Name	City of Jacksonville, Florida
Settlement type	Consolidated city–county
Motto	Where Florida Begins
Nickname	The River City, Jax, J-ville
Image seal	JaxSeal.png
Map caption	Location in Duval County and the state of Florida
Pushpin map	USA
Pushpin map caption	Location in the United States
Coordinates region	US-FL
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name
Subdivision name1
Subdivision name2	Duval
Government type	Mayor-Council
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	John Peyton (R)
Leader title1	Governing body
Leader name1	Jacksonville City Council
Established title	Founded
Established date	1791
Established title2	Incorporated
Established date2	1832
Area magnitude	10E09
Area total km2	2292.15
Unit pref	Imperial
Area total sq mi	885
Area land km2	1986.53
Area land sq mi	767
Area water km2	302.1
Population as of	2010
Population urban	913,125
Population metro	1,525,228
Population total	813518 (13th)
Population density km2	409.89
Timezone	EST
Utc offset	-5
Timezone dst	EDT
Utc offset dst	-4
Postal code type	ZIP code
Postal code	32099, 32201-32212, 32214-32241, 32244-32247, 32250, 32254-32260, 32266, 32267, 32277, 32290.
Area code	904
Elevation ft	16
Area water sq mi	116.6
Elevation m	5
Website	http://www.coj.net
Blank name	FIPS code
Blank info	12-35000
Blank1 name	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 info	0295003

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the continental United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. The consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits; as a result it is the most populous city proper in Florida and the thirteenth most populous in the United States. Jacksonville is the principal city in the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, a region with a population of more than 1,313,228.

Jacksonville is located in the First Coast region of northeast Florida and is centered on the banks of the St. Johns River, about south of the Georgia border and about north of Miami. The Jacksonville Beaches communities are located along the adjacent Atlantic coast. The area was originally inhabited by the Timucua people, and in 1564 was the site of the French colony of Fort Caroline, one of the earliest European settlements in what is now the continental United States. During Florida's British period a community grew at the narrow point in the river where cattle crossed, known as Wacca Pilatka to the Indians and Cowford to the British. The settlement was incorporated as a town in 1822, a year after the United States acquired the colony of Florida from Spain, and renamed after Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of the Florida Territory and seventh President of the United States.

Harbor improvements since the late 19th century have made Jacksonville a major military and civilian deep-water port. Its riverine location facilitates two U.S. Navy bases and the Port of Jacksonville, Florida's third largest seaport. Significant factors in the local economy include services such as banking, insurance, and healthcare. As with much of Florida, tourism is also important to the Jacksonville area, particularly tourism related to golf.

History

The area of the modern city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years. On Black Hammock Island in the national Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a University of North Florida team discovered some of the oldest remnants of pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BC. In the 16th century, the beginning of the historical era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama, a coastal subgroup of the Timucua people. At the time of contact with Europeans, most Mocama villages in present-day Jacksonville were part of the powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa, centered on Fort George Island near the mouth of the St. Johns River. One early map shows a village called Ossachite located at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville; this may be the earliest recorded name for the downtown Jacksonville area.

European explorers first arrived in the area 1562, when French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River. Two years later, in 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement at Fort Caroline, located on the St. Johns near the main village of the Saturiwa. On September 20, 1565, a Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, and killed nearly all the French soldiers defending it. The Spanish renamed fort San Mateo, and with the destruction of the French forces at Fort Caroline, St. Augustine's position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified.

Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763 following the Seven Years War, and the British soon constructed the King's Road connecting St. Augustine to Georgia. The road crossed the St. Johns at a narrow point which became known to the Indians as Wacca Pilatka and to the British as Cowford (or Cow Ford), both names ostensibly reflecting the fact that cattle were brought across the river there. Britain ceded control to Spain in 1783, following defeat in the American Revolutionary War, and settlement at Cowford continued to grow. Spain finally ceded the Florida Territory to the United States in 1821, and in 1822, American settlers began using Jacksonville's current name. Led by Isaiah D. Hart, residents wrote a charter for a town government, which was approved by the Florida Legislative Council on February 9, 1832. During the American Civil War, Jacksonville was a key supply point for hogs and cattle being shipped from Florida to aid the Confederate cause. The city was blockaded by Union forces, who gained control of the nearby Fort Clinch. From 1862, they controlled the city and most of the First Coast for the duration of the war. Though no battles were fought in Jacksonville, the city changed hands several times. Warfare and the long occupation left the city disrupted after the war.

During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, Jacksonville and nearby St. Augustine became popular winter resorts for the rich and famous. Visitors arrived by steamboat and later by railroad. President Grover Cleveland attended the Sub-Tropical Exposition in the city on February 22, 1888 during his trip to Florida. This highlighted the visibility of the state as a worthy place for tourism. The city's tourism, however, was dealt major blows in the late 19th century by yellow fever outbreaks. In addition, extension of the Florida East Coast Railway further south drew visitors to other areas. From 1893 to 1938 Jacksonville was the site of the Florida Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home with a nearby cemetery.

On May 3, 1901, downtown Jacksonville was ravaged by a fire that started at a fiber factory. Known as the "Great Fire of 1901", it was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the largest urban fire in the southeastern United States. Over eight hours, it destroyed the business district and left 10,000 residents homeless. It is said the glow from the flames could be seen in Savannah, Georgia, and the smoke plumes in Raleigh, North Carolina. Architect Henry John Klutho was a primary figure in the reconstruction of the city. More than 13,000 buildings were constructed between 1901 and 1912.

In the 1910s, New York–based filmmakers were attracted to Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic locations, excellent rail access, and cheap labor. Over the course of the decade, more than 30 silent film studios were established, earning Jacksonville the title of "Winter Film Capital of the World". However, the city's conservative political climate and the emergence of Hollywood as a major film production center ended the city's film industry. One converted movie studio site, Norman Studios, remains in Arlington; It has been converted to the Jacksonville Silent Film Museum at Norman Studios. , 1910]] During this time, Jacksonville also became a banking and insurance center, with companies such as Barnett Bank, Atlantic National Bank, Florida National Bank, Prudential, Gulf Life, Afro-American Insurance, Independent Life and American Heritage Life thriving in the business district. The U.S. Navy also became a major employer and economic force during the 1940s, with the construction of three naval bases in the city.

Jacksonville, like most large cities in the United States, suffered from negative effects of rapid urban sprawl after World War II. The construction of highways led residents to move to newer housing in the suburbs. After World War II, the government of the city of Jacksonville began to increase spending to fund new public building projects in the boom that occurred after the war. Mayor W. Haydon Burns' Jacksonville Story resulted in the construction of a new city hall, civic auditorium, public library and other projects that created a dynamic sense of civic pride. However, the development of suburbs and a subsequent wave of middle class "white flight" left Jacksonville with a much poorer population than before.

Much of the city's tax base dissipated, leading to problems with funding education, sanitation, and traffic control within the city limits. In addition, residents in unincorporated suburbs had difficulty obtaining municipal services, such as sewage and building code enforcement. In 1958, a study recommended that the city of Jacksonville begin annexing outlying communities in order to create the needed tax base to improve services throughout the county. Voters outside the city limits rejected annexation plans in six referendums between 1960 and 1965.

In the mid 1960s, corruption scandals began to arise among many of the city's officials, who were mainly elected through the traditional good ol' boy network. After a grand jury was convened to investigate, 11 officials were indicted and more were forced to resign. Consolidation, led by J. J. Daniel and Claude Yates, began to win more support during this period, from both inner city blacks, who wanted more involvement in government, and whites in the suburbs, who wanted more services and more control over the central city. In 1964 all 15 of Duval County's public high schools lost their accreditation. This added momentum to proposals for government reform. Lower taxes, increased economic development, unification of the community, better public spending and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as reasons for a new consolidated government. .]]

When a consolidation referendum was held in 1967, voters approved the plan. On October 1, 1968, the governments merged to create the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. Fire, police, health & welfare, recreation, public works, and housing & urban development were all combined under the new government.

The Better Jacksonville Plan, promoted as a blueprint for Jacksonville's future and approved by Jacksonville voters in 2000, authorized a half-penny sales tax. This would generate most of the revenue required for the $2.25 billion package of major projects that included road & infrastructure improvements, environmental preservation, targeted economic development and new or improved public facilities.

Geography

Topography

's Landsat 7 satellite.]]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , making Jacksonville the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States; of this, 86.66% () is land and ; 13.34% () is water. Jacksonville completely encircles the town of Baldwin. Nassau County lies to the north, Baker County lies to the west, and Clay and St. Johns County lie to the south; the Atlantic Ocean lies to the east, along with the Jacksonville Beaches. The St. Johns River divides the city. The Trout River, a major tributary of the St. Johns River, is located entirely within Jacksonville.

Climate

, December 23, 1989]]

Jacksonville has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa), with mild weather during winters and hot weather during summers. High temperatures average throughout the year. High heat indices are not uncommon for the summer months in the Jacksonville area. High temperatures can reach the mid and upper 90s with heat indices above possible. The highest temperature ever recorded in Jacksonville was on July 21, 1942. It is common for thunderstorms to erupt during a typical summer afternoon. These are caused by the rapid heating of the land relative to the water, combined with extremely high humidity.

During winter, there can be hard freezes during the night. Such cold weather is usually short lived, as the city averages only 10 to 15 nights below freezing. The coldest temperature recorded at Jacksonville International Airport was on January 21, 1985, a day that still holds the record cold for many locations in the eastern half of the US. Even rarer in Jacksonville than freezing temperatures is snow. When snow does fall, it usually melts upon making contact with the ground. Most residents of Jacksonville can remember accumulated snow on only one occasion—-a thin ground cover that occurred December 23, 1989. On December 26, 2010, measurable snow fell for the first time in 21 years across metropolitan Jacksonville. Occurring in the morning, it also marked the first time since 1989 that the official National Weather Service recording equipment at Jacksonville International Airport picked up frozen precipitation.

Jacksonville has suffered less damage from hurricanes than most other east coast cities, although the threat does exist for a direct hit by a major hurricane. The city has only received one direct hit from a hurricane since 1871, although Jacksonville has experienced hurricane or near-hurricane conditions more than a dozen times due to storms passing through the state from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, or passing to the north or south in the Atlantic and brushing past the area. The strongest effect on Jacksonville was from Hurricane Dora in 1964, the only recorded storm to hit the First Coast with sustained hurricane force winds. The eye crossed St. Augustine with winds that had just barely diminished to , making it a strong Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Jacksonville also suffered damage from 2008's Tropical Storm Fay which crisscrossed the state, bringing parts of Jacksonville under darkness for four days. Similarly, four years prior to this, Jacksonville was inundated by Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne, which made landfall south of the area. These tropical cyclones were the costliest indirect hits to Jacksonville. Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused damage mainly to Jacksonville Beach. During Floyd, the Jacksonville Beach pier was completely destroyed. The rebuilt pier was later heavily damaged by Fay, but not destroyed.

