Come Together: the Story of Jacksonville's Consolidation - Part 1

Nearly fifty-seven years ago, on 1 October 1968, Jacksonville and Duval County became one, with the implementation of Consolidation of the two governmental entities into one.  I was a student at Florida State University, majoring in government, and the prospect of consolidation of the city and its county had been a hot topic in my class on local government.  I was born in California, but have lived in Jacksonville or nearby since 1954, and I consider it my home town.  I obtained and read a copy of the report of the committee that had been appointed to study the issue and present its pros and cons, and decided that, in my opinion, consolidation would be a good thing.  I wrote a letter to the editor of Jacksonville's morning newspaper, the Florida Times-Union, expressing my support for the proposition.  

That got me a nasty phone call from someone who was against the idea.  I was neither intimidated nor swayed.  I was also not impressed when the caller refused to engage in intelligent debate or even to listen to my reasons for supporting the issue.  She just wanted to call me names. 

In 2013, a task force was appointed by the city to study the effects and results of consolidation and to identify problems not yet addressed by the consolidated government and needs still unmet, and to propose solutions.  

In this blog, in this study of the history of Jacksonville, I am going to trace the history of consolidation, which stretches farther back than my husband (a Jacksonville native) and I had any idea it did.  What were the advantages and disadvantages of consolidation?  How has it worked in these past fifty-seven years?  What is the future of consolidated Jacksonville?  Let's answer those questions, and take a look at this part of the city's history.

  The map below shows Jacksonville as it was just before consolidation.  The area in yellow shows the city limits as they were before consolidation.  The city proper was but a small part of Duval County.  






After consolidation, the boundaries of Duval County and Jacksonville became the same, with the exception of Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach, and the inland village of Baldwin.  These entities voted not to be included in consolidation.  The map below gives an out line of Duval County's borders, the dark green area.  The square imposed on the map is roughly where the city limits shown above would be contained.  It is easy to see how small the city proper was before consolidation. 




Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida

Note:  The map I originally posted here was not the proper map of the old city limits.  I have posted the correct map, above, and added the out line of Duval County for comparison.

 

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