St. Johns River History

St. Johns River Timeline

Before the Timucuan peoples settled in northeastern Florida, the St. Johns River flowed north from deep inside the region to the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly after Florida became part of the United States, a handful of men laid out Jacksonville to be on the river. The river meant transportation: carrying goods and passengers upstream into the state, and downstream for coastal trading and across the sea and facilitated commerce, enhanced security, and provided food and recreation for tourists.

Cool Timeline

1917

The Fellsmere Tribune announced “the close of the greatest and most complete drainage proposition in Florida.” The Fellsmere Farms Company had begun its massive land development project that planned to drain 118,000 acres of land at the headwaters of the St. Johns River in 1911. By the time the project had ended, 33 miles of levees had been constructed, and 67 miles of canals and 215 miles of drainage ditches had been dug.

1890’s

Dredging projects began to deepen the channel of the river to enable deeper draft ships to reach the port of Jacksonville. These dredging projects led to Jacksonville becoming one of the major ports on the East Coast and the establishment of the city-owned Port of Jacksonville in 1915.

Late 1800’s

Logging was a major economic activity along the St. Johns River. The Wilson Cypress Company in Palatka became one of the largest cypress mills in the world producing 80,000 feet of lumber and 60,000 shingles daily.

1894 –1895

The “Great Freezes” destroyed much of the citrus industry in north Florida and a major source of cargo shipped by steamboats to Northern destinations. This ended an era that established the St. Johns River Valley as Florida’s first citrus empire.

1890

Henry Flagler completed construction of the first railroad bridge across the St. Johns, shifting commerce and tourism away from the river.

1886-87

The famous composer, Frederick Delius, composed Florida Suite inspired by the St. Johns River and his experiences living on an orange plantation (Solano Grove). The second movement of the Suite is titled “By the River.”

1885

Seven steamboat lines operated out of Palatka, rivaling Jacksonville as one of the major port cities along the St. Johns River. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant took farewell voyages on steamboats down the St. Johns, and President Grover Cleveland enjoyed a steamboat trip after attending the Subtropical Exposition in Jacksonville in 1888.

1884

Mrs. W.F. Fuller obtained samples of the South American plant, the water hyacinth, at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans and planted them along the shore of her home on the St. Johns River. Within a decade, the water hyacinths covered an estimated 50 million acres of the river and its tributaries. Left uncontrolled in North American waters, water hyacinths can cover lakes and ponds, starving them of oxygen and thus killing fish and other organisms.

1872

Stowe published “Palmetto Leaves” that included stories about the river, like the one about her picnic on Julington Creek. One of the most famous schooners in American history, America, was purchased by a Brit, re-named the Memphis, and served as a Confederate blockade-runner during the Civil War. In January of 1862, the Memphis was sunk by her Confederate crew in Dunns Creek near Crescent Lake to keep her from falling into Union hands. The Union Navy found the ship, raised and renamed her America, and used her in the blockade line. Congress appropriated funds in 1879 to build jetties at

1867

Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband establish a winter home in Mandarin along the St. Johns River.