by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Since he moved to Jacksonville in 1971, Dr. Wayne Wood, an optometrist, has become known as North Florida’s chronicler of history and architecture.
One of the founders of Riverside Avondale Preservation, Wood has authored several books about local buildings and how they contributed to Jacksonville’s story since the Great Fire of 1901.
Wood was the guest speaker at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville. “Our history is just as valuable as that of Savannah or St. Augustine,” he said at the start.
He then presented some little-known bits of Jacksonville’s architectural history, items Wood called, “the quirky, unusual stuff” that didn’t make it into the books.
One example he cited was from just after the Civil War when Jacksonville hosted the “Subtropical Exposition” and became known for the first time as a destination for tourists.
Wood said the event was notable because President Grover Cleveland was here to cut the ribbon to open the exhibition.
In 1912, an old hotel was moved on a barge from Downtown to Riverside. While the mode of relocation was unusual, another bit of history made it even more so, said Wood.
“Shortly after it was built in the late 1860s, Mary Todd Lincoln (wife of President Abraham Lincoln) stayed there before she went crazy,” he said.
By the 1920s, Jacksonville had become known as the “skyscraper center” of the South, so it was natural that the Otis Elevator Company would construct an office here. What was remarkable about the structure was that “it was the only single-story building,” said Wood.
In 1919, the architect who drew the plans for Union Terminal, now the Osborn Center, plagiarized the design of Penn Central Station in New York City, Wood said. “I guess he thought the rubes down here wouldn’t notice.”
As with any recounting of Jacksonville’s heritage, the emerging city’s “red-light district,” which was in LaVilla near the railroad terminal and the docks, has its own place in history. That’s also true for one of the original houses of worship.
“When the Shiloh Baptist Church was built in the 1870s, it was surrounded by boarding houses for females that later became brothels,” said Wood. The church later moved but by the 1920s, “the address was listed in the phone book as ‘Madame Rae’s House of Delight.’”
He also shared some history related to the statue in Memorial Park in Riverside that was donated to the city by the Rotary Club of Jacksonville in memory of local soldiers who died in World War I.
Originally, Wood said, the statue was straddled by two eagles, but around 1932 the eagles vanished. They later turned up in Confederate Park in Springfield.
“That kicked off the first battle between the two historic neighborhoods,” said Wood.
In terms of the future, Wood said a piece of Jacksonville’s architectural heritage may soon be revealed for the first time in decades. The owners of the Parkview Inn on State Street also own the former Claude Nolan Cadillac dealership building around the corner on Main Street. When the dealership moved in, the original building was covered over, but might now be uncovered and preserved.
If that happens, it would make history. “We’ll have another building on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Wood.
He described Jacksonville’s architectural history as “going in layers” and said when he published his first book about local architecture in 1988, he decided that in order to be classified as “historic,” a structure had to be at least 50 years old. Using that same half-century benchmark, Wood said it’s now time to “start thinking about ranch-style homes in Arlington as historic.”
He also shared something about his personal life with the club’s members and guests. Wood said he’ll be retiring from his 40-year-old practice in January in order to pursue a few other interests.
“I feel good and I’ve got five more books in the works. I also want to someday be a great painter. There’s more I want to do and fun I want to have,” he said.
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