
City - Jacksonville FL - Bay Street 1903

by Mike Savad
Title
City - Jacksonville FL - Bay Street 1903
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Hdr Photography
Description
Colorized photo from 1903
Original title: Bay Street
Photographer: Detroit Publishing
Location: 12 Bay St, Jacksonville, FL
There is a chance you have been on this street before if you live in Jacksonville, Florida. This is Bay street, which is right near Main St. Today its a very plain street with a pretty cool looking building on the left, and the rest are parking garages. Very few buildings from the past exist, I think there is one at the very end of this block that is still there. And that one on the left, on the corner and the one next to it.
The Dyal-Upchurch Building, known to the locals as the Dyal vpchvrch bvilding. It's the only remaining one, as it was marked a historic landmark in 1980.
It was built in 1902-1903 in a Renaissance Revival-style. They built this right after the great fire of 1901 and it was one of the first high rise buildings of the area. They built it on 400 wood pilings bolted into the riverbed, which then the foundation was built on that. They said it was made with over a million bricks.
In 1924, the investment company that owned it, went out of business. For a while the tenants, moved in and out until it was left empty. Then in 1980 it became a landmark and it was finally in use again. It's now an office building again.
To help you get a sense of what it was like to be in this area, as described by someone in that time. It mostly smelled of dead fish and oil, as that was what was floating on the water that was very near by. It was a scent that traveled over the entire area.
Bay street was involved in two major fires. The first was in 1854 where a steamship (named 'Florida') sent sparks and set fire to 6 blocks along Bay between Market and Pine (now Main St). Then the great fire of 1901 that destroyed quite a bit. Many large cities had at least one great fire because buildings were often too tightly together and made of wood.
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November 14th, 2020
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