JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Construction is currently underway on a new Jacksonville History Center in the old Florida Casket Company building in downtown Jacksonville to preserve the River City’s history.
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The new museum will feature important parts of the city’s past, including Jacksonville’s music, economic and civil rights history.
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While Jacksonville is moving into the future with the Jaguars’ “Stadium of the Future” and new developments downtown, the center also represents a commitment to preserving Jacksonville’s rich past.
“History is how we move through time. It’s how we understand how we got to where we are,” Jacksonville Historical Society CEO Dr. Alan Bliss explained in an interview with Action News Jax on Friday. “So if you care about the future of Jacksonville, it’s really important that we understand how this city got to where it is today.”
Bliss also noted that the history center will fill a critical need that has long been missing in Florida’s oldest large city.
“Jacksonville has more history than any other city in Florida, it has a meaningful, important, interesting history, but compared to other cities in the state, Jacksonville tends to under-utilize its history,” Dr. Bliss said.
The Jacksonville History Center is a project first conceived in 2018, and with generous funding it has grown beyond initial plans, finally establishing a hub of Jacksonville pride.
“We hope this will help portray Jacksonville and reinforce its identity in the minds and experiences of people who have perhaps never lived here or are visiting for the first time,” Dr. Bliss said with a smile.
The Jacksonville History Center is expected to open by the end of 2025, and admission fees have yet to be determined, but will be nominal.
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