Alan Bliss: Future looks brighter for local history as casket factory project moves forward

Alan J. Bliss
·4 min read
Built in 1924, the former Florida Casket Factory building at 314 Palmetto St., was purchased by the Jacksonville Historical Society in 2012.
Built in 1924, the former Florida Casket Factory building at 314 Palmetto St., was purchased by the Jacksonville Historical Society in 2012.

Members and friends of the Jacksonville Historical Society already know something about our project to renovate and activate the society’s 102-year-old factory building, originally home to the Florida Casket Co.

When completed, this project will provide secure facilities for: museum and exhibition space devoted primarily to Jacksonville’s enduring and diverse music history; a secure repository for the archival collections of the society, all pertaining to Jacksonville; and a performance and event venue supporting the exhibits of the museum and the educational mission of the historical society.

That mission is “to strengthen citizenship by engaging and educating Jacksonville’s people about their history, through preserving and sharing the evidence of the city’s past and by advocating the value of historic preservation.”

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Since 2011 the three-story, 13,500-square-foot building has been unoccupied and unusable due to obsolete or missing systems, unsafe stairwells and the absence of current life safety infrastructure. The society has owned the property since 2012, as well as the adjacent Old St. Luke’s Hospital that houses our offices, research library and portions of the Haskell Archive of Jacksonville history. The renovation will support programming of the casket building’s three floors as follows:

  • Floor 1: Museum and exhibition space devoted principally to Jacksonville’s music history.

  • Floor 2: Archival processing, preservation and research space for theHistorical Society’s collections.

  • Floor 3: Event venue and meeting space.

On Aug. 11 we received final approval of our design plans from the Downtown Development Review Board, and construction will begin immediately upon issuance of building permits. The initial phases will include construction of two new stairwell towers, the eastern of which will incorporate ADA restrooms and kitchen facilities for the use of staff and event vendors.

All existing windows will be replaced, exterior brick walls tuckpointed and waterproofed, the existing elevator updated, fire sprinkler system updated and recertified, as well as new HVAC machinery and systems installed throughout the building. Subsequent phases will make the building safe and usable by staff, volunteers and visitors.

Founded on May 3, 1929, the Jacksonville Historical Society is the only professional public history organization serving all of the people of the city. No other organization does what the society does in Duval County. Renovation of the casket building will allow staff and volunteers to store and preserve artifacts, documents, manuscripts, books and historic photos relating to the city’s past in a secure environment.

An artist's concept rendering of the Florida Casket Factory. Part of the project envisions the first floor of the building to be used as a museum and exhibit space dedicated to Jacksonville's music history.
An artist's concept rendering of the Florida Casket Factory. Part of the project envisions the first floor of the building to be used as a museum and exhibit space dedicated to Jacksonville's music history.

Doing this in a century-old factory on the east side of downtown Jacksonville is faithful to our mission — not only for the way it will elevate our operational capacity, but also because it demonstrates the adaptive re-use of historic buildings. It also demonstrates the power of historic renovations to strengthen economic development and growth in and around their neighborhoods and community.

A critical need for the society is a place to securely process, archive, digitize and catalog more than 100,000 historic photographic images of Jacksonville, making them perpetually accessible to researchers anywhere. This project will require multiple years of effort on the part of trained archives personnel. Housing this collection at the historical society will ensure that these invaluable resources are readily accessible for use by the people of this city, while secure from floods or tropical weather events.

With the help of general contractor Jeff Thompson, the society’s Property Management Committee has established the renovation budget at $1,719,945. Funds contributed or pledged thus far stand at approximately $694,000, of which $35,000 was contributed in early 2020 by the city council, and an additional $15,000 came from the Office of the Mayor.

2020: Alan Bliss, CEO of Jacksonville Historical Society, is pictured inside the former Florida Casket Company building.
2020: Alan Bliss, CEO of Jacksonville Historical Society, is pictured inside the former Florida Casket Company building.

The balance has come from private donors, who agree that, as Florida’s largest and most complicated city, Jacksonville’s history matters.

To all of those who have contributed, we remain deeply thankful. In order to drive this project to completion in a timely way, we are seeking additional public support from state and local sources, and are continuing to welcome private gifts to the restricted capital campaign fund.

Those wishing to help may email alan.bliss@jaxhistory.org or (904) 665-0064.

Alan J. Bliss, Ph.D., CEO, Jacksonville Historical Society 

This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Alan Bliss: Historic casket factory project moves forward