Name/Title
Jacksonville TerminalEntry/Object ID
2016.019.056Description
Jacksonville Terminal, Lee Street Viaduct and Hotel DeSoto
Lee Street
Architect: Kenneth M. Murchison
"Passenger station: Jacksonville has the finest passenger station south of Washington, and operates 25 tracks exclusively for handling of its passenger business. Through the Jacksonville station there are operated, daily, 112 passenger trains with an average of 1,042 cars, of which approximately 720 are Pullman. The estimated number of passengers handled daily through the Jacksonville Terminal is 12,000.
Express facilities: Connected with this station is the largest individual express terminal in the United States. Through express terminal are operated to the principal cities of the northeast and Middle West as far as Kansas City, not to mention through express trains that are operated on the east and west coasts of Florida. This means that a package loaded in Jacksonville on any of these points is delivered without transfer en route...a particular interesting feature of its rail service being that, with the possible exception of three or four competitive points in the far south of the state, all less-carload freight delivered at freight receiving stations at Jacksonville up to 4p.m. is ready for delivery at destination early next a.m."
- Jacksonville Polk City Directory, 1928.
The Terminal is one of Jacksonville's most visible and popular Neo-Classical Revival style of architecture. When completed in 1919, it was the largest terminal in the South. It was Jacksonville's third "Union Terminal" building, a designation for a terminal that serves several railroad companies -- Jacksonville was a major railroad center for over fifty years.
New York Architect, Kenneth M. Murchison won the competition for designing the terminal by borrowing the design from the New York's Pennsylvania Station, which had been modeled after the ancient Roman Baths of Caracalla. The Doric columns are of limestone and are roughly forty-two feet tall. The interior features a 75-foot tall barrel vaulted ceiling.
On January 3, 1974, the last passenger train left the Jacksonville Terminal. Faced with high maintenance costs and decreased rail travel, it joined dozens of other closed stations.
Restoration began in 1985 to convert the Jacksonville Terminal into a convention center. On October 17, 1986, the Prime F. Osborn III, named for former CSX Chairman, opened.Collection
Woodward Photo CollectionMade/Created
Studio
The Woodward Studio, Inc.Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Photograph, Black-and-WhiteNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication Objects