Not later than 1921 this building at 136 W. Bay Street became the Atlantic Hotel. An article in The Florida Times-Union was about a character they referred to as the Human Fly, actually a Mr. Rockett. It reads in part:

"Mr. Rockett had assembled a crowd in downtown Jacksonville Jan. 9, 1921, on the premise of scaling the front of the Atlantic Hotel, a three-story building at Bay and Hogan streets."

It wouldn't be long before all those travelers and freight would hit Jacksonville and keep right on going. The city's days as a destination were doomed by the relentless push southward of Henry Flagler's railroads and hotels. By the time I grew up there in the 1950s, Jacksonville was more or less Atlanta-lite with a beach.

The St. Johns River is still there and more or less the same. The docks are gone, and any buildings that remain are unrecognizably altered. There are a few ghost signs visible here and there in downtown Jacksonville.

I would have loved to have studied under some of the great sign painters of those times. Does anyone know if anything in this picture still exists?