Selected Artifacts and Jacksonville City Hall Timeline Exhibit to Commemorate Implosion
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 15, 2019 — With just days before the scheduled Jan. 20 implosion of the old City Hall Annex on Bay Street, Jacksonville Public Library is displaying artifacts from the 1960 City Hall time capsule, which was discovered in the cornerstone of the annex during pre-demolition work.
Selected artifacts are on display in Special Collections on the fourth floor of the Main Library, and include an original 40-minute audio tape recording of the dedication ceremony, a letter from then-Mayor Haydon Burns to the future mayor of Jacksonville, a key to the 13th floor elevator of City Hall, and more. The exhibit has a timeline of Jacksonville's historical City Halls from the first building designed by John Henry Klutho after the Great Fire of 1901 to the St. James Building that serves as City Hall today.
Everyone is encouraged to visit the time capsule exhibit during regular library hours to learn the history of City Hall and view items as old as a 1907 edition of The Metropolis, a Jacksonville newspaper. The exhibit features a sample of the items from the time capsule as opened by Mayor Lenny Curry and City Council President Aaron Bowman on October 3 as part of the City's 50th Anniversary of Consolidation celebration.
Those who would like to view other items from the time capsule in person are requested to call the library's Special Collections department at (904) 630-2409 to make an appointment with a librarian. You may also view items from the capsule, and listen to the audio from the dedication online in the library's Digital Library Collection at https://www.jaxpubliclibrary.org/research/collections/digital-library-collection.
This special City Hall exhibit is planned to be on display until the end of March 2019. The library will retain the items from the time capsule in Special Collections indefinitely.
About the Jacksonville Public Library
The mission of the Jacksonville Public Library is to enrich lives, build community and foster success by bringing people, information and ideas together. Last year, more than 3.1 million visits were made to Jacksonville Public Libraries, items were checked out more than 4.7 million times, and nearly 15,000 programs and services were offered to Duval County residents at the Main Library and 20 branch locations. For more information about the Jacksonville Public Library, call 630-BOOK (2665) or visit jaxpubliclibrary.org.