Rainfall averages around a year, with the wettest months being June through September.

Cityscape

Architecture

Downtown Jacksonville has a skyline with the tallest building being the Bank of America Tower, constructed in 1990 as the Barnett Bank Center. It has a height of and includes 42 floors. Other notable structures include the 37-story Modis Building (with its distinctive flared base making it the defining building in the Jacksonville skyline), originally built in 1972-74 by the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company, and the 28 floor Riverplace Tower which, when completed in 1967, was the tallest precast, post-tensioned concrete structure in the world.

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! class="unsortable"|Rank ! Name ! Street Address ! Heightfeet / meters ! Floors ! Year |- | 1 | Bank of America Tower | 50 North Laura Street | 617 / 188 | 42 The city of Jacksonville divides its territory into six planning districts, each containing a number of neighborhoods and developments, with borders defined by a set of major roads and rivers that run through the city: the Urban Core, Greater Arlington, Southeast Jacksonville, Southwest Jacksonville, Northwest Jacksonville, and North Jacksonville. Some neighborhoods were originally towns or communities prior to being annexed by the city. Additionally, Baldwin, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach retain their own municipal governments though they are represented in the Jacksonville City Council. Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach are collectively known as the Jacksonville Beaches.

Parks and gardens

Jacksonville operates the largest urban park system in the United States, providing facilities and services at more than 337 locations on more than located throughout the city. Jacksonville enjoys natural beauty from the St. Johns River and Atlantic Ocean. Many parks provide access for people to boat, swim, fish, sail, jetski, surf and waterski. Several parks around the city have received international recognition. Kids Kampus, in particular, is a unique facility for families with young children.

Tree Hill Nature Center is a nature preserve conveniently located five minutes from Downtown Jacksonville. Tree Hill is home to an environmental education center, a wildlife area, a Butterfly Center and of nature trails surrounded by hilltop and wetland areas consisting of southern mixed hardwood forest, mixed hardwood swamp and freshwater streams. Serving the Jacksonville community for 40 years with important environmental education programs, Tree Hill also hosts a popular Butterfly Festival on the last Saturday of every April in the Joseph A. Strasser Amphitheater.

Hemming Plaza is Jacksonville's first and oldest park. It is downtown and surrounded by government buildings.

The Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens broke ground on a new center in April, 2007 and held their grand opening on November 15, 2008.

The Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park in suburban Green Cove Springs was opened in 1996. Located on Sandridge Rd, the park is dedicated to the memory of rock legend Ronnie Van Zant, lead singer and songwriter of The Lynyrd Skynyrd Band. Killed in the tragic 1977 crash of the band's private plane along with guitarist Steve Gaines, back-up singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road mgr. Dean Kilpatrick and the plane's two pilots, Van Zant grew up on the west side of Jacksonville and graduated (along with most of the band) from Robert E. Lee High School. The park features an 18 hole disc golf course, tennis courts and several fishing ponds.

The Veterans Memorial Wall is a tribute to local servicemen and women killed while serving in US armed forces. A ceremony is held each Memorial Day recognizing any service woman or man from Jacksonville who died in the previous year.

The Treaty Oak is a massive, 250 year-old tree at Jessie Ball DuPont Park in downtown. Office workers from nearby buildings sit on benches to eat lunch or read a book in the shade of its canopy.

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail is a linear city park which runs from Imeson Road to a point past Baldwin, Florida.

Culture

Entertainment and performing arts

The Florida Theatre, opened in 1927, is located in downtown Jacksonville and is one of only four remaining high-style movie palaces built in Florida during the Mediterranean Revival architectural boom of the 1920s.

Amity Turkish Cultural Center was established in 2006 as one of the major Dialogue and Cultural organizations in Jacksonville. Theatre Jacksonville was organized in 1919 as the Little Theatre and is one of the oldest continually producing community theatres in the United States.

The Five Points Theatre, formerly the Riverside Theatre, opened in 1927. It was the first theater equipped to show talking pictures in Florida and the third nationally. It is located in the Five Points section of town and was renamed the Five Points Theater in 1949.

The Ritz Theatre, opened in 1929, is located in the LaVilla neighborhood of the northern part of Jacksonville's downtown. The Jacksonville music scene was active in the 1930s in LaVilla, which was known as “Harlem of the South”. Black musicians from across the country visited Jacksonville to play standing room only performances at the Ritz Theatre and the Knights of Pythias Hall. Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong were a few of the legendary performers who appeared. After his mother died when he was 15, Ray Charles lived with friends of his mother while he played piano at the Ritz for a year, before moving on to fame and fortune. The Ritz Theatre was rebuilt and opened in October 1999.

The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts consists of three distinct halls: the Jim & Jan Moran Theater, a venue for touring Broadway shows; the Jacoby Symphony Hall, home of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra; and the Terry Theater, intended for small shows and recitals. The building was originally erected as the Civic Auditorium in 1962 and underwent a major renovation and construction in 1996.

The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, which opened in 2003, is a 16,000-seat performance venue that attracts national entertainment, sporting events and also houses the Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame. It replaced the outdated Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum that was built in 1960 and demolished on June 26, 2003.

The Alhambra Dinner Theatre, located on the Southside near the University of North Florida, has offered professional productions that frequently starred well-known actors since 1967. There are also a number of popular community theatres such as Players by the Sea at Jacksonville Beach. Atlantic Beach Experemental Theatre (ABET), and Orange Park Community Theatre.

In 1999, Stage Aurora Theatrical Company, Inc. was established in collaboration at Florida State College at Jacksonville (North Campus). Their goal is to produce theatre that enlightens, and it is the most popular theatre on the Northside, located at Gateway Town Center.

Jacksonville native Pat Boone was a popular 1950s singer and teen idol. During the 1960s, the Classics Four was the most successful pop rock band from Jacksonville. Southern Rock was defined by the Allman Brothers Band, which formed in 1969 in Jacksonville. Lynyrd Skynyrd achieved near cult status and inspired Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet and .38 Special, all successful in the 1970s. The 1980s were a quiet decade for musical talent in Jacksonville. The next local group to achieve national success was nu-metal band Limp Bizkit in 1994. Other popular Hip Hop acts in the 1990s included 95 South, 69 Boyz and the Quad City DJ's. The bands Inspection 12, Cold and Yellowcard were also well known and had a large following. Following the millennium, Rob Roy, Burn Season, Evergreen Terrace, Shinedown, Electric President, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Black Kids and The Summer Obsession, were notable bands from Jacksonville.

In the early 20th century, New York-based moviemakers were attracted to Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic locations, excellent rail access, and cheaper labor, earning the city the title of "The Winter Film Capital of the World". Over 30 movie studios were opened and thousands of silent films produced between 1908 and the 1920s, when most studios relocated to Hollywood, California.

Since that time, Jacksonville has been chosen by a number of film and television studios for on-location shooting. Notable motion pictures that have been partially or completely shot in Jacksonville since the silent film era include Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988), Brenda Starr (1989), G.I. Jane (1997), The Devil's Advocate (1997), Ride (1998), Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998), Forces of Nature (1999), Tigerland (2000), Sunshine State (2002), Basic (2003), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Lonely Hearts (2006), Moving McAllister (2007), The Year of Getting to Know Us'' (2008).

Notable television series or made-for-television films that have been partially or completely shot in Jacksonville include Intimate Strangers (1986), Inherit the Wind (1988), Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer (1989), A Girl of the Limberlost (1990), Orpheus Descending (1990), Pointman (1995), Saved by the Light (1995), The Babysitter's Seduction (1996), Sudden Terror: The Hijacking of School Bus #17 (1996), First Time Felon (1997), Gold Coast (1997), Safe Harbor (film) (2009), The Conquest of America (2005), Super Bowl XXXIX (2005), Recount (film) (2008), and American Idol (2009).

Annual events

One of the most popular sporting events is the annual Gate River Run, the US National Championship 15K since 1994 and largest 15K race in the country. The 13,000+ recreational runners—some running for the first time—are joined by a few thousand more supporters, spectators and volunteers who make this Jacksonville's largest participation sporting event. The race has taken place every March since 1977.

Turkish Food & Music Festival.(www.jaxturkishfest.com)

The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, an annual event in early March, is one of the nation's premier automotive concours events. Also in March is the Blessing of the Fleet and the Great Atlantic Seafood and Music Festival.

The Jacksonville Jazz Festival is held every April and is the second-largest jazz festival in the nation. Springing the Blues is a free outdoor blues festival held in Jacksonville Beach, also in April.

The Tree Hill Nature Center Annual Butterfly Festival is held on the last Saturday in April. Thousands of community members visit Tree Hill for a variety of environmental learning opportunities, family arts activities and the release of over 1000 butterflies.

The Jacksonville Film Festival is staged every May and features a variety of independent films, documentaries, and shorts screening at seven historic venues in the city. Past attendees of the festival have included director John Landis and Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and winner Graham Greene, both of whom were awarded the Tortuga Verde Lifetime Achievement Award.

The World of Nations Celebration is also in May. The Spring Music Fest is a free concert on Memorial Day weekend that is sponsored by the city that features some of today's most popular artists.

Every July 4 is the Freedom, Fanfare & Fireworks celebration, one of the nation's largest fireworks displays, held at Metropolitan Park and on the surface of the St. Johns River. A very large fireworks display is also held at Jacksonville Beach, centered on the rebuilt pier.

The AT&T; Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament is an annual event held in July. The first contest was held in 1981 and it has grown to be the largest Kingfish tournament in the United States. Participation is limited to 1,000 boats that compete for over $500,000 in prizes, attracting approximately 30,000 spectators.

The Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair is held every November at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds & Exposition Center, featuring an array of carnival games and rides, food, live entertainment, vendor merchandise booths and agriculture/livestock exhibition and judging.

Planetfest, an annual corporate music festival in November, features a variety of musicians and is sponsored by the Clear Channel radio station WPLA, Planet 107.3.

Thanksgiving weekend is a busy time, with the lighting of Jacksonville's official Christmas Tree at the Jacksonville Landing on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The Jacksonville Light Parade happens on Saturday night following Thanksgiving.

"The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" or "Florida/Georgia-Georgia/Florida" college football game.

Attractions

The city center includes the Jacksonville Landing and the Jacksonville Riverwalks. The Landing is a popular riverfront dining and shopping venue, accessible by River Taxi from the Southbank Riverwalk. The Northbank Riverwalk runs along the St. Johns from Berkman Plaza to I-95 at the Fuller Warren Bridge while the Southbank Riverwalk stretches from the Radisson Hotel to Museum Circle.

Also on the Southbank is the Museum of Science & History. The museum, also called MOSH, features the area's only planetarium and an extensive exhibit on the history of Northeast Florida.

