (1988), Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer (1989), A Girl of the Limberlost (1990), Orpheus Descending (1990), Pointman (1995), Saved by the Light (1995), The Babysitter's Seduction (1996), Sudden Terror: The Hijacking of School Bus #17 (1996), First Time Felon (1997), Gold Coast (1997), Safe Harbor (1999), The Conquest of America (2005), Super Bowl XXXIX (2005), Recount (2008), and American Idol (2009). In an episode of NCIS, the suspect/criminal was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville even though it wasn't really filmed there.
The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is a zoo located in Jacksonville. It sits at the mouth of the Trout River. The zoo occupies approximately 110 acres (0.4 km2) and has over 2,000 animals in its collection. The zoo has grown from its modest beginnings in Springfield to be considered one of the city's premiere attractions.
The zoo's marquee attraction is the Range of the Jaguar, which won the 2005 AZA Exhibit of the year award. The exhibits highlights animals native to Neotropical Rainforests. The zoo's other exhibits include the Plains of East Africa, highlighting African Savannah animals; Great Apes of the World, featuring 3 of the 4 Great Apes among other primates; the Australian Outback, including lorikeets, cassowarys, and kangaroos.
The zoo is active in animal conservation, participating in over 20 SSP (Species Survival Plans.) In 2004, the zoo reached an agreement with the nation of Guyana to help promote conservation in that country, particularly the Iwokrama Rainforest. Additionally, since 1999 the zoo has been home to a large breeding colony of woodstorks.
The Museum of Science & History (MOSH) in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, is a private, non-profit located on the Southbank Riverwalk and is the most visited museum in town. Primarily intended as a hands-on science and history experience for children, MOSH features interactive, award-winning exhibitions such as Currents of Time, which explores 12,000 years of Northeast Florida history, and Atlantic Tails, presenting the mammals indigenous to northeast Florida's waterways. One of the most popular attractions is the 200-seat Alexander Brest Planetarium with several shows daily. The 60-foot (18 m) diameter dome-shaped projection screen allows the audience to gaze at the stars and learn about astronomy, past and present.
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party
"The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" is the nickname for the annual college football game between the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs, one of the great rivalries in college football; it is officially known as the "Florida–Georgia/Georgia–Florida Game" (switching every year, with the "home" team listed first).
The game is usually held on the last Saturday in October at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, a neutral site located 73 miles from Gainesville and 342 miles from Athens. The designated home team alternates from year to year, with ticket distribution split evenly between the two schools. In past years, fans from Florida and Georgia were assigned seats grouped in alternating sections of the stadium, and the contrasting colors worn by the fans created a "beach ball" visual effect in the stands. Recently the seating arrangement has split the stadium lengthwise and fans sit on the side corresponding to the sideline their team occupies. Before the game, much tailgating takes place on the Jacksonville Landing, a riverfront plaza facing the St. Johns River
The Veterans Memorial Wall is located at 1145 East Adams Street, adjacent to the Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The quarter-million dollar monument was dedicated in November, 1995 and serves as a tribute to more than 1,500 Jacksonville area American war heroes. The outdoor memorial was promoted as "the largest of its kind" and "the only wall that honors veterans from all six branches" (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine). The 65 foot-long black granite monument contains the names of servicemen and women from World War I through Operation Desert Storm and the current war on terrorism. In front of the wall stands a torch with an eternal flame.
The Wall is the site of the city's Memorial Day ceremony, when any local servicewoman and serviceman who lost their lives in the prior year are honored and their names added to the obelisque.
Every Memorial Day since the monument was completed, a group of family, friends and classmates of Navy pilot Scott Speicher gather at the wall. Speicher, who grew up in Jacksonville, was shot down on the first night of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. His remains went unrecovered until August 2, 2009.
When the Wall was built, it was located just eight feet from the exterior wall of the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and extraordinary measures were taken to protect it when the Coliseum was demolished in 2003. When all of the debris was removed and the site restored to grade, the Memorial was surrounded by a 2-acre (8,100 m2) walking park.
