Do You Know Jax?
Do You Know Jax? Ten Things We Bet You Didn’t Know.
1. Size: We’re BIG—population & land-wise
A 2006 Census estimate put Jacksonville’s population at more than 800,000, making it the 12th-most-populous city nationwide and first in Florida. In terms of land, sprawling Jacksonville has been the biggest city (841 sq miles) in the country since a massive annexation in 1968. The “First Coast” metropolitan area encompasses five counties: Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, Clay and Baker.
2. We were “Green” before it was cool
Parks and preservation lands are a key part of North Florida’s quality of life. With more than 111,000 acres of parks, including state and federal lands, Jacksonville now ranks No. 1 among U.S. cities in gross acreage for parks and is in the top 10 in the percentage of acreage in the city devoted to park land.
The wide variety of parks ranges from small neighborhood playgrounds for toddlers to biking, hiking and horse trails to athletic fields to boat ramps. There also are vast areas of unspoiled natural wilderness, much of it newly acquired by the city. From the quiet dignity of an oak forest, to the vastness of the salt marsh, Jacksonville’s nature parks have an abundance of flora and fauna to satisfy the tastes of the casual observer or the dedicated nature hound.
Unlike much of the rest of Florida, the First Coast’s miles of beaches remain relatively unspoiled and unfenced. The Beaches communities in Duval County — Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach — also offer some of the best sport fishing, boating and water sport opportunities in the country.
A stroll along the beach might yield a collection of seashells, a view of the porpoise and northern right whales that cavort off the coast, or merely the relaxed state of mind that ocean waves can foster. Nearby, fishing boats ply the waters for a variety of fish and shrimp.
Finally, we’re not known as the “River City” for nothing. In 1765, William Bartram wrote of the river “…blessed land where the gods have amassed into one heap all the flowering plants, birds, fish and other wildlife of two continents in order to turn the rushing streams, the silent lake shores and the awe-abiding woodlands of this mysterious land into a true garden of Eden.” Take one look at the glistening St. Johns River and you’ll see what he means.
3. We’re a Golf Hub
With more than 1,220 holes of golf, Jacksonville and the beaches is the ideal spot for golf vacations. Northeast Florida is home to more than 70 public and private courses. Each May, the PGA Tour makes a stop in Ponte Vedra for the THE PLAYERS Championship. World Golf Village, located in St. Augustine, celebrates the history and sport of golf with the World Golf Hall of Fame. Courses throughout the area were designed by the likes of Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Mark McCumber.
4. Where Jaguars Roam
When it comes to spectator sports in Jacksonville, there’s no question: football is king. And the king’s throne is Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which opened in August 1995, and is home of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League.
In February 2005, the 73,000-seat stadium played host to Super Bowl XXXIX. The stadium is also the site of two annual college football events — the Gator Bowl Classic and the annual Southeastern Conference smashmouth featuring Florida and Georgia. Concerts and other special events are also held at the stadium.
The completely revised stadium was built in less than 20 months, faster than any major-league stadium has ever been built in North America. That allowed the Jaguars to be the first expansion team in sports history to play its first home game in its first season in a new stadium or arena.
But…we’ve got more jaguars than the NFL team.
The team’s owners also helped develop the Jacksonville zoo’s “Range of the Jaguar” exhibit, which shows off real-world cats in a world-class setting.
The Jacksonville Zoo, north of downtown, is a natural wonderland growing and changing daily, with more than 1,000 rare and exotic creatures. Covering about 70 acres along the St. Johns River, the zoo has the only walking safari in Northeast Florida.
Football not your thing?
Jacksonville’s biggest annual sports event, Gate River Run, has been the U.S. National Championship 15K since 1994 and largest 15K race in the country. And that’s not all! You can fish or cut bait at the annual Kingfish tournament, also the nation’s largest.
5. We were “Hollywood” before there was a Hollywood
Once called the “Winter Film Capital of the World,” Jacksonville hosted 30 film studios from 1908 to the mid-1920s, when most moved to that other place in California. Since then, films shot partly or completely in the area have included “Creature From the Black Lagoon,” “GI Jane,” and “Forces of Nature.”
