ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Old County Jail in St. Johns County could be demolished soon.
The county’s Cultural Resource Review Board is set to discuss the possibility of destroying the St. Johns County Detention Center Annex building in a meeting on Monday, February 10th, according to its agenda.
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The public is invited to attend the meeting, scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Action News Jax has reached out to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office for comment and details on its current use. We’re still waiting to hear back.
Cultural History
The old detention center, located at 4025 Lewis Speedway, opened up in 1953 to replace the earlier building located on San Marco Avenue.
The building played a prominent role in the civil rights movement when hundreds of demonstrators were incarcerated there between 1963 and 1964.
Among those demonstrators was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more than a dozen Jewish rabbis.
On June 11, 1964, the day after the Senate voted to end the filibuster on the Civil RIghts Act, King was arrested on a trespassing charge for attempting to eat at the Monson Motor Lodge restaurant.
About one week later, the same lodge was the sight of another huge civil rights demonstration inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Read: 60 years since acid poured into pool filled with Civil Rights activists in St. Augustine
His stop in St. Augustine is credited with expediting the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which was signed into law less than one month later.
Read: West Augustine voted as the recommended site for statewide black history museum
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