Adjacent to Museum Circle is St. Johns River Park, also known as Friendship Park. It is the location of Friendship Fountain, one of the most recognizable and popular attractions for locals as well as tourists in Jacksonville. This landmark was built in 1965 and promoted as the “World’s Tallest and Largest” fountain at the time.

Just east of the fountain is the Jacksonville Maritime Museum, located in an enclosed pavilion on the riverwalk. Their collection includes models of ships, paintings, photographs and artifacts dating to 1562.

In 2003, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened a facility next to the Main Library downtown. Tracing its roots back to the formation of Jacksonville's Fine Arts Society in 1924, the museum features eclectic permanent and traveling exhibitions. In November 2006, JMOMA was renamed Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA Jacksonville) to reflect their continued commitment to art produced after the modernist period.

The Museum of Science & History (MOSH) is found on Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk, and features a main exhibit that changes quarterly, plus three floors of nature and local history exhibits, a hands-on science area and the Alexander Brest Planetarium.

Brest, founder of Duval Engineering and Contracting Co., was also the benefactor for the Alexander Brest Museum and Gallery on the campus of Jacksonville University. The exhibits are a diverse collection of carved ivory, Pre-Columbian artifacts, Steuben glass, Chinese porcelain and Cloisonné, Tiffany glass, Boehm porcelain and rotating exhibitions containing the work of local, regional, national and international artists.

Three other art galleries are located at educational institutions in town. Florida State College at Jacksonville has the Kent Gallery on their westside campus and the Wilson Center for the Arts at their main campus. The University Gallery is located on the campus of the University of North Florida.

The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens holds a large collection of European and American paintings, and a world-renowned collection of early Meissen porcelain. The museum is surrounded by three acres of formal English and Italian style gardens, and is in the Riverside neighborhood, on the bank of the St. Johns River. There is also a hands-on children's section.

The Karpeles Manuscript Library is the world’s largest private collection of original manuscripts & documents. The museum in Jacksonville is in a 1921 neoclassical building on the outskirts of downtown. In addition to document displays, there is also an antique-book library, with volumes dating from the late 19th century.

The Catherine Street Fire Station building is on the National Register of Historic Places and was relocated to Metropolitan Park in 1993. It houses the Jacksonville Fire Museum and features 500+ artifacts including an 1806 hand pumper.

The LaVilla Museum opened in 1999 and features a permanent display of African-American history. The art exhibits are changed periodically.

There are also several historical properties and items of interest in the city, including the Klutho Building, the Old Morocco Temple Building, the Palm and Cycad Arboretum, and the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, originally built as Union Station train depot. The Jacksonville Historical Society showcases two restoration projects: the 1887 St. Andrews Episcopal Church and the 1879 Merrill House, both located near the sports complex.

The Art Walk, a monthly outdoor art festival on the first Wednesday of each month, is sponsored by Downtown Vision, Inc, an organization which works to promote artistic talent and venues on the First Coast.

E2ride bike tours opened in 2009 and is the areas only historical bicycle tour company in Riverside-Avondale, San Marco, Olde Mandarin, Springfield and Jacksonville Beach. The bike tours are sustainable tourism, and eco tourism and include bikes, gear and guide.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens boasts the second largest animal collection in the state. The zoo features elephants, lions, and, of course, jaguars (with an exhibit, Range of the Jaguar, hosted by the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Delores and Wayne Weaver). It also has a multitude of reptile houses, free flight aviaries, and many other animals.

Shipwreck Island in Jacksonville Beach is the only waterpark in Duval County. It opened in 1995 and changes rides every few years to keep the season passholders coming back.

Adventure Landing in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach are the only amusement parks in Duval County.

Jungle Quest, located across from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, is the only Jungle Quest store located outside of Colorado. Jungle Quest features zip-lines and rock climbing for children.

Retail

Jacksonville has two fully enclosed shopping malls. The oldest is the Regency Square Mall, which opened in 1967 and is located on former sand dunes in the Arlington area. The other is The Avenues Mall, which opened in 1990 on the Southside, at the intersection of I-95 and US 1. The Orange Park Mall is another mall located just south of the city in the suburb of Orange Park, Florida, in Clay County, off of Blanding Boulevard (Florida State Road 21).

The end of the indoor shopping mall may be indicated by the opening of The St. Johns Town Center in 2005 and the River City Marketplace, on the Northside in 2006. Both of these are "open air" malls, with a similar mix of stores, but without being contained under a single, enclosed roof. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), only one enclosed mall has been built in the United States since 2006.

The Avenues, Orange Park Mall, and St. Johns Town Center are all owned by Simon Property Group; Regency is owned by General Growth Properties; River City Marketplace is owned by Ramco-Gershenson.

Sports

Jacksonville is home to one major league-level sports team, the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). The Jaguars joined the NFL as an expansion team in the 1995 season; they play their home games at EverBank Field. The PGA Tour, which organizes the main professional golf tournaments in the U.S., is headquartered in the suburb of Ponte Vedra Beach, where it holds The Players Championship every year.

Jacksonville is also home to several minor league-level teams. The Jacksonville Suns, a class Double-A baseball team, have been in Jacksonville continuously since 1970, longer than any other Double-A team has been in its city, and are the top-selling franchise in the Southern League. The Jacksonville Sharks Arena Football League team began play in 2010. The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team in the American National Rugby League, the U.S.' main competition, and are the 2010 league champions. Jacksonville is intended to field a professional rugby league team in the proposed National Rugby League USA competition, planned to kick off in 2011. The Jacksonville Giants basketball team started play in the new American Basketball Association in December 2010.

College sports, in particular college football, are also popular in Jacksonville. The city hosts the Florida vs. Georgia Football Classic, an annual rivalry football game between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia, and the Gator Bowl, a post-season college bowl game. Jacksonville's two universities compete in NCAA Division I: the University of North Florida Ospreys and the Jacksonville University Dolphins.

Media

The Florida Times-Union is the major daily newspaper in Jacksonville and Jacksonville.com is its official website. Another daily newspaper focused on the legal community is the Financial News and Daily Record.

The city's chief alternative newsweekly is Folio Weekly. Others include EU Jacksonville, Buzz Magazine and the Jacksonville Observer. The Jacksonville Business Journal is a weekly paper that focuses on the local economy and business community. The Jacksonville Free Press is a weekly paper serving the African-American community.

Jacksonville is the 47th largest local television market in the United States, and is served by television stations affiliated with major American networks including WTLV (NBC), WJXX (ABC), WTEV (CBS), WAWS (Fox/My Network TV), WJCT (PBS),and WCWJ (CW). WJXT is a former longtime CBS affiliate that turned independent in 2002.

Jacksonville is the 46th largest local radio market in the United States, and is dominated by the same two large ownership groups that dominate the radio industry across the United States: Cox Radio and Clear Channel Communications. The dominant AM radio station in terms of ratings is WOKV 690AM, which is also the flagship station for the Jacksonville Jaguars. In September 2006, WOKV began simulcasting on 106.5 FM as WOKV FM. There are two radio stations broadcasting a primarily contemporary hits format; WAPE 95.1 has dominated this niche for over twenty years, and more recently has been challenged by WFKS 97.9 FM (KISS FM). WJBT 93.3 (The Beat) is a hip-hop/R&B; station, WPLA 107.3 is an oldies station. WXXJ 102.9, WFYV 104.5—Rock 105 Jacksonville Classic rock, WQIK 99.1 is a country station as well as WGNE-FM 99.9, WCRJ FM 88.1 (The Promise) is the main Contemporary Christian station operating since 1984, WHJX 105.7 and WFJO 92.5 plays music in Spanish like salsa, merengue, and reggaeton, and WJCT 89.9 is the local National Public Radio affiliate. Local Jones College also hosts an easy listening station, WKTZ 90.9 FM.

Demographics

Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, and the twelfth most populous city in the United States. As of the census estimates of 2006, there were 799,875 people, 315,796 households, and 199,037 families residing in the city. However, it is perhaps misleading to compare Jacksonville's population to other major cities. As a result of the 1968 consolidation of Jacksonville and Duval County, most of the suburban communities of Jacksonville were absorbed within the city limits of Jacksonville proper. It may be a more accurate comparison to compare the incorporated area of Jacksonville to the Metropolitan area of other cities.

The population density was 374.9/km² (970.9/mi²). There were 308,826 housing units at an average density of 157.4/km² (407.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.48% White, 34.03% Black or African American, 0.34% Native American, 2.78% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.33% from other races, and 1.99% from two or more races. 4.16% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The largest ancestries include: German (9.6%), American (9.3%), Irish (9.0%), English (8.5%), and Italian (3.5%). According to the United States Census Jacksonville has the tenth largest Arab population in the United States. Jacksonville has a large Filipino population, in part related to their tradition of service with the Navy. In addition, there is a large Serbo-Croatian population, located mostly on the south side of Jacksonville, and Russian population. Jacksonville also has a growing Puerto Rican population.

According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Jacksonville was as follows:

White: 62.3% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 58.3% )

Black or African American: 30.1%

American Indian: 0.3%

Asian: 3.5%

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%

Some other race: 1.8%

Two or more races: 1.9%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 6.2%

Source:

There were 284,499 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.07. In the city, the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $40,316, and the median income for a family was $47,243. Males had a median income of $32,547 versus $25,886 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,337. About 9.4% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.

Languages

As of the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, 88.1% of Jacksonville's population age five and over spoke only English at home while 5.2% of the population spoke Spanish at home. About 3.2% spoke other Indo-European languages at home. About 2.5% spoke an Asian language at home. The remaining 0.9% of the population spoke other languages at home.

Religion

Jacksonville has a diverse religious population. The city is estimated to contain 265,158 Evangelical Protestants and 89,649 Mainline Protestants who attend a total of 794 churches. Several of these are megachurches, including Bethel Baptist Institutional Church and First Baptist Church downtown and Christ's Church (formerly Mandarin Christian Church) on Greenland Road. Jacksonville is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, which has 166,464 registered members attending 51 parishes. Since 1906, the city's Unitarian Universalists have worshipped at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville. The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has its see in St. John's Cathedral, the current building dating from 1906. The greater metropolitan area also has a Jewish population of 14,000, mostly residing in the neighborhood of Mandarin. There are two Reform, four Conservative, and four Orthodox synagogues, three of them Chabad-affiliated. There are over 3,000 members of various Eastern Orthodox Church jurisdictions in eight parishes or missions, and 18,050 of other religious affiliations. Within the city limits there are also seven Mormon church buildings housing twelve congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a population of Muslims centered on the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, a Bahá'í center, and New Age and Neopagan communities.

