History of Duval County, Florida PDF Download

Author: Pleasant Daniel Gold
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Author: Anthony R. Carrozza
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806159553
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
The notorious Parr family manipulated local politics in South Texas for decades. Archie Parr, his son George, and his grandson Archer relied on violence and corruption to deliver the votes that propelled their chosen candidates to office. The influence of the Parr political machine peaked during the 1948 senatorial primary, when election officials found the infamous Ballot Box 13 six days after the polls closed. That box provided a slim eighty-seven-vote lead to Lyndon B. Johnson, initiating the national political career of the future U.S. president. Dukes of Duval County begins with Archie Parr’s organization of the Mexican American electorate into a potent voting bloc, which marked the beginning of his three-decade campaign for control of every political office in Duval County and the surrounding area. Archie’s son George, who expanded the Parrs’ dominion to include jobs, welfare payments, and public works, became a county judge thanks to his father’s influence—but when George was arrested and imprisoned for accepting payoffs, only a presidential pardon advocated by then-congressman Lyndon Johnson allowed George to take office once more. Further legal misadventures haunted George and his successor, Archer, but in the end it took the combined force of local, state, and federal governments and the courageous efforts of private citizens to overthrow the Parr family. In this first comprehensive study of the Parr family’s political activities, Anthony R. Carrozza reveals the innermost workings of the Parr dynasty, a political machine that drove South Texas politics for more than seventy years and critically influenced the course of the nation.

Author: John E. Clark
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781571683335
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Documents the end of the corrupt political empire of George Parr in Duval County, South Texas.

Author: James B. Crooks
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813027081
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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"A fascinating account of how the city of Jacksonville met the major challenges of the last half of the 20th century, from those posed by race relations to downtown development to the environment. Crooks has provided a well-written, clear, and thoughtful analysis of the need for and movement to establish a consolidated government, and the early years of that government. His understanding of Jacksonville and of the times is impressive."--Joan S. Carver, Jacksonville University In the 1950s and '60s Jacksonville faced daunting problems. Critics described city government as boss-ridden, expensive, and corrupt. African Americans challenged racial segregation, and public high schools were disaccredited. The St. Johns River and its tributaries were heavily polluted. Downtown development had succumbed to suburban sprawl. Consolidation, endorsed by an almost two-to-one majority in 1967, became the catalyst for change. The city's decision to consolidate with surrounding Duval County began the transformation of this conservative, Deep South, backwater city into a prosperous, mainstream metropolis. James B. Crooks introduces readers to preconsolidation Jacksonville and then focuses on three major issues that confronted the expanded city: racial relations, environmental pollution, and the revitalization of downtown. He shows the successes and setbacks of four mayors--Hans G. Tanzler, Jake Godbold, Tommy Hazouri, and Ed Austin--in responding to these issues. He also compares Jacksonville's experience with that of another Florida metropolis, Tampa, which in 1967 decided against consolidation with surrounding Hillsborough County. Consolidation has not been a panacea for all the city's ills, Crooks concludes. Yet the city emerges in the 21st century with increased support for art and education, new economic initiatives, substantial achievements in downtown renewal, and laudable efforts to improve race relations and address environmental problems. Readers familiar with Jacksonville over the last 40 years will recognize events like the St. Johns River cleanup, the building of the Jacksonville Landing, the ending of odor pollution, and the arrival of the Jaguars NFL franchise. During the administration of Mayor Hazouri from 1987 to 1991, Crooks was Jacksonville historian-in-residence at City Hall. Combining observations from this period with extensive interviews and documents (including a cache of files from the mezzanine of the old City Hall parking garage that contained 44 cabinets of letters, memos, and reports), he has written an urban history that will fascinate scholars of politics and governmental reform as well as residents of the First Coast city. James B. Crooks is emeritus professor of history at the University of North Florida

Author: Wanton S. Webb
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Duval County (Fla.)
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Descriptions of communities and businesses in Florida in 1885. Also lists names of residents during the period.

