Local News in Palatka
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Palatka Daily News
Published September 19Today in History – Sept. 19
by Nancy Alvers September 19 From 1880 to 1886, the average assessed wealth of every man and woman in Florida almost doubled. Valuation per capita was $115.50 in 1880 and $206.63 in 1886. In 1907, the Palatka Board of Trade appointed a committee to study the proposed St. Johns…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 18Today in History – Sept. 18
By Nancy Alvers September 18 In 1886, Engineer de Montmollin attached the steam fire engine to the artesian well at the Palatka courthouse, throwing a stream of water equal to any of the same size. “The new company, only nine in number, had a stream of water started in a few…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 17Today in History – Sept. 17
by Nancy Alvers September 17 In 1862, Governor Milton announced that Florida had purchased a substantial amount of homespun cloth to be made into uniforms for the state’s Confederate military. In 1878, A.W. Mann’s ad in the Eastern Herald claimed his Palatka Meat Market had “the…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 16Today in History – Sept. 16
By Nancy Alvers September 16 In 1886, Palatka’s natural location was head and shoulders above any other community on the St. Johns. Goods could be shipped by river and there were excellent railroad connections via the JT. & K.W., the Florida Southern, the St. Augustine & Palatka…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 14Fish Bites: 12-pound, 14-ounce bass gets Morgan win
One 12-pound, 14-ounce bass. One big win for Cody Morgan of Green Cove Springs. Major League Fishing’s Phoenix Bass Fishing League hauled its weigh-stage trailer into Palatka this past weekend to hold the final 2026 Gator Division tournament on the St. Johns River. Half the…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 12Today in History – Sept. 12
September 12 In 1886, Capt. R.H. Hodgkin of Welaka found a rare Spanish coin—dated 1721 and issued by Philip V—in his orange grove. In 1910, the St. John’s Catholic Church was formerly dedicated by St. Augustine’s Rev. Dr. M.P. Foley and Rev. Father P. Barry, pastor of St.…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 09Today in History – Sept. 9
by Nancy Alvers September 9 In 1898, 131 Palatkans asked that the bicycle ordinance requiring bicyclists to carry lanterns be repealed. In 1907, the F.M. Davis & Sons Cypress Tank Factory again did business in its new, enlarged quarters. A leading Palatka industry for years, the…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 08Today and History – Sept. 8 and 7
September 8 In 1878, a hurricane hit the area, damaging groves, ruining the citrus harvest, and destroying the new bridge over Rice Creek. In 1910, Henis Peterman was putting the finishing touches on the judge’s black and birds-eye cypress bench for the circuit court room of the…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 04Today in History – Sept. 4
September 4 In 1785, Jose de Galvez wrote to Spanish Governor Zespedes, “as soon as a case of smallpox is found in any town in your jurisdiction,” treat “isolated” victims medically to avoid spreading the disease. In 1904, black patrons, under the leadership of Prof. J.W. Holley,…
Palatka Daily News
Published September 02Today in History – Sept. 2
September 2 In 1895, after the great freeze, Marcellus Dalton stopped operating his orange box factory in Palatka and immediately purchased a complete outfit for his steam grist mill on the riverbank near the Presbyterian Church, producing superior-quality meal and grits from…