The former Florida Casket Company building in Downtown could soon see new life.
The Jacksonville Historical Society announced June 19 it plans to convert the building into a small music venue and museum that “will leverage the memories and memorabilia of people who lived through the birth of Southern rock and roll,” a news release said.
The building is at 318 Palmetto St. near the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. It was constructed in 1882, according to the Jacksonville Historical Society. It is expected to open in 2021.
Jacksonville Historical Society CEO Alan Bliss said in a release that he thinks interest for the museum will be high and finding artifacts should not pose a challenge, given Jacksonville’s connections to Southern rock ’n’ roll.
“The roots of what we know today through the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers stand on the shoulders of giants in the blues and jazz genres in Jacksonville’s African American community,” Bliss said in a release.
“There are people here who went to school with Ronnie Van Zant (founder of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band) or knew Gregg and Duane Allman when they lived here for a brief time in early 1969 and established the Allman Brothers Band.”
Mitch Hemann, musician and senior archivist at the Jacksonville Historical Society, will film a performance that will air on the Historical Society’s YouTube page June 25, announcing the launch of the project. It is titled “The Music of the Allman Brothers and the Birth of Southern Rock.”
The Jacksonville Historical Society formed a 14-person task force to help bring the idea to fruition.
It includes Bliss and Hemann; the Rev. Canon J. Allison DeFoor, of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida; Mike Boulware and John Gordon, owners of B-Side Vintage, a music shop in Gainesville; Richard Danford Jr., president of the Jacksonville Urban League; David Chauncey, an attorney with ADB Legal; Ennis Davis, an urban planner and founder of The Jaxson; Dennis Whittle, president of The Whittle Group and a founder of Normal>Next; Stanton Hudmon, principal at Pine Street/RPS Commercial Real Estate; Charles “Chip” Storey, a founder of Normal>Next; Randy DeFoor, Jacksonville City Council member, and Michael and Leigh Howton Philips, Southern Rock experts.
The task force is inviting the public to donate artifacts from musicians who are from Jacksonville, or were in the city for some period of time and contributed to “the rich history of American music that has its roots established in Jacksonville.”
The project is still unnamed. Donations can be made by contacting the Jacksonville Historical Society.