Author: Andrés Sáenz
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441631
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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For two and a half centuries Tejanos have lived and ranched on the land of South Texas, establishing many homesteads and communities. This modest book tells the story of one such family, the Sáenzes, who established Ranchos San José and El Fresnillo. Obtaining land grants from the municipality of Mier in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, these settlers crossed the Wild Horse Desert, known as Desierto Muerto, into present-day Duval County in the 1850s and 1860s. Through the simple, direct telling of his family’s stories, Andrés Sáenz lets readers learn about their homes of piedra (stone) and sillares (large blocks of limestone or sandstone), as well as the jacales (thatched-roof log huts) in which people of more modest means lived. He describes the cattle raising that formed the basis of Texas ranching, the carts used for transporting goods, the ways curanderas treated the sick, the food people ate, and how they cooked it. Marriages and deaths, feasts and droughts, education, and domestic arts are all recreated through the words of this descendent, who recorded the stories handed down through generations. The accounts celebrate a way of life without glamorizing it or distorting the hardships. The many photographs record a picturesque past in fascinating images. Those who seek to understand the ranching and ethnic heritage of Texas will enjoy and profit from Early Tejano Ranching.

Author: Florida Historical Records Survey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Archives
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Author: Pleasant Daniel Gold
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Duval County (Fla.)
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Author: Alfredo E. Cardenas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692318638
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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This book uses a variety of characters, real and imagined, to tell the story of a people who went from being Spaniard to Mexican to American in a short span of 30 years. They struggled to hold on to their land, their language, their culture, and their history-against insurmountable odds. At times this struggle resorted to violence. This is a historical novel depicting the "Plan of San Diego, Texas," one of those times when the struggle became violent. They lived in what can truly be called "Medio Mexico." It was an area that was claimed by distant capitals in Mexico City and Washington DC, but ruled by neither; neither knew or cared much about them. They were caught in between two languages, two cultures, two legal systems, two political systems, and two monetary and economic systems. Despite it all, they survived and flourished. It was not easy by any means; to survive they had to fight and die for what they believed, what they owned, what they knew, what they wanted for their children. This book uses fictional characters to tell their story. The characters are fictional but they are authentic. They are not based on any one person but rather are a compilation of various real persons and the imagination of the author-formed by historical knowledge and his own experiences. Their conversations and interactions with real persons, such as President Woodrow Wilson, President Venustiano Carranza, and all the other historical figures are imaginary but they are based on who these historical figures were, said, and did.

Author: Evan Anders
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292707630
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Four men played leading roles in the political drama that unfolded in South Texas during the first decades of this century: James B. Wells, who ruled as boss of Cameron County and served as leading conservative spokesman of the Democratic Party in Texas; Archer (Archie) Parr, whose ruthless tactics and misuse of public funds in Duval County established him as one of the most notoriously corrupt politicians in Texas history; Manuel Guerra, Mexican American rancher and merchant whose domination of Starr County mirrored the rule of his Anglo counterparts in the border region; John Nance Garner, who served the interests of these bosses of South Texas as he set forth on the road that would lead him to the United States vice-presidency. Evan Anders's Boss Rule in South Texas tells the story of these men and the county rings they shaped in South Texas during the Progressive Era. Power was the byword of the bosses of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Anders explores the sources of that power. These politicos did not shirk from using corrupt and even violent means to attain their goals, but Anders demonstrates that their keen sensitivity to the needs of their diverse constituency was key to their long-term success. Patronage and other political services were their lifeblood, and the allies gained by these ranged from developers and businessmen to ranchers and Mexican Americans, wealthy and poor. Besides examining the workings of the Democratic machines of four South Texas counties, Anders explores the role of the Hispanic populace in shaping the politics of the border region, the economic development of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and its political repercussions, the emergence and nature of progressive movements at both local and state levels, and the part played by the Texas Rangers in supporting bossism in South Texas.