Looking into the past offers a window into the future
- 310 miles long and 3 miles wide
- Morphs north from a marsh in Indian River County to a broad waterway with expansive views to northeast Florida and the Atlantic Ocean
- For over 10,000 years, Native Floridians called the river “Illaka” meaning distinct, unusual, different from any other
- French named it Riviére de May founded May 1
- Bass Fishing Capital of the World
Spain, Portugal, and England came down the coast of Africa and east of the Caribbean and to the Caribbean to Florida. They would come on north Florida and go around the cape at Titusville and the first river they found was in Jacksonville.
From the Atlantic ocean, going down the coast of Africa and coming through the Caribbean, they would go to Florida around the cape and into the St Johns River. It was one of the first ports they could get out of the ocean.
jacksonville in 1896
Crowded with passengers or loaded to the gunwales with freight, Jacksonville was the mecca for tourists in Florida and the St. Johns River teemed with craft of all kinds.
jacksonville in 1892
In the 1890s, dredging projects began to deepen the channel of the river to enable deeper draft ships to reach the port of Jacksonville. The first bridge across the St. Johns River is a train bridge; Jacksonville’s tourist trade begins to shift south to St. Augustine.
These dredging projects led to Jacksonville becoming one of the major ports on the East Coast and the establishment of the city-owned Port of Jacksonville in 1915.
Retail business
From an airplane view of modern Jacksonville, the central retail business section along the coast of the St. Johns River was booming.
jacksonville today
Easy road access (I-95 & I-10) and over 200 miles of unrestricted boating. There is an ability to attract new maritime industry. Deep and slow moving waters make it ideal for vessels of all sizes with a continuous passage to Miami / Caribbean by ocean of Inter Coastal Waterway.