Geography and mild weather also helped Jacksonville become the Hollywood of the South. The “Metro” in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was a small studio that began alongside the St. Johns River where Metropolitan Park now sits. By 1916, Jacksonville boasted more than 30 movie studios, including Metro, Vim, Kalem Garrick, Eagle, Motograph, Gaumont and Norman Studios. Comedian Oliver Hardy, who started as a ticket-taker, was probably the city’s most famous film star at the time.
Also, PRSA has a connection to Jacksonville’s movie industry. If you’ve spent 30 years mourning the 11-year-old boy killed in the horror flick “Zaat”, cry no more. The kid is alive, but he’s no longer in the motion picture business.
Del Galloway, the young victim, tossed aside his movie career and later served as president of PRSA. “I had just a small part,” Galloway said. “I was a kid fishing with his parents out on a lake and the monster comes up from underwater, turns the boat over and kills us. My claim to fame wasn’t even 15 minutes. It was more like a minute and a half.”
Galloway’s father, actor Paul Galloway, played sheriff of the fictional Cypress Cove in the horror flick made by one-time local filmmaker Don Barton. The campy creature feature, filmed in Jacksonville, Green Cove Springs, Silver Springs and Marineland in 1971, is the story of a small-town scientist who accidentally transforms himself into a creature — part man, part catfish — who wreaks havoc on unsuspecting residents of Cypress Cove.
6. Where “Free Bird’‘ was born
Forget Sweet Home Alabama. The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of many bands to get their start here. Limp Bizkit and Yellowcard are among contemporary bands; oldtimers Pat Boone and Gary “US” Bonds also were born here.
7. A Great Place for Business
Our convenient location, mild climate, reasonable cost of living, high quality of life and a business-friendly government means Jacksonville is a popular location for corporate expansions and relocations. This momentum continues to boost Jacksonville’s stature in the national and international marketplace.
Jacksonville is consistently rated one of the “Hottest Cities in America” for business expansions and relocations in an annual poll featured in Expansion Management magazine. Ranked number eight in 2006, it has been in the top 10 for six straight years and is the only city to claim the number one spot three times. Meanwhile, Jacksonville ranked 11th in Inc. magazine’s list of “Best Cities for Doing Business” for 2006.
We are also an intermodal transportation hub, with a transportation network embracing port and air cargo facilities, rail and trucking routes. Millions of tons of raw materials and manufactured goods move through the city annually.
Jacksonville is recognized as a national leader in managing development. The overall strategy involves balancing commercial and residential development with transit and infrastructure capacity and the preservation of green space.
8. A Long History
Everyone knows St. Augustine is really our nation’s first city, along with the place to drink from the Fountain of Youth. But North Florida boasts a colorful history, full of conquests and pirate adventures.
After initial exploration in 1562, a colony was established in 1564, only to be eliminated by Spanish forces from nearby St. Augustine in 1565. Exhibits in the National Park Service’s Visitors Center provide information on the history of the first European settlement on the American mainland, the French colony’s interaction with the native Timucuans and the colonists’ brief struggle for survival.
9. Military Roots Plant Future Seeds
Four military bases employ about 40,000 workers, making them the largest employer in the Florida metro area.
While Jacksonville’s economy has enjoyed a steady surge in the insurance and finance industry during the past several years, the long connection to the military has allowed the aerospace and aviation industry to rapidly develop into a sizeable cluster. Jacksonville’s strong military presence offers the aerospace and aviation industry a source of highly skilled labor.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach graduates more aerospace engineers and professional pilots than any school in the nation. It is also ranked as the No. 1 aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical engineering school in the country.
Cecil Commerce Center, formerly the 17,200-acre site of Cecil Field Naval Air Station, is being redeveloped for civilian use. More than $100 million has been invested to convert Cecil Field, which has four runways.
10. It Doesn’t Stink (anymore)
According to the Florida State Archives: Paper mills that spewed sulfites into the air gave Jacksonville the national reputation as “the city that stinks.”
But that’s all gone now, and the air quality surpasses national standards.