Law and government

Administrative structure

The most noteworthy feature of Jacksonville government is its consolidated nature. The Duval County-Jacksonville consolidation eliminated any type of separate county executive or legislature, and supplanted these positions with the Mayor of Jacksonville and the City Council of the City of Jacksonville, respectively. Because of this, voters who live outside of the city limits of Jacksonville, but inside of Duval County, are allowed not only to vote in elections for these positions, but to run for them as well. In fact, in 1995, John Delaney, a resident of Neptune Beach, was elected mayor of the city of Jacksonville.

Jacksonville uses the Mayor-Council form of city government, also called the Strong-Mayor form, in which a mayor serves as the city's Chief Executive and Administrative officer. The mayor holds veto power over all resolutions and ordinances made by the city council, and also has the power to hire and fire the head of various city departments. The current mayor is John Peyton.

Law enforcement

Jacksonville and Duval County historically maintained separate police agencies: the Jacksonville Police Department and Duval County Sheriff's Office. As part of consolidation in 1968, the two merged, creating the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO). The JSO is headed by the elected Sheriff of Duval County, currently John Rutherford, and is responsible for law enforcement and corrections in the county.

Crime

In 2006, based on the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation-Uniform Crime Reports, Jacksonville reported 6,663 violent crimes including 110 murders. In 2006 Duval County had the highest murder rate in Florida. Rates for other crimes were significantly lower; based on the Morgan Quitno Press 2006 national crime rankings, Jacksonville ranked as the 10th safest among the 32 US cities with a population of 500,000 or more. In 2009 a report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ranked Jacksonville 115th in a list of "most dangerous" large cities in the United States, behind other Florida cities including Orlando (11th), Miami (35th), Tampa (74th), and Gainesville (101st).

Autonomous agencies

Some government services remained — as they had been before consolidation – independent of both city and county authority. In accordance with Florida law, the school board continues to exist with nearly complete autonomy. Jacksonville also has several quasi-independent government agencies which only nominally answer to the consolidated authority, including electric authority, port authority, transportation authority, housing authority and airport authority. The main environmental and agricultural body is the Duval County Soil and Water Conservation District, which works closely with other area and state agencies.

Education

Higher education

Jacksonville is home to Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Edward Waters College, The Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida Coastal School of Law, Trinity Baptist College, and Jones College.

Former mayor John Delaney has been president of the University of North Florida since leaving office in July 2003.

Primary and secondary education

Public schools in Duval County are controlled by the Duval County School Board. The county is home to four of the nation's best high schools: (Stanton College Preparatory School 5th, Paxon School for Advanced Studies 8th, Samuel W. Wolfson High School 148th, Mandarin High School 151st, and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts 158th,) according to Newsweek Magazine in 2008.

Jacksonville, along with the standard district schools, is home to three International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme ("IB") high schools. They are Stanton, Paxon, and Jean Ribault High School. Jacksonville also has a notable magnet high school devoted to the performing and expressive arts, Douglas Anderson. The Advanced International Certificate of Education Program (AICE) is available at Mandarin High School, Duncan U. Fletcher High School and William M. Raines High School.

Private schools

Some of the larger private schools in Jacksonville include the Bolles School , Episcopal High School, Trinity Christian Academy, and Providence School, as well as two Catholic high schools, Bishop Kenny High School and Bishop John J. Snyder High School. There are a number of smaller private Christian and Catholic schools. Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, formerly Clarke School for the Deaf, operates a satellite school in Jacksonville, "Clarke Jacksonville", and assists young deaf children to listen and talk. The main campus is located in Northampton, Massachusetts with three other satellite schools across the country. Clarke is the oldest school for the deaf that specializes in oral education (as opposed to sign language) in the country.

Libraries

The Jacksonville Public Library had its beginnings when May Moore and Florence Murphy started the "Jacksonville Library and Literary Association" in 1878. The Association was populated by various prominent Jacksonville residents and sought to create a free public library and reading room for the city.

Over the course of 127 years, the system has grown from that one room library to become one of the largest in the state. The Jacksonville library system has twenty branches, ranging in size from the West Regional Library to smaller neighborhood libraries like Westbrook and Eastside. The Library annually receives nearly 4 million visitors and circulates over 6 million items. Nearly 500,000 library cards are held by area residents.

On November 12, 2005, the new Main Library opened to the public, replacing the 40-year old Haydon Burns Library. The largest public library in the state, the opening of the new main library marked the completion of an unprecedented period of growth for the system under the Better Jacksonville Plan. The new Main Library offers specialized reading rooms, public access to hundreds of computers and public displays of art, an extensive collection of books, and special collections ranging from the African-American Collection to the recently opened Holocaust Collection. Jacksonville was also the 10th fastest growing city in the U.S.

Cecil Commerce Center is located on the site of the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field which closed in 1999 following the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision. Covering a total area of , it was the largest military base in the Jacksonville area. The parcel contains more than 3% of the total land area in Duval County (17,000 acres). The industrial and commercial-zoned center offers mid to large-size parcels for development and boasts excellent transportation and utility infrastructure as well as the third-longest runway in Florida.

Companies

Jacksonville is home to many prominent corporations & organizations including three Fortune 500 Companies: CSX Corporation, Fidelity National Financial and Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.. Fortune Magazine identified Landstar System, MPS Group and PSS World Medical as the best big companies in Jacksonville in 2009.

Military

Jacksonville is home to multiple military facilities, and with Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay nearby gives Jacksonville the third largest military presence in the country. Only Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California are bigger. The military is by far the largest employer in Jacksonville and its total economic impact is approximately $6.1 billion annually.

Naval Air Station Jacksonville is a military airport located four miles (6 km) south of the central business district. Approximately 23,000 civilian and active-duty personnel are employed on the base. There are 35 operational units/squadrons assigned there and support facilities include an airfield for pilot training, a maintenance depot capable of virtually any task, from changing a tire to intricate micro-electronics or total engine disassembly. Also on-site is a Naval Hospital, a Fleet Industrial Supply Center, a Navy Family Service Center, and recreational facilities.

Naval Station Mayport is a Navy Ship Base that is the third largest fleet concentration area in the United States. Mayport's operational composition is unique, with a busy harbor capable of accommodating 34 ships and an runway capable of handling any aircraft used by the Department of Defense. Until 2007, it was home to the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, which locals called "Big John". In January 2009, the Navy committed to stationing a nuclear-powered carrier at Mayport when the official Record of Decision was signed. The port will require approximately $500 million in facility enhancements to support the larger vessel, which will take several years to complete. The ship is projected to arrive in 2014.

Blount Island Command is a Marine Corps Logistics Base whose mission is to support the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) which provides for rapid deployment of personnel to link up with prepositioned equipment and supplies embarked aboard forward deployed Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS).

USS Jacksonville, a nuclear powered Los Angeles class submarine, is the only US Navy ship named for the city. The ship's nickname is The Bold One and Norfolk, Virginia is her home port.

The Florida Air National Guard is based at Jacksonville International Airport.

Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville is located on the St. Johns River next to Naval Station Mayport. Sector Jacksonville controls operations from Kings Bay, GA south to Cape Canaveral, FL. The CGC Kingfisher, CGC Maria Bray, and CGC Hammer are stationed at the Sector. Station Mayport is co-located with Sector Jacksonville and includes Response Boats, and Motor Life Boats.

Port

The Port of Jacksonville, a seaport on the St. Johns River, is a large component of the local economy. Approximately 50,000 jobs in Northeast Florida are related to port activity and the port has an economic impact of $2.7 billion in Northeast Florida:

Port wages and salaries = $1.3 billion

Business revenue = $743 million

Local purchases = $239.1 million

State and local taxes = $119.3 million

Customs revenue = $258 million

Tourism

In 2008, Jacksonville had approximately 2.8 million visitors who stayed overnight, spending nearly $1 billion. Research Data Services of Tampa was commissioned to undertake the study, which quantified the importance of tourism. The total economic impact was $1.6 billion and supported nearly 43,000 jobs, 10% of the local workforce.

Infrastructure

Health systems

Major players in the Jacksonville health care industry include St. Vincent's HealthCare, Baptist Health and Shands HealthCare for local residents. Additionally, Nemours Children's Clinic and Mayo Clinic Hospital each draw patients regionally.

Housing

The Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) is the quasi-independent agency responsible for public housing and subsidized housing in Jacksonville. The Mayor and City Council of Jacksonville established the JHA in 1994 to create an effective, community service oriented, public housing agency with innovative ideas and a different attitude. The primary goal was to provide safe, clean, affordable housing for eligible low and moderate income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. The secondary goal was to provide effective social services, work with residents to improve their quality of life, encourage employment and self-sufficiency, and help residents move out of assisted housing. To that end, JHA works with HabiJax to help low and moderate income families to escape the public housing cycle and become successful, productive, homeowners and taxpayers.

Non-profit/service organizations

The TaxExemptWorld.com website, which compiles Internal Revenue Service data, reported that in 2007, there are 2,910 distinct, active, tax exempt/non-profit organizations in Jacksonville which, excluding Credit Unions, had a total income of $7.08 billion and assets of $9.54 billion. There are 333 charitable organizations with assets of over $1 million. The largest share of assets was tied to Medical facilities, $4.5 billion. The problems of the homeless are addressed by several non-profits, most notably the Sulzbacher Center and the Clara White Mission.

Utilities

Basic utilities in Jacksonville (water, sewer, electric) are provided by the JEA (formerly Jacksonville Electric Authority). According to Article 21 of the Jacksonville City Charter, "JEA is authorized to own, manage and operate a utilities system within and outside the City of Jacksonville. JEA is created for the express purpose of acquiring, constructing, operating, financing and otherwise have plenary authority with respect to electric, water, sewer, natural gas and such other utility systems as may be under its control now or in the future."

People's Gas is Jacksonville's natural gas provider.

Comcast is Jacksonville's local cable provider.

AT&T; (formerly BellSouth) is Jacksonville's local phone provider.

*AT&T;'s U-Verse service provides TV, internet, and VoIP phone service to customers served by fiber-to-the-premises or fiber-to-the-node using a VRAD.

The city has a successful recycling program with separate pickups for garbage, yard waste and recycling. Collection is provided by several private companies under contract to the City of Jacksonville.

Transportation

aircraft from NAS Jacksonville overfly downtown Jacksonville and three of its road bridges, 1994. The Fuller Warren drawbridge in the foreground has since been torn down and replaced by a higher span.]]

Highways

;Interstate highways Interstate 10 Interstate 95 Interstate 295

Interstate Highways 10 and 95 intersect in Jacksonville, creating the busiest intersection in the region with 200,000 vehicles each day. Interstate 10 ends at this intersection (the other end being in Santa Monica, California). The eastern terminus of US-90 is in nearby Jacksonville Beach near the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, several other roads as well a major local expressway, J. Turner Butler Boulevard (SR 202) also connect Jacksonville to the beaches. Interstate 95 has a bypass route, with I-295, which bypasses the city to the west, and SR-9A, bypassing the city to the east. The major interchange at SR 9A and SR 202 (Butler Blvd) was finally completed on December 24, 2008. The interchange at I-95 and I-295 is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2010, then SR 9A will be re-signed I-295 and the interstate will therefore circumscribe the most populated portion of Jacksonville.

