Charles E. Merrill Educational and Historical Resource Center & Clay County Archives

Chronological History of Clay County:

1728 – The first inhabitants, Timucuan Indians, were nearly wiped out by the British and their allies the Lower Creek and Seminole Indians.

1735-40—The Spanish built a fort, St. Francis de Pupe, eight miles south of the present Green Cove Springs.

1763-83 – British occupation of Florida.

1783 – Spanish made first land grants when they re-occupy Florida.

1790 – Spanish land grant made to Zephaniah Kingsley which included present Orange Park. George Fleming also granted the area where Hibernia is now.

1821 – United States acquires Florida after the Second Seminole War.

1836 – Ft. Heileman was built at the forks of Black Creek as a general
supply depot.

1850 –About this time Middleburg was established because it was thriving community when Clay County was created.

1858 – Clay County was created by act of the Florida legislature.

1859 – Whitesville declared the county seat after a county vote taken.

1872 – By this time Green Cove Springs had become the county seat.

1874 – Green Cove Springs received its charter and became the oldest incorporated city in Clay County.

1876 – By this date 20 schools had been established in the county.
1879 – Orange Park received its charter.

1880 – Green Cove Springs and Orange Park were enjoying a profitable tourist trade.

1881 – The Green Cove Springs and Melrose Railroad Company was incorporated to build a line across Clay County from Green Cove Springs to Melrose. The Jacksonville and Palatka Railroad was also incorporated.

1894, 95, and 99 – Severe freezes killed the orange groves and the hopes a thriving orange business in Orange Park.

1913 – In Orange Park the council-commission form of government was abolished and a Commission form of government was established. The town boundaries were also redrawn exclusively inside Clay County.

1922 – The first of the Senior Moose Members took up residency in the old Hotel in Orange Park and Moosehaven got its start.

1925 – Keystone Heights was chartered.

1927 – Penney Farms was chartered. This included the Penney Farms Retirement Community established by J. C. Penney, the founder of the department store chain.

1962 – The docking facility for the mothball fleet of the United States Naval Atlantic Reserve was moved from its Green Cove Springs location to Texas. The Navy facilities there had been in use since World War I. This move created economic hardship for the town.

1975 – A new charter creating a council-manager form of government for Orange Park was approved in a special election held in Town Hall

Local Museums:

CLAY COUNTY HISTORICAL AND RAILROAD MUSEUM
915 Walnut Street
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043
(904) 284-9644

Office Hours: Sundays 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Clay County Historical Museum is located in the Clerk of the Court's office in the old Clay County Court House, with the Railroad Museum next door.
MIDDLEBURG MIDDLEBURG HISTORICAL MUSEUM
3912 Section Street
Middleburg, FL 32068
(904) 282-8691

Office Hours: Sundays 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Special tours are by appointment only.

Is a time capsule of life in the oldest settled area in Clay County. The collection includes artifacts from the period of Fort Heilman during the second Seminole War in the early 1800's and represents through photographs and displays in the early turpentine, timber and phosphate industries.

Visit the Middleburg United Methodist Church, built in 1847, and the adjacent Middleburg Methodist Church Cemetery.
 

BLACK HERITAGE MUSEUM
Longmire Avenue at Hunter-Douglas Park
Middleburg, FL 32068
Appointment for tours:
Maude Jackson (904) 282-4168
Mamie Oliver (904) 282-5223
Sarah Weeks (904) 282-5205

Housed in a one-room school dating from the late 1800's, the assembled collection offers a unique glimpse through objects and artifacts of the Black culture and a way of life dating back to before the turn of the century. Special announced events offer demonstrations of everyday life. Organizers through an oral tradition successfully communicate the courage, ingenuity, and creativity required in these early times to survive and thrive.

TOWN OF ORANGE PARK
2042 Park Avenue
Orange Park, FL 32043
(904) 264-9565
Office Hours: Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Mierfeldt Collection - Displays rare photographs and farm implements of the late 1900's of Orange Park and includes the register from the Parkview Resort Hotel (1890).

CAMP BLANDING AND MEMORIAL PARK
State Road 16 at Kingsley Lake
Located in Clay County
(904) 533-3100 Ext. 3196
Office Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park offers a comprehensive photographic record and extensive displays of Camp Blanding from construction in 1939. It is a unique depository of military memorabilia spanning all theatres of World War II to the present. Of particular interest is the massive accumulation of heavy equipment used in warfare over the past sixty decades.