COLLECTION

2.4 CUBIC FEET

PROCESSED 2006-2007

FINDING AIDE COMPLETED OCTOBER 2007 BY JIM CARTER

HISTORICAL NOTE

This collection consists primarily of documents relating to the Jacksonville Terminal Company and its owners: The Atlantic Coast Line, Florida East Coast Railway, Seaboard Air Line, Southern Railway and the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway. In 1916 the company began to acquire land for a modern and more impressive union station. The architect, Kenneth Murchison, designed a beaux-arts structure, which borrowed freely from New York City’s Pennsylvania Station. The multi-million dollar terminal opened on November 18, 1919. At its peak more than 100 trains arrived daily. By the late 1920’s the union station was the second largest employer in Jacksonville. However, dwindling passenger traffic caused the station to close in 1974 and the Jacksonville Terminal Company itself was liquidated in February 1978.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Walter Smith Collection consists of seven boxes (2.4 cubic feet) of material. Additionally, there are some oversized records of the Jacksonville Terminal and the Erie Lackawanna Railroad that are filed separately in the map area. The bulk of the material was recovered from the abandoned general offices of the terminal company. Unfortunately, the offices were used as a shelter by trespassers who burned many files and allowed others to be destroyed by exposure to the elements. As a result the files are fragmented and incomplete.

Many of the documents concern the planning and construction of the new union station during the World War I period. Other records relate to the operations of the railroads that shared ownership of the terminal.

The collection contains correspondence, telegrams, blue prints, maps, photographs, catalogs, magazines and newspaper articles.

ORGANIZATION

The collection is organized by Railroad Company in chronological order. Some materials are of such a large size that they must be filed separately in the map area.

PROVENANCE

Mr. Walter Smith, a railroad historian and locomotive engineer, living in Melbourne, Florida, donated most of the collection to the Florida Historical Society.

RESTRICTIONS

Some records are extremely fragile due to age, poor quality paper, and exposure to the elements and smoke damage. A number of these materials have been placed in protective plastic covers and should be handled with care.

CONTENTS

BOXES AND FOLDERS

BOX ONE

JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CO. RECORDS

Folder #1 – Copies of 1896 Ordinances concerning passenger terminals

Folder #2 - Planning for construction of new terminal 1914

Folder #3 – W. L. Morse, Chief Engineer, Correspondence, 1913-1915

Folder #4 – Chief Engineer vouchers for new station, 1914-1915

Folder #5 - Condition of old train shed, 1913

Folder #6 – Demolition of old train shed, 1917-1918

Folder #7 – Blue Print B, Lee Street Station, 1914

Folder #8 – Blue print C, Myrtle Street Station, 1914

Folder #9 – Blue print costs, 1916-1920

Folder #10 – Jacksonville Terminal locomotive photographs

Folder #11 – Terminal construction photographs and negatives, 1918

Folder #12 – Photos of the Jacksonville Terminal in the 1940’s.

Folder #12 – Photography costs, 1916 and 1920

Folder #13 – New Coach Yard and Passenger Station costs, 1916

Folder #14 - Passenger Yard track layout planning and costs, 1916-1917

Folder #15 – General information on coaling stations, 1916

Folder #16 – Requisitions for coaling station, 1918

Folder #18 – Disputed property boundaries with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad, 1922

BOX TWO

JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION

INTERLOCKING AND SIGNALING

Folder #1 – Cost Estimates for interlocking and signaling, 1913

Folder #2 – Estimates for interlocker heat, light and power.

Request for Signal Engineer, 1913 and 191 5

Folder #3 - Chief Engineer correspondence regarding interlocker, 1917

Folder #4 – Planning for Myrtle Avenue Tower, 1916-1917

Folder #5 – Enterprise Street Tower construction notes, 1918

Folder #6 – Loss of I beams for interlockers, 1918

Folder #7 – Interlocker construction progress notes, 1918-1920

Folder #8 – Specifications and bids for Lee Street Tower and Davis St., 1919-1920

Folder #9 – Interlocker progress reports, invoiced and vouches, 1918-1919

Folder #10 – Enterprise Street Interlocker: dispute over boxcar, 1918

Folder #11 – Interlocker construction problems, 1919

Folder # 12 – Bids for construction of Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919

Folder # 13 – Building permits and specifications for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919

Folder #14 – Bills and vouchers for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919

Folder #15 – Additional air compressor for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919