Mass transit

Public transportation provided by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) includes regular and express bus service, downtown trolleys, JTA Connexion (paratransit) and the stadium shuttle. The JTA Skyway is a people mover which travels from the King Street parking garage across the St. Johns River and through the central business district, ending at the Convention Center or the Florida State College at Jacksonville downtown campus. Intermediate stops include the government center, central business area and two buildings on the southbank. It was not intended to serve the Jacksonville Sports complex (Stadium, Baseball Park or Arena) and is of limited help for most downtown commuters unless they live on the southside and work in a building close to a skyway station.

Railroads

Jacksonville is the headquarters of two significant freight railroads. CSX Transportation, owns a large building on the downtown riverbank that is a significant part of the skyline. Florida East Coast Railway also calls Jacksonville home.

Amtrak serves Jacksonville by the daily Silver Meteor and Silver Star long distance trains. The current station is situated on Clifford Lane in the northwest section of the city.

Jacksonville was also served by the thrice-weekly Sunset Limited and the daily Silver Palm. Service on the Silver Palm was cut back to Savannah, Georgia in 2002. The Sunset Limited route was truncated at San Antonio, Texas as a result of the track damage in the Gulf Coast area caused by Hurricane Katrina on August 28, 2005. Service was restored as far east as New Orleans by late October 2005, but Amtrak has opted not to fully restore service into Florida. This appears to be more of a managerial and political issue than a physical one. Advocates for the train's restoration have pointed to revenue figures for Amtrak's fiscal year 2004 (the last full year of coast-to-coast Sunset Limited service), noting that the Orlando-New Orleans segment accounted for 41% of the Sunset's revenue.

Airports

Airports in Jacksonville are managed by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA). The commercial passenger facility is Jacksonville International Airport on the Northside. Smaller planes can fly to Craig Municipal Airport in Arlington and Herlong Airport on the Westside. The JAA also operates Cecil Field, the former NAS airfield at Cecil Commerce Center that is intended for the aerospace and manufacturing companies located there.

Seaports

Public seaports in Jacksonville are managed by the Jacksonville Port Authority, known as JAXPORT. Four modern deepwater (38 ft) seaport facilities, including America's newest cruise port, make Jacksonville a full-service international seaport. In FY2006, JAXPORT handled 8.7 million tons of cargo, including nearly 610,000 vehicles, which ranks Jacksonville 2nd in the nation in automobile handling, behind only the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The 20 other maritime facilities not managed by the Port Authority move about 10 million tons of additional cargo in and out of the St. Johns River. In terms of total tonnage, the Port of Jacksonville ranks 40th nationally; within Florida, it is 3rd behind Tampa and Port Everglades.

In 2003, the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal opened, providing cruise service for 1,500 passengers to Key West, Florida, the Bahamas, and Mexico via Carnival Cruise Lines ship, Celebration, which was retired in April, 2008. For almost five months, no cruises originated from Jacksonville until September 20, 2008, when the cruise ship Fascination departed with 2,079 passengers. In Fiscal year 2006, there were 78 cruise ship sailings with 128,745 passengers. A JaxPort spokesperson said in 2008 that they expect 170,000 passengers to sail each year.

Bridges

There are seven bridges over the St. Johns River at Jacksonville. They include (starting from furthest downstream) the Dames Point Bridge, the Mathews Bridge, the Isaiah D. Hart Bridge, the Main Street Bridge, the Acosta Bridge, the Fuller Warren Bridge (which carries I-95 traffic) and the Buckman Bridge (which carries I-295 traffic).

Beginning in 1953, tolls were charged on the Hart, Mathews, Fuller Warren and the Main Street bridges to pay for bridge construction, renovations and many other highway projects. As Jacksonville grew, toll plazas created bottlenecks and caused delays and accidents during rush hours. In 1988, Jacksonville voters chose to eliminate toll collection and replace the revenue with a ½ cent local sales tax increase. In 1989, the toll booths were removed.

The Mayport Ferry connects the north and south ends of State Road A1A between Mayport and Fort George Island, and is the last active ferry in Florida. The state of Florida transferred responsibility for ferry operations to JAXPORT on October 1, 2007.

Sister cities

Jacksonville has nine sister cities. They are: {| |- | valign="top" | - Bahía Blanca, Argentina (since 1967) - Murmansk, Russia (1975) - Changwon, South Korea (1983) - Nantes, France (1984) - Yingkou, China (1990) - Port Elizabeth, South Africa (2000) - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2005) - Curitiba, Brazil (2009) - San Juan, Puerto Rico (2009) - Wolverhampton, England, United Kingdom (2010) |} In 2000, The Sister Cities International awarded Jacksonville the Innovation Arts & Culture Award for the city's program with Nantes.

See also

Orange Park, Florida

Montgomery Correctional Center

References

Further reading

Crackers and Carpetbaggers: Moments in the History of Jacksonville, Florida by John Wilson Cowart

Heroes all: a history of firefighting in Jacksonville by John Wilson Cowart

James B. Cooks, Jacksonville: The Consolidation Story, from Civil Rights to the Jaguars, University Press of Florida, 2004.

Greg Jenkins, Florida's Ghostly Legends And Haunted Folklore: North Florida And St. Augustine, Pineapple Press, 2005.

Buddy Martin, The Boys from Old Florida: Inside Gator Nation, Sports Publishing, 2006

Herman Mason, Jr., African-American Life in Jacksonville, Arcadia Publishing, 1997.

Joanelle Mulrain, Re-Rooting Life's Journeys

Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940–1970, Greenwood Publishing, 2000.

John Oehser, Jags to Riches: The Cinderella Season of the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Martins Press, 1997.

Daniel Schaefer, From scratch pads and dreams: A ten year history of the University of North Florida, University of North Florida, 1982.

Jules Wagman, Jacksonville and Florida's First Coast, Windsor Publishing, 1989.

Dr. Caroyln Williams, Historic Photos of Jacksonville, Turner Publishing Company, 2006.

40 years ago this weekend, Jacksonville gave itself a national reputation for violence. The Florida Times-Union.

Foley, Bill; Wood, Wayne (2001). The great fire of 1901 (1st ed.). Jacksonville, Florida: The Jacksonville Historical Society. ISBN 0-9710261-0-6

External links

Jacksonville & & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau

Jacksonville Sisters Cities Association

City of Jacksonville Official Site

Duval County Schools

Jacksonville.com - Florida Times-Union

Ebook on President Grover Cleveland's visit to the 1888 Sub-Tropical Expo

Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce

Jacksonville's Lower St. Johns River Watershed - Florida DEP

Jacksonville Public Library

Jacksonville Demographics

Category:1832 establishments Category:Census balances in the United States Category:Cities in Duval County, Florida Category:County seats in Florida Category:Port cities in Florida Category:Port settlements in the United States Category:Populated places established in 1791 Category:Populated places on the St. Johns River Category:Consolidated city–counties in the United States

Code	Hurling
Sport	Hurling
Name	Jack Berry
Irish	Seán Ó Béara
Fullname	Jack Berry
Placeofbirth	Wexford
Countryofbirth	Ireland
Feet	5
Inches	11
County	Wexford
Province	Leinster
Club	St. Anne's
Clyears	1960s-1970s
Counties	Wexford
Icposition	Left corner-forward
Icyears	1968-1973
Icprovince	2
Icallireland	1
Nhl	1
Allstars	0

Jack Berry (1944-2003) was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club St. Anne's and was a member of the Wexford senior inter-county team from 1968 until 1973.

References

Category:1944 births Category:2003 deaths Category:St. Anne's hurlers Category:Wexford hurlers Category:Leinster hurlers Category:Winners of 1 All-Ireland medal (hurling) Category:People from County Wexford

Name	Tommy Dorsey
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Religion	Roman Catholic
Birth name	Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr.
Born	November 19, 1905
Died	November 26, 1956
Origin	Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	TromboneTrumpetCornet
Genre	Big bandSwingJazz
Occupation	Bandleader
Years active	1920s–1956
Label	RCA, Decca, OKeh, Columbia
Associated acts	California RamblersJimmy DorseyJean GoldkettePaul WhitemanFrank Sinatra Buddy DeFranco Buddy Rich Jo Stafford Connie HainesGlenn MillerThe Boswell SistersDick HaymesGene KrupaSy OliverNelson Riddle
Notable instruments	Trombone

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely popular band from the late '30s into the 1950s. Dorsey had a reputation for being a perfectionist. He was volatile and also known to hire and fire (and sometimes rehire) musicians based on his mood.

Early life

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was a native of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the second of four children born to Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr. and Theresa (née Langton) Dorsey. The Dorsey brothers' two younger siblings were Mary and Edward (who died young).

At age 15, Jimmy Dorsey recommended his brother Tommy as the replacement for Russ Morgan in the germane 1920s territory band "The Scranton Sirens." Tommy and Jimmy worked in several bands, including those of Tal Henry, Rudy Vallee, Vincent Lopez, Nathaniel Shilkret, and especially Paul Whiteman. In 1928, the Dorsey Brothers had their first hit with "Coquette" for OKeh records. The Dorsey Brothers band signed with Decca records in 1934, having a hit with "I Believe In Miracles". Future bandleader Glenn Miller was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in 1934 and 1935, composing "Annie's Cousin Fanny" and "Dese Dem Dose" both recorded for Decca for the band. Ongoing acrimony between the brothers, however, led to Tommy Dorsey's walking out to form his own band in 1935, just as the orchestra was having a hit with "Every Little Moment."

His own band

Tommy Dorsey's first band was formed out of the remains of the Joe Haymes band. The new band was popular from almost the moment it signed with RCA Victor with "On Treasure Island", the first of four hits for the new band in 1935. The Dorsey band had a national radio presence in 1936 first from Dallas and then from Los Angeles. Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra took over comedian Jack Pearl's radio show in 1937.

