Readers share old Jacksonville photos, from Judy Garland to auto races at the beach

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·3 min read
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Judson Yerkes at a race at the Beaches, circa 1920.
Judson Yerkes at a race at the Beaches, circa 1920.

This week's look back at older days in Jacksonville features photographs sent in by you the readers, all with some sort of family tie.

Biba Olsen shared a couple of evocative photos from around 1920 of her grandparents, Judson and Elizabeth Yerkes, out at the beach for an automobile race, a popular event at the time on Florida's coast.

Elizabeth Yerkes at the Beaches, circa 1920, while her husband Judson competed in an automobile race.
Elizabeth Yerkes at the Beaches, circa 1920, while her husband Judson competed in an automobile race.

"He was raised in Springfield and her family lived in Riverside," Olsen wrote. "After marriage they lived on Powell Place in Riverside, [a home] that his father had built for them until their deaths. The house burned several months ago."

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She also sent along their obituaries, which noted that her grandfather had been president of the Florida Hardware Co. and that after her parents' deaths she had been raised by her older brother, J. Turner Butler — yes, that J. Turner Butler, the Florida politician and namesake of Butler Boulevard.

Michael Lissner took this photograph of North Main Street, looking south from Duval Street, being torn up as the old trolley tracks that ran along Main Street were removed while the road was repaved. As he writes: "My guess it was in the late '70's or early '80's. At the time, my family operated The Young Men's Shop, a menswear store for many years located downtown. Needless to say, the 'progress' caused major traffic disruptions for many months."

On the subject of busy roads, Michael Lissner contributed a photo, taken near his family's downtown business, The Young Men's Shop, showing that never-ending road construction seems to be a permanent feature of Jacksonville life.

Brenda Whitaker Collins, meanwhile, sent a photo from the early 1900s of what would have been a more pleasant mode of transportation. It shows her grandfather and great-grandfather on board a boat that went up and down the St. Johns River.

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Brenda Whitaker Collins writes: "This is a photo of my grandfather Clarence Frederick Taylor, the younger man in the photo, and my great-grandfather Charles Edwin Taylor. This was taken in the early 1900s on the waterfront in Jacksonville. My grandfather, Clarence Taylor, was going to Massey Business School and his father, Charles, worked in a department store. My great-grandmother (Charles’ wife, Lucretia Renfroe Taylor) owned a boarding house on the property where the courthouse now stands. This was after the Great Fire in Jacksonville. Before the fire she had a boarding house on Duval Street. Later on they all moved to Perry, Florida, in Taylor County."

And Charlie Hillyer sent a photo of his grandfather, Guy Kenimer, posing with Judy Garland and her mother, Ethel Marion Milne, who were at the Florida Theatre to promote a pretty good movie, 1939's "The Wizard of Oz."

Kenimer was the manager of the Florida Theatre when it opened in 1927, and he stayed there for decades. But he was more than just a theater manager — he and his wife Hallie also brought some joy to poor kids living through the Depression.

As Hillyer writes: "My grandmother tells a story of an annual Christmas party, at the theater, that invited children to receive gifts donated by local businesses. It was called the 'Happy Hearts.' I think it was the idea behind the Dorcas Drake Party that had a similar theme in later years."

Charlie Hillyer writes: "My grandfather, Guy Kenimer, was manager of the Florida Theatre from its inception to probably the early '60's. We have a few of the archived pictures in the family. This one shows Judy Garland and her mother in town for a promotion of 'The Wizard of Oz.' My grandfather standing on right."
Charlie Hillyer writes: "My grandfather, Guy Kenimer, was manager of the Florida Theatre from its inception to probably the early '60's. We have a few of the archived pictures in the family. This one shows Judy Garland and her mother in town for a promotion of 'The Wizard of Oz.' My grandfather standing on right."

The Times-Union's Mark Woods, in 2017, told the story: "The Happy Hearts Club started in the winter of 1926. A Jacksonville Journal story said: 'There are children in Jacksonville who are writing letters to Santa Claus who through no fault of their own will be disappointed Christmas morning unless some provision is made for them. This thought is the foundation upon which the Happy Hearts Club stands.'

"It was a Christmas Day extravaganza sponsored by the evening paper, Florida Theatre and Southern Dairies. And when the Great Depression arrived a few years later, the event only became more significant. It continued into the 1940s.

"On Christmas Eve, after the last film, theater manager Guy Kenimer and a crew would work into the wee hours of the morning, decorating the place and filling thousands of shopping bags with apples, popcorn, candy bars, raisins, chewing gum and toys.

"By the time the sun rose on Christmas morning, the children already would be lined up to see an enormous tree and Santa and receive food and toys. The theater seated about 1,800 people. And often there were enough children outside to fill it several times."

If you'd like to submit some photo, join our Vintage Times-Union Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/2303236339897880 or follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/vintagetimesunion/.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Vintage Jacksonville: Florida Times-Union readers share old photos