Folder #16 – Analysis and testing of wires for interlockers, 1919

Folder #17 – Interlocker invoices and statements, 1918-1919

Folder #18 – Interlocker invoices and bills of lading, 1919

BOX THREE

JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION RECORDS

Folder #1 – Timber Requirements for passenger yard, switches and crossings, 1916

Folder #2 – Drainage, November 1916 to March 1917

Folder #3 – Drainage, March 1917 to October 1917

Folder #4 – Drainage, June 1918 to July 1919

Folder #5 – Drainage, August 1 to August 7, 1919

Folder #6 – Drainage, August 9 to August 25, 1919

Folder #7 – Drainage, October 1919 to March 1920

Folder #8 – Electrical power installations, 1917

Folder #9 – Electrical power installations, 1918

Folder #10 – Electrical Power installations, 1919

Folder #11 – Platforms and sheds, 1917 and 1919

Folder #12 – Structural steel requirements, 1917-1918

Folder #13 – Pipe and fittings requirements, 1917-1918

Folder #14 – Ornamental electrical fixtures, 1917-1919

Folder #15 – Ticket Office requirements, 1917-1919

Folder #16 – Terminal flooring, 1917-1918

Folder #17 – Skylights and steel sash, 1917 and 1920

Folder #18 – Brickwork, 1917-1919

BOX FOUR

Folder #19 – Ornamental ironwork, 1917

Folder #20 – Deck ballast for Myrtle Street Bridge, 1918

Folder #21 – Pipe rail fences, 1920

Folder #22 – Brick smoke stack, 1921

Folder #23 – Miscellaneous material requirements, 1917-1919

Folder #24 – Marble, granite and stone for station, 1917-1919

Folder #25 – Doors, windows and lighting for Terminal, 1917-1920

Folder #26 – Track Shovel requirements, 1917

Folder #27 – Purchase of Gasoline Speeder for track gangs, 1918

Folder #28 – Rental of Florida East Coast steam locomotive, 1918

Folder #29 – Delay of passenger train by track workers, 1919

Folder #30 – Construction of station plaza, 1919

Folder #31 – Terminal paving, 1918-1919

Folder #32 – Terminal paving, 1919-1920

Folder #33 – Lee Street Viaduct, 1919

Folder #34 – Personal injury claims during construction, 1917

Folder #35 – Personal injury claims during construction, 1918

Folder #36 – Personal injury claims during construction, 1919

Folder #37 – Passenger personal injury claims, 1919

BOX FIVE

JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL VOUCHERS AND REQUISITIONS

Folder #1 – Chief Engineers vouchers, 1913

Folder #2 – Chief Engineers vouchers, 1914

Folder #3 – Instructions for issuing and authorizing requisitions, 1918-1919

Folder #4 – Requisitions for tools and equipment for terminal yards, 1917

Folder # 5 – Requisitions for tools and equipment for terminal yards. 1918-1919

Folder #6 – Office supply requisitions, 1917

Folder #7 – Office supply requisitions, 1918-1919

Folder #8 – Signal Department Vouchers, 1919

Folder #9 – Signal Department Vouchers, 1919-1920

Folder #10 – Job charge reports due to wartime inflation, April to August 1918

Folder #11 – Job charge reports due to wartime inflation, September to December 1918

Folder #12 – Job Charge requests due to increased costs, January to August 1919

BOX SIX

JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL RECORDS

Folder #1 – Beaver Street Viaduct, 1928

Folder #2 – Beaver Street Viaduct, construction bids, 1928

Folder #3 – Beaver Street Viaduct, 1928

Folder #4 – Beaver Street Viaduct, Personnel matters, 1928

Folder #5 – Paving of Beaver Street Viaduct, 1929-1930

Folder #6 – Introduction of Social Security, 1936 – 1938

Folder #7 – Proof copy of new first mortgage, new bond issue, operating and guaranty

Agreement, December 1, 1947

Includes a $1000 bond

Folder #8 – Personnel matters, 1953-1954

Folder #9 – Personnel matters, 1955

Folder #10 – Personnel matters, 1956

Folder #11 – Personnel matters, 1957

Folder #12 – Personnel matters, 1958

Folder #13 – Personnel matters, 1959

Folder #14 – Personnel matters, 1960

Folder #15 – Personnel matters, 1961

Folder # 16 – Personnel matters, 1962

Folder #17 – Personnel matters, 1963

Folder #18 – Trainmaster bulletins, 1957-1962

Folder #19 – Car movement by Florida East Coast Railway using Jacksonville Terminal

Tracks, September 1 –10, 1963

BOX SEVEN

FLORIDA EAST COAST AND OTHER RAILROADS

Folder #1 – Florida East Coast Railway Freight charges to the Key West Extension, 1915

Folder #2 – Florida East Coast Railway Local Freight Tariff Number 5, 1920

Folder #3 – Florida East Coast Injunction against Unions interfering with railway

Operations, 1922

Folder #4 – Florida East Coast Railway photos of the 1927-1935 era

Folder #5 – Florida East Coast Railway pickets photographs, undated

Folder #6 – Florida East Coast Railway various documents including train orders, 1965-

1969.

Folder #7 – Atlantic Coastline Railroad blue print of main line Jacksonville, 1916

Folder #8 – Atlantic Coastline Railroad blue print of proposed signal change, 1919

Folder #9 – Atlantic Coastline Railroad passenger files and records, 1953-1963

Folder #10 – Southern Railway general passenger and freight files, 1959-1963

Folder #11 – Florida railroad timetables from Official Guides, various dates