By 1939, Dorsey was aware of criticism that his band lacked a jazz feeling. He hired arranger Sy Oliver away from the Jimmie Lunceford band. Sy Oliver's arrangements include "On The Sunny Side of the Street" and "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie"; Oliver also composed two of the new band's signature instrumentals, "Well, Git It" and "Opus One". In 1940, Dorsey hired singer Frank Sinatra from bandleader Harry James. Frank Sinatra made eighty recordings from 1940 to 1942 with the Dorsey band. Two of those eighty songs are "In The Blue of Evening" and "This Love of Mine". Frank Sinatra achieved his first great success as a vocalist in the Dorsey band and claimed he learned breath control from watching Dorsey play trombone. In turn Dorsey said his trombone style was heavily influenced by that of Jack Teagarden. Among Dorsey's staff of arrangers was Axel Stordahl who arranged for Frank Sinatra in his Columbia and Capitol records years. Another member of the Dorsey band was trombonist Nelson Riddle, who later had a partnership as one of Sinatra's arrangers and conductors in the 1950s and afterwards. Another noted Dorsey arranger, who in the 1950s, married and was professionally associated with Dorsey veteran Jo Stafford, was Paul Weston. Bill Finegan, an arranger who left Glenn Miller's civilian band, arranged for the Tommy Dorsey band from 1942 to 1950.

The band featured a number of future famous instrumentalists, singers and arrangers in the 1930s and '40s, including trumpeters Zeke Zarchy, Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, Carl "Doc" Severinsen, and Charlie Shavers, pianists Milt Raskin, Jess Stacy, clarinetists Buddy DeFranco, Johnny Mince, and Peanuts Hucko. Others who played with Dorsey were drummers Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Dave Tough Edythe Wright, Jo Stafford with The Pied Pipers, Dick Haymes and Connie Haines In 1944, Dorsey hired The Sentimentalists who replaced The Pied Pipers. Dorsey also performed with singer Connee Boswell In 1942 Artie Shaw broke up his band and Dorsey hired the Shaw string section. As George Simon in Metronome magazine notes at the time, "They're used in the foreground and background (note some of the lovely obbligatos) for vocal effects and for Tommy's trombone."

Dorsey branched out in the mid-1940s and owned two music publishing companies, Sun and Embassy. After opening at the Los Angeles ballroom, The Hollywood Palladium on the Palladium's first night, Dorsey's relations with the ballroom soured and he opened a competing ballroom, The Casino Gardens circa 1944.

Tommy Dorsey disbanded the orchestra at the end of 1946. Dorsey might have broken up his own band permanently following World War II, as many big bands did due to the shift in music economics following the war, but Tommy Dorsey's album for RCA, "All Time Hits" placed in the top ten records in February, 1947. In addition, "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" a single recorded by Dorsey became a top ten hit in March, 1947. Both of these successes made it possible for Dorsey to re-organize a big band in early 1947. The Dorsey brothers were also reconciling. The biographical film of 1947, The Fabulous Dorseys describes sketchy details of how the brothers got their start from-the-bottom-up into the jazz era of one-nighters, the early days of radio in its infancy stages, and the onward march when both brothers ended up with Paul Whiteman before 1935 when The Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra split into two. In the early 1950s, Tommy Dorsey moved from RCA Victor back to the Decca record label.

Jimmy Dorsey broke up his own big band in 1953. Tommy invited him to join up as a feature attraction and a short while later, Tommy renamed the band the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey. In 1953, the Dorseys focused their attention on television. On December 26, 1953, the brothers appeared with their orchestra on Jackie Gleason's CBS television show, which was preserved on kinescope and later released on home video by Gleason. The brothers took the unit on tour and onto their own television show, Stage Show, from 1955 to 1956. On one episode they introduced future noted rock musician Elvis Presley to national television audiences.

Married life

Dorsey's married life was varied and, at times, lurid. His first wife was 16-year-old Mildred Kraft, with whom he eloped in 1922, when he was 17. They had two children, Patricia and Tom (nicknamed "Skipper"). They divorced in 1943 after Dorsey's affair with his former singer Edythe Wright. He then wed movie actress Pat Dane in 1943, and they were divorced in 1947, but not before he gained headlines for striking actor Jon Hall when Hall embraced Dorsey's wife. Finally, Dorsey married Jane Carl New on March 27, 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia. She had been a dancer at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City. Tommy and Jane Dorsey had two children, Catherine Susan and Steve.

Death and aftermath

On November 26, 1956, Tommy Dorsey died at age 51 in his Greenwich, Connecticut home. Dorsey had eaten a heavy meal and began choking in his sleep. Dorsey customarily began taking sleeping pills regularly at this time, therefore he was so sedated that he was unable to awaken and died from choking. Jimmy Dorsey led his brother's band until his own death of lung cancer the following year. At that point, trombonist Warren Covington assumed leadership of the band with Jane Dorsey's blessing as she owned the rights to her late husband's band and name. Billed as the "Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington", they topped the charts in 1958 with Tea For Two Cha-Cha. After Covington led the band for a short period, Sam Donahue led it starting in 1961, continuing until the late 1960s. Buddy Morrow conducted the Tommy Dorsey orchestra until his death on September 27, 2010. Jane Dorsey died of natural causes at the age of 79, in Miami, Florida in 2003. Tommy and Jane Dorsey are interred together in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Number one hits

Tommy Dorsey had a run of 286 Billboard chart hits. The Dorsey band had seventeen number one hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s including: "On Treasure Island", "The Music Goes 'Round and Around", "You", "Marie" (by Irving Berlin), "Satan Takes a Holiday", "The Big Apple", "Once in a While", "The Dipsy Doodle", "Our Love", "All the Things You Are", "Indian Summer", and "Dolores". He had two more number one hits in 1935 when he was a member of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: "Lullaby of Broadway", number one for two weeks, and "Chasing Shadows", number one for three weeks. His biggest hit was "I'll Never Smile Again", featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals, which was number one for twelve weeks on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1940. "In the Blue of Evening" was number 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1943.

Songs written by Tommy Dorsey

Written ca. 1932: "Three Moods"

1937: "The Morning After"

1938: "Chris and His Gang"

Also, Tommy Dorsey wrote the song "Peckin' With Penguins" for a 1938 Frank Tashlin directed Porky Pig cartoon, "Porky's Spring Planting" for the studio Warner Bros.

1939: "To You", "This Is No Dream", "You Taught Me To Love Again", "In The Middle Of A Dream", "Night In Sudan".

1946: "Nip and Tuck"

1947: "Trombonology"

Honors and posthumous recognition

In 1977, bandleader Bill Tole portrayed Tommy Dorsey in the United Artists movie New York, New York. In 1982, the 1941 Victor recording "I'll Never Smile Again" was the first of a trio of Tommy Dorsey recordings to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" was inducted in 1998, along with his recording of "Marie" written by Irving Berlin. In 1992, Bob Gunton portrayed Dorsey in the CBS miniseries Sinatra, starring alongside Philip Casnoff. In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey postage stamp.;p

Discography

1961: The One And Only Tommy Dorsey (RCA Camden)

1966: Tommy Dorsey's Dance Party (Vocalion)

1976: Tommy Dorsey (1937 - 1941) (AMIGA)

The Essence of Tommy Dorsey (1935-1949 recordings under RCA, reissued under Phantom Sound & Vision)

This is Tommy Dorsey, Volume 1 (1935-1944 recordings under RCA, reissued by Collectibles)

1988: All-Time Greatest Dorsey/Sinatra Hits, Vol. 1-4 (RCA)

1990: Yes, Indeed! (Bluebird RCA)

1991: Music Goes Round and Round (Bluebird RCA)

1994: Stop, Look and Listen (1994) (ASV/Living Era Records)

1999: The V-Disc Recordings (Collectors' Choice Music)

1999: 1937, Vol. 3

2001: This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 1 (Collectables Records)

2004: 1939, Vol. 3

2004: Tommy Dorsey: The Early Jazz Sides: 1932 - 1937 (Jazz Legends)

2004: It's D'Lovely 1947-1950 (Hep Records)

Filmography

Segar Ellis and His Embassy Club Orchestra (1929)_{needs citation}

Alice Bolden and Her Orchestra (1929)

Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra appear in the following films for the studios Paramount, MGM, Samuel Goldwyn, Allied Artists and United Artists:

Las Vegas Nights (1941) Girl Crazy (1943) The Fabulous Dorseys (1947) A Song Is Born (1948)

Notes

References

Peter J. Levinson, Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: a Biography (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2005) ISBN 978-978-0-306-81111-1

Robert L. Stockdale, Tommy Dorsey: On The Side (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1995) ISBN 978-0-8108-2951-0

External links

RCA Victor for the Tommy Dorsey and Shep Fields orchestras in 1941.">Website showing details of tour organized by RCA Victor for the Tommy Dorsey and Shep Fields orchestras in 1941.

Website shows details of the CBS Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey television show in 1956.

Google Songs

Tommy Dorsey visits Bernards High School in 1943

The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Category:Big band bandleaders Category:Swing bandleaders Category:Swing trombonists Category:Swing trumpeters Category:American bandleaders Category:American jazz trombonists Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:Bell Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Decca Records artists Category:People from Greenwich, Connecticut Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:1905 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in Connecticut Category:Drug-related deaths in Connecticut Category:Deaths from choking

Name	Glenn Miller
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Alton Glenn Miller
Born	March 01, 1904 Clarinda, Iowa, U.S.
Died	Missing December 15, 1944 English Channel (presumably)
Origin	Glenn Miller Orchestra
Instrument	Trombone
Genre	Swing musicBig band
Occupation	Bandleader, Musician, Arranger, Composer
Years active	1923–1944

Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – missing December 15, 1944) was an American jazz musician (trombone), arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands". Miller's signature recordings include In the Mood, American Patrol, Chattanooga Choo Choo, A String of Pearls, Tuxedo Junction, Moonlight Serenade, Little Brown Jug and Pennsylvania 6-5000. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's plane disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. His body has never been found.

Early life and career

Miller was born on a farm in Clarinda, Iowa, to Lewis Elmer Miller and Mattie Lou (née Cavender) .

In 1923, Miller entered the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, but spent most of his time away from school, attending auditions and playing any gigs he could get, most notably with Boyd Senter's band in Denver. He dropped out of school after failing three out of five classes one semester, and decided to concentrate on making a career as a professional musician. He later studied the Schillinger technique with Joseph Schillinger, under whose tutelage he composed what became his signature theme, Moonlight Serenade.

In 1926, Miller toured with several groups, eventually landing a good spot in Ben Pollack's group in Los Angeles. During his stint with Pollack, Miller wrote several musical arrangements of his own. He also co-wrote his first composition, "Room 1411", written with Benny Goodman and released as a Brunswick 78. In 1928, when the band arrived in New York City, he sent for and married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger. He was a member of Red Nichols's orchestra in 1930, and because of Nichols, Miller played in the pit bands of two Broadway shows, Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy (where his bandmates included big band leaders Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa).

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Miller managed to earn a living working as a freelance trombonist in several bands. On a March 21, 1928 Victor session Miller played alongside Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Joe Venuti in the All-Star Orchestra, directed by Nat Shilkret. On November 14, 1929 , an original vocalist named Red McKenzie hired Glenn to play on two records that are now considered to be jazz classics: "Hello, Lola" and "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight." Beside Glenn were clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, guitarist Eddie Condon, drummer Gene Krupa and Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone. Payroll records in the Nathaniel Shilkret archives also show Glenn playing on two Shilkret radio broadcasts in 1931: on October 9 on a broadcast sponsored by the Smith Brothers and on November 21 on the Chesterfield Quarter Hour show "Music That Satisfies."

