New Jacksonville History Center looks to address overdue need in Florida’s oldest major city

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Construction is now underway at the old Florida Casket Company building in downtown Jacksonville to preserve the River City’s history with the new Jacksonville History Center.

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The new museum is set to include exhibits displaying Jacksonville’s musical, economic, and civil rights history, among other key parts of the city’s past.

As Jacksonville moves into the future with the Jaguars’ “Stadium of the Future” and new development expected downtown, the center represents an effort to also preserve Jacksonville’s rich past.

“History is how we navigate through time. It’s how we understand how we got to the place we are in the present,” Jacksonville Historical Society CEO Dr. Alan Bliss explained in an interview with Action News Jax Friday. “So if you care about Jacksonville’s future, understanding something about how it came to be the city that it is now really matters.”

Dr. Bliss also pointed out how the historical center will fill an important need that’s been long missing in Florida’s oldest major city.

“Jacksonville has more history and more meaningful and significant and interesting history than any other place in Florida, and yet, among all our peer cities across the state, we have tended to do less with it than others,” Dr. Bliss stated.

The Jacksonville History Center is a project that was first conceived in 2018, now made possible and bigger than initially planned due to generous fundraising - cementing a center of Jacksonville pride at last.

“We intend that this will be something that will help illustrate Jacksonville and strengthen its identity in the minds and the experiences of people who perhaps have never lived here or visiting for the first time,” said DR. Bliss with a smile.

The Jacksonville Historical Center is set to open by the end of 2025, with a small admission fee that’s yet to be decided.

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