"Jacksonville Departure-1905", Jacksonville, FL

On a moonlit night in the fall of 1905, the passenger liner “Arapahoe” departs the Clyde Steamship dock on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, bound for the Clyde terminal in New York City, at pier 36 on the Hudson River in Manhattan.

The Clyde Line ran a fleet of passenger liners between New York, Charleston and Jacksonville year-round. The Arapahoe, built in 1901, ran first class only service until 1928. The coastal sea route to Jacksonville provided by the Clyde Line was the only direct route between these ports, and was more enjoyable and less expensive than the all-rail trip. Jacksonville’s population grew from 36,000 in 1900 to over 58,000 by 1910. From Jacksonville, passengers and freight could transfer to other steamers owned by the Clyde Line to travel south and west along the St. Johns River to destinations in the Florida interior.

Jacksonville was in a rebuilding mode at this time. A few years earlier, in May 1901 a spark from a kitchen fire ignited piles of dry Spanish moss, and in 8 hours engulfed Jacksonville consuming over 2,300 buildings, leaving 10,000 people homeless. The fire covered 146 blocks and included 23 churches and 10 hotels. It was one of the worst disasters in Florida’s history and the third largest urban fire in the U.S. next to the great Chicago fire and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Painting Awards: Selected Finalist in Art Renewal Center 2022 Fall Salon, Finalist in International Guild of Realism 2022 Fall Salon