In the early-to-mid-1930s, Miller also worked as a trombonist and arranger in The Dorsey Brothers, first when they were a Brunswick studio group and finally when they formed an ill-fated co-led touring and recording orchestra. Miller composed the song "Annie's Cousin Fanny" and "Dese Dem Dose" for the Dorsey Brothers Band in 1934 and 1935. In 1935, he assembled an American orchestra for British bandleader Ray Noble, The Big Broadcast of 1936 starred Bing Crosby, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Ethel Merman, Jack Oakie, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and also featured other performances by Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers, who would appear with Miller again in two movies for Twentieth Century Fox in 1941 and 1942.

Glenn Miller compiled several musical arrangements and formed his first band in 1937. The band failed to distinguish itself from the many others of the era, and eventually broke up. Benny Goodman said in 1976, "In late 1937, before his band became popular, we were both playing in Dallas. Glenn was pretty dejected and came to see me. He asked, 'What do you do? How do you make it?' I said, 'I don't know, Glenn. You just stay with it.'"

Success from 1938 to 1942

Discouraged, Miller returned to New York. He realized that he needed to develop a unique sound, and decided to make the clarinet play a melodic line with a tenor saxophone holding the same note, while three other saxophones harmonized within a single octave. George Simon discovered a saxophonist named Wilbur Schwartz for Glenn Miller. Miller hired Schwartz, but instead had him play the lead clarinet. According to Simon, "Willie's tone and way of playing provided a fullness and richness so distinctive that none of the later Miller imitators could ever accurately reproduce the Miller sound." With this new sound combination, Glenn Miller found a way to differentiate his band's style from the many bands that existed in the late thirties. Miller talked about his style in the May, 1939 issue of Metronome magazine. "You'll notice today some bands use the same trick on every introduction; others repeat the same musical phrase as a modulation into a vocal ... We're fortunate in that our style doesn't limit us to stereotyped intros, modulations, first choruses, endings or even trick rhythms. The fifth sax, playing clarinet most of the time, lets you know whose band you're listening to. And that's about all there is to it."

In September 1938, the Miller band began making recordings for the RCA Victor, Bluebird Records subsidiary. Charlie "Cy" Shribman, a prominent East Coast businessman, began financing the band, providing a much needed infusion of cash. In the spring of 1939, the band's fortunes improved with a date at the Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, and more dramatically at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, New York. The Glen Island date according to author Gunther Schuller attracted "a record breaking opening night crowd of 1800..." With the Glen Island date, the band began a huge rise in popularity. In 1939, Time magazine noted: "Of the twelve to 24 discs in each of today's 300,000 U.S. jukeboxes, from two to six are usually Glenn Miller's." There were record-breaking recordings such as "Tuxedo Junction" which sold 115,000 copies in the first week. Miller's huge success in 1939 culminated with his band appearing at Carnegie Hall on October 6, with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, and Fred Waring also the main attractions.

From 1939 to 1942, Miller's band was featured three times a week during a quarter-hour broadcast for Chesterfield cigarettes on CBS, first with the Andrews Sisters and then on its own. On February 10, 1942, RCA Victor presented Miller with the first gold record for "Chattanooga Choo-Choo". "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was performed by the Miller orchestra with his singers Gordon "Tex" Beneke, Paula Kelly and the vocal group, the Modernaires. Other singers with this orchestra included Marion Hutton, Skip Nelson, Ray Eberle and to a smaller extent, Kay Starr, Ernie Caceres, Dorothy Claire and Jack Lathrop. Pat Friday ghost sang with the Miller band in their two films, Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives with Lynn Bari lip synching.

Motion pictures

Miller and his band appear in two Twentieth Century Fox films. In 1941's Sun Valley Serenade they are major members of the cast, which also features comedian Milton Berle. The Miller band returned to Hollywood to film 1942's Orchestra Wives, featuring Jackie Gleason playing a part as the group's bassist, Ben Beck. Miller co-wrote with Billy May the instrumental "Boom Shot" for the Orchestra Wives soundtrack. Miller had an ailment that made laughter extremely painful. Since Jackie Gleason was a comedian, Miller had a difficult time watching Gleason more than once, because Miller would start laughing. Harry Morgan appears as Cully Anderson, the unrequited love interest of Ann Rutherford's character, Connie Ward. Harry Morgan was cast in 1953's The Glenn Miller Story as Miller's pianist, Chummy MacGregor.

Public acclaim and critics' reaction

In 2004, Miller orchestra bassist Herman "Trigger" Alpert explained the band's success: "Miller had America's music pulse ... He knew what would please the listeners." Although Miller had massive popularity, many jazz critics of the time had misgivings. They believed that the band's endless rehearsals and according to critic Amy Lee in Metronome magazine, "letter-perfect playing", diminished any feeling from performances. They also felt that Miller's brand of swing shifted popular music away from the "hot jazz" bands of Benny Goodman and Count Basie toward commercial novelty instrumentals and vocal numbers. For years, even after Miller died, the Miller estate maintained an unfriendly stance toward critics that derided the band during Miller's lifetime. Miller was often criticized for being too commercial. His answer to the criticism was, "I don't want a jazz band". Many modern jazz critics still harbor similar antipathy toward Miller. Jazz critics Gunther Schuller (1991) and Gary Giddins (2004) have separately defended the Miller orchestra for whatever deficiencies earlier critics have found. In an article written for The New Yorker in 2004, Gary Giddins says he feels that these early critics erred in denigrating Glenn Miller's music, and that the popular opinion of the time should hold greater sway. The article states: "Miller exuded little warmth on or off the bandstand, but once the band struck up its theme, audiences were done for: throats clutched, eyes softened. Can any other record match 'Moonlight Serenade' for its ability to induce a Pavlovian slaver in so many for so long?" He compares it partially to "Japanese Gagaku [and] Hindu music" in its purity. Jazz pianist George Shearing's quintet of the nineteen fifties and sixties was influenced by Miller: "with Shearing's 'locked hand' piano (influenced by the voicing of Miller's saxophone section) in the middle [of the quintet's harmonies]." Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme held the orchestra in high regard. Torme credited Miller with giving him helpful advice when he first started his singing and song writing career in the 1940s. Mel Torme met Glenn Miller in 1942, the meeting facilitated by Torme's father and Ben Pollack. Torme and Miller discussed "That Old Black Magic" which was just emerging as a new song by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Miller told Torme to pick up every song by Mercer and study it and to become a voracious reader of anything he could find, because "all good lyric writers are great readers." In an interview with George T. Simon in 1948, Sinatra lamented the inferior quality of music he was recording in the late forties and in comparison with "those great Glenn Miller things" from eight years earlier. With the opposite opinion, fellow bandleader Artie Shaw frequently disparaged the band after Miller's death: "All I can say is that Glenn should have lived, and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' should have died."

Clarinetist Buddy DeFranco surprised many people when he led the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late sixties and early seventies. De Franco was already the veteran of bands like Gene Krupa and Tommy Dorsey in the 1940s. He was also a major exponent of modern jazz in the nineteen fifties. But DeFranco is extremely fond of certain aspects of the Glenn Miller sound and according to him, never sees Miller as leading a swinging jazz band. "I found that when I opened with the sound of 'Moonlight Serenade,' I could look around and see men and women weeping as the music carried them back to years gone by." DeFranco's favorite Miller recordings are "Skylark" and "Indian Summer". Simply put, De Franco says, "the beauty of Glenn Miller's ballads [...] caused people to dance together."

The Army Air Force Band 1942–1944

outside the Corn Exchange in Bedford, where Miller played in World War II.]] In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided to join the war effort. At 38, Miller was too old to be drafted, and first volunteered for the Navy but was told that they did not need his services. Miller then wrote to Army Brigadier General Charles Young. He persuaded the United States Army to accept him so he could, in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band." Captain Glenn Miller served initially as assistant special services officer for the Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1942. He played trombone with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece dance band, in both Montgomery and in service clubs and recreation halls on Maxwell. Miller also appeared on both WAPI (Birmingham, Alabama) and WSFA radio (Montgomery), promoting the activities of civil service women aircraft mechanics employed at Maxwell. Miller's weekly radio broadcast "I Sustain the Wings", for which he co-wrote the eponymous theme song, moved from New Haven to New York City and was very popular. This led to permission for Miller to form his 50-piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England in the summer of 1944, where he gave 800 performances. While in England, now Major Miller recorded a series of records at HMV- (now EMI-) owned Abbey Road Studios. HMV at this time was the British and sometime European distributor for the American record company that handled and originated Glenn Miller's recordings, RCA Victor. The recordings the AAF band made in 1944 at Abbey Road were propaganda broadcasts for the Office of War Information. Many songs are sung in German by Johnny Desmond and Glenn Miller speaks in German about the war effort. Also, the Miller-led AAF Orchestra recorded songs with the American singer Dinah Shore. These were done at the Abbey Road studios and were the last recorded songs made by the band while being led by Miller. They were stored with HMV/EMI for fifty years, never being released until their copyright expired in Europe in 1994. In summarizing Miller's military career, General Jimmy Doolittle said, “next to a letter from home, that organization was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations.”

Disappearance

, New Haven, Connecticut]] Miller spent his last night alive at Milton Ernest Hall, on the outskirts of Bedford, Bedfordshire. On December 15, 1944, Miller was to fly from the United Kingdom to Paris, France, to play for the soldiers there. His plane (a single-engined UC-64 Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285) departed from RAF Twinwood Farm in Clapham, Bedfordshire and disappeared while flying over the English Channel. No trace of the aircrew, passengers or plane has ever been found. Miller's status is missing in action.

There are three main theories about what happened to Miller's plane, including the suggestion that he might have been hit by Royal Air Force bombs after an abortive raid on Siegen, Germany. One hundred and thirty-eight Lancaster bombers, short on fuel, jettisoned approximately 100,000 incendiaries in a designated area before landing. The logbooks of Royal Air Force navigator Fred Shaw recorded that he saw a small, single-engined monoplane spiraling out of control and crashing into the water. However, a second source, while acknowledging the possibility, cites other RAF crew members flying the same mission who stated that the drop area was in the North Sea.

In his 2006 self-published book, Clarence B. Wolfe—a gunner with Battery D, 134th AAA Battalion, in Folkestone, England—claims that his battery shot down Miller's plane. However, Wolfe's account has been disputed.

