After 1901 fire, a new Jacksonville quickly grew

May 02--Even as Jacksonville lay smoldering after the May 3, 1901, fire, its residents were imagining a new city. You could see that on the front page of the next day's newspaper, where city leaders vowed, as the headline said, that "A Greater Jacksonville Is in Sight."

These movers and shakers weren't exaggerating.

The Great Fire of 1901 was the most destructive urban fire the Southeast had seen -- it was big news across the U.S. -- and it left Florida's largest city a virtual blank canvas. Architects and fortune-seekers and ambitious dreamers saw it as an opportunity to make their mark, and they soon headed south. They met a citizenry that had started to rebuild within days of the fire.

The resulting boom -- fueled by insurance money and government bonds -- spurred some 15 years of prosperity in the rebuilding city, wrote historian James B. Crooks, author of "Jacksonville After the Fire, 1901-1919, A New South City."

And it happened quickly

"Six months after the fire, the city hosted the Florida State Fair," Crooks wrote. "Of major interest were tours of the burned district. Already more than half the homes had been rebuilt and one-third of the offices and shops replaced. Visitors missed the stately oaks and the St. James Hotel, but a new Windsor (Hotel) was under construction ... While by the end of the year life was still not back to normal, Jacksonville had recovered from the fire remarkably well."

Chaos in the streets: The Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901

By October 1901, more than 1,000 building permits had been issued, according to "The Great Fire of 1901" by Bill Foley and Wayne Wood. The population grew from about 30,00 to nearly 35,000 less than three months after the fire, and by 1910 it had doubled.

Some prominent citizens rebuilt mansions near downtown, but many residents pushed out into the suburbs of that time, including Riverside and Avondale and Springfield. Architects such as Henry John Klutho, who came to Jacksonville from New York City just two months after the blaze, worked in the newest and most innovative styles of the time.

And downtown, new building techniques and materials -- and the new electric elevator -- soon made for high-rises that dominated the skyline.

As Foley and Wood wrote: "For a brilliant moment in history, Jacksonville was one of the newest and most modern cities in the world."

Matt Soergel: (904) 359-4082

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Great Fire of 1901

The march of the fire through Jacksonville (May 4, 1901)

There is suffering in Jacksonville (May 4, 1901)

Prominent citizens talk of the future with a greater Jacksonville in sight (May 4, 1901)

Slideshow

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