Another book by Lt. Col. Huton Downs, a former member of Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal staff, argues that the U.S. government covered up Miller's death. Downs suggested that Miller, who spoke German, had been enlisted by Eisenhower to covertly attempt to convince some German officers to end the war early. The book goes on to suggest that Miller was captured and killed in a Paris brothel, and his death covered up to save the government embarrassment. However the Publishers' Weekly review talks of "breathlessly written suppositions."

When Glenn Miller went missing, he left behind his wife, the former Helen Burger, originally from Boulder, Colorado, and the two children they adopted in 1943 and 1944, Steven and Jonnie. Helen Miller accepted the Bronze Star medal for Glenn Miller in February 1945.

Civilian band legacy

The Miller estate authorized an official Glenn Miller "ghost band" in 1946. This band was led by Tex Beneke, former lead saxophonist and a singer for the civilian band. It had a make up similar to the Army Air Force Band: it had a large string section. The orchestra's official public début was at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway where it opened for a three week engagement on January 24, 1946. Future television and film composer Henry Mancini was the band's pianist and one of the arrangers. This ghost band played to very large audiences all across the United States, including a few dates at the Hollywood Palladium in 1947, where the original Miller band played in 1941. In a website concerning the history of the Hollywood Palladium, it is noted "[e]ven as the big band era faded, the Tex Beneke and Glenn Miller Orchestra concert at the Palladium resulted in a record-breaking crowd of 6,750 dancers." By 1949, economics dictated that the string section be dropped.

This band recorded for RCA Victor, just as the original Miller band did. The break was acrimonious and Beneke is not currently listed by the Miller estate as a former leader of the Glenn Miller orchestra.

When Glenn Miller was alive, various bandleaders like Bob Chester imitated his style. By the early 1950s, various bands were again copying the Miller style of clarinet-led reeds and muted trumpets, notably Ralph Flanagan, Jerry Gray, and Ray Anthony. This, coupled with the success of The Glenn Miller Story (1953), led the Miller estate to ask Ray McKinley to lead a new ghost band. The official Glenn Miller orchestra for the United States is currently under the direction of Larry O'Brien. The officially sanctioned Glenn Miller Orchestra for the United Kingdom has toured and recorded with great success under the leadership of Ray McVay. The official Glenn Miller Orchestra for Europe has been led by Wil Salden since 1990.

Army Air Force band legacy

In the mid-1940s, after Miller's disappearance, the Miller led Army Air Force band was decommissioned and sent back to the United States. "[T]he chief of the European theater asked [Warrant Officer Harold Lindsay] Lin [Arinson] to put together another band to take its place, and that's when the 314 was formed." According to singer Tony Bennett who sang with it while in the service, the 314 was the immediate successor to the Glenn Miller led AAF orchestra. The Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band's long term legacy has carried on with the Airmen of Note, a band within the United States Air Force Band. This band was created in 1950 from smaller groups within the Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C. and continues to play jazz music for the Air Force community and the general public. Herb Miller, Glenn Miller's brother, led his own band in the United States and England until the late 1980s. Herb's son, John continues the tradition leading a band playing mainly Glenn Miller style music. In 1989, Glenn Miller's daughter Jonnie purchased her father's house where he was born. The Glenn Miller Foundation was created to oversee the subsequent restoration.

In the United States and England, there are a few archives that are devoted to Glenn Miller. The Glenn Miller archive, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, includes the original manuscript to Miller's theme song, "Moonlight Serenade", among other items of interest. In 2002, the Glenn Miller Museum opened to the public at the former RAF Twinwood Farm, in Clapham, Bedfordshire, England. Miller's surname resides on the 'Wall of Missing' at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. A monument stone was also placed in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut next to the campus of Yale University.

In 1953, Glenn Miller was voted into the Down Beat magazine Jazz Hall of Fame in the Readers' Poll. In 1978, Glenn Miller was a charter inductee into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Glenn Miller postage stamp. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys), honored Glenn Miller by including three of his recordings in their Hall of Fame: In 1983, "In The Mood", Bluebird B-10416-A, was inducted. The recording of "Moonlight Serenade", Bluebird B-10214-B, was also honored by the Grammys in similar fashion in 1991. "Chattanooga Choo Choo", Bluebird B-11230-B, was inducted in 1996. In 2003, Miller received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The entire output of Chesterfield-sponsored radio programs Glenn Miller did between 1939 and 1942 were recorded by the Glenn Miller organization on acetate discs. In the 1950s and afterwards, RCA-Victor distributed many of these on long playing albums and compact discs. A sizeable representation of the recording output by the various Glenn Miller led bands are almost always in circulation by Sony Music Entertainment and the Universal Music Group, the successor conglomerates to RCA-Victor, Brunswick, Bluebird, Columbia and Decca. Glenn Miller remains one of the most famous and recognizable names of the big band era of 1935 to 1945.

The University of Colorado, Boulder, has an extensive Glenn Miller Archive, formed by Alan Cass, which houses many of Miller's recordings, gold records and other memorabilia, which is open to scholarly research and the general public.

Glenn Miller arranging staff and compositions

Miller had a staff of arrangers who wrote originals like "String of Pearls" (written and arranged by Jerry Gray) or took originals like "In The Mood" (writing credit given to Joe Garland and arranged by Eddie Durham) and "Tuxedo Junction" (written by bandleader Erskine Hawkins and arranged by Jerry Gray) and arranged them for the Miller band to either record or broadcast. Glenn Miller's staff of arrangers in his civilian band, that handled the bulk of the work were Jerry Gray (a former arranger for Artie Shaw), Bill Finegan (a former arranger for Tommy Dorsey), Billy May and to a much smaller extent, George Williams, who worked very briefly with the band as well as Andrews Sisters arranger Vic Schoen (who married Marion Hutton). According to Norman Leyden, "[s]everal others [besides Leyden] arranged for Miller in the service, including Jerry Gray, Ralph Wilkinson, Mel Powell, and Steve Steck."

In 1943, Glenn Miller wrote Glenn Miller's Method for Orchestral Arranging, published by the Mutual Music Society in New York, a one hundred sixteen page book with illustrations and scores that explains how he wrote his musical arrangements.

Discography

Glenn Miller composed individually or in collaboration with others at least fourteen songs that are available on recordings. He added lyrics to an additional tune. These and many other songs were recorded by Miller with his pre-war civilian bands and his Army Air Force band.

Band alumni

Many of the Miller musicians went on to studio and touring careers in Hollywood and New York after World War II. For example, Trigger Alpert, a bassist from the civilian band, Zeke Zarchy for the Army Air Force Band and Willie Schwartz, the lead clarinetist from the civilian band back up Frank Sinatra on many recordings Ernie Caceres, the Miller band's baritone saxist also appears on several Frank Sinatra recordings. Other musicians who went from the Miller bands to success afterwards include:

George Siravo, 1916–2000 was an arranger with Glenn Miller's first band in the late nineteen thirties. Siravo went on to become a staff arranger with Columbia Records in the nineteen forties, working with Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Mitch Miller.

Billy May, 1916–2004 a trumpeter and an arranger for the civilian band, became a much-coveted arranger and studio orchestra leader after that band broke up, going on to work with Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Anita O'Day, and Bing Crosby, solos on "A String of Pearls", with Miller in 1941, for Bluebird records." Hackett went on to work with Jackie Gleason and Dizzy Gillespie.

Johnny Desmond, 1919–1985 a lead vocalist from the Army Air Force Band, became a popular singer in the 1950s, and appeared on Broadway in the 1960s in Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand.

Kay Starr, b. 1922 became a popular singer in the post-war period. In 1939, Marion Hutton, the regular "girl singer", became sick and Starr was flown in to replace her. Kay Starr's two recordings with Glenn Miller were two 1939 sides, "Baby Me" and "Love With a Capital You".

Artie Malvin, 1922–2006 Glenn Miller's AAF Band had a vocal group called "The Crew Chiefs". Artie Malvin was the baritone of the four men. After World War Two and Miller's death, Malvin became heavily immersed in the popular music of the forties and fifties, being involved in everything from children's music to the nascent beginnings of rock to jingles for commercials. By the nineteen seventies Artie Malvin was involved with "The Carol Burnett Show" doing special musical material.

Paul Tanner, b.1917 trombonist for the civilian band, went on to create the electrotheremin and perform on songs such as Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

Some of the Army Air Force members went on to notable careers in classical music and modern jazz. Three such are:

Norman Leyden b. 1917 an arranger from the Army Air Force Band later became a noted arranger in New York, composing arrangements for Sarah Vaughan, among other artists. His long career culminated with his highly regarded work for the Oregon Symphony, now as Laureate Associate Conductor.

Mel Powell, 1923–1998 , was the pianist and one of the arrangers in the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Gary Giddins comments on "[Miller's] splendid forty-two-piece Army Air Force Band’s startling performance of 'Mission to Moscow.'” "Mission to Moscow" was arranged by Mel Powell, the former pianist for the Benny Goodman orchestra before he was drafted into the service and subsequently joined the Miller orchestra. "Pearls on Velvet" with the Air Force Band is also one of his compositions."In 1949, he decided on a radical change of direction, setting aside jazz and enrolling as a pupil of the composer and teacher Paul Hindemith at Yale University." Powell started teaching at the California Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles in 1969.

Addison Collins, Jr. played French Horn in the service band. He is featured as "Junior" Collins on the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool recordings of 1949–50.

Drummer and biographer:

George T. Simon 1912–2001. George Simon knew and worked with Glenn Miller from his early sideman days to the days of leading his civilian band and finally, worked with him when he was stateside with the Army Air Force band. Simon was a drummer for some of the Miller bands. He helped his friend Glenn Miller with personnel using the connections that Simon had as editor with the now defunct Metronome magazine. George Simon wrote the liner notes for eleven Miller reissues, among them: Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band, 1955, Glenn Miller On The Air, 1963 and Glenn Miller: A Legendary Performer, 1974. During a long career, he also wrote articles with topics ranging from Miller and Frank Sinatra to Thelonious Monk. In 1974, Simon won a Grammy award for his liner notes for the RCA record: Bing Crosby: A Legendary Performer.

See also

Death in absentia

List of people who have mysteriously disappeared

List of swing/big band musicians

Notes

Bibliography

ASIN: B0007DMEDQ

External links

Glenn Miller Radio Show (9 episodes from 1940)

The Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, organizing the annual Glenn Miller Birthplace Festival in Clarinda, IA

Website listing recordings Glenn Miller made for Brunswick records as a sideman in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

A World War II Soldier's Insight into the mysterious disappearance of Glenn Miller

Website about Glenn Miller's appearances in January, 1942 in Toronto, Ontario and London, Ontario. Shows pictures of Miller in Canada with the band performing the "Sunset Serenade" radio show

In Search Of... television program, segment on Glenn Miller hosted by Leonard Nimoy.

George's Spink's article, "Glenn Miller: The Sound of an Era" written for the Chicago Sun-Times in December 1984 on the 40th anniversary of Miller's disappearance .

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