| St. Augustine Rebounds 1965-1990 ab urbe condita - 400 to 435 |
| "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on." Omar Khayyam Airport Authority In 1964 the Airport Authority was created. Great Cross On October 30, 1966 the Great Cross was dedicated at the Mission of Numbre de Dios. The cross is 208 feet tall and weighs 70 tons. End of the Ponce de Leon Hotel (Difficile est longum subito deponere amorem - It is difficult to suddenly give up a long love. Catullus) The 1967 season is the final one for the old Ponce de Leon hotel. The final dinner dance was held on April 5, 1967. Beginning of Flagler College The doors of the old Ponce de Leon hotel were reopened as Flagler college in the fall of 1968 by Dr. F. Roy Carlson the President of Mount Ida Jr. College in Newton Mass. They had purchased the old building for 1.5 million dollars. Biltmore Campbell Smith Restoration firm was paid $19 million to renovate and retrofit, 2 million to restore dinning hall. The college had tough times until a reorganization in 1971 removed the 1.5 million debt for the building and allowed new individuals to expand the vision of Flagler to a four year, independent college under chairman Lawrence Lewis. Most interesting college professor -- Richard Boone, "Have Gun Will Travel" as a drama professor. The college was founded as a four-year women's college. St. Johns Welfare Federation and Nursing Care In 1969 the St. Johns Welfare Federation was given the responsibility of managing the Buckingham Smith skilled nursing facility. Flagler Receives a New President In 1970-1971 Flagler College was reorganized as a coeducational college and Dr. William L. Proctor was appointed President. St. Photos Shrine In April of 1971 the Greek Orthodox Church purchased the property where the Rev. Dr. Camps ministered to his parish. The building was made into the St. Photos Shrine to celebrate the founding of the Orthodox Church in America. It wads dedicated on April 3, 1971 by Archbishop Lakovas. ECHO House In 1973 the ECHO House was established. It was done through the generosity of Mrs. Clarissa Anderson Gibbs in memory of her father, the late Dr. Andrew Anderson. The project started at 100 Central Ave. (M L King today). It would provide for the Lincolnville community tutoring, a branch library, an arts and crafts outlet, alcoholism counseling, group meetings and general counseling services. Mrs. Rosalie Gordon-Mills was the President- director with Mrs. Eli Calhoun, Mrs. Carrie Carswell, Rev. Thomas B. DeSue, Dr. James J. Devito, Mrs. Clarrissa A. Gibbs, Rev. Msgr. James Heslin, Dr. Ronald F. Jackson, A Malcolm Jones, Otis Mason and Rev. David Redding on the board. It remains an unfulfilled dream today. Flagler College Accredited In 1973-74 Flagler College received initial accreditation from the Commission on colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and schools. Athalia Lindsley's Murder January 23, 1974 was the great unsolved murder of Athalia Lindsley. Athalia was a model and showgirl who had married the former mayor of St. Augustine John Lindsley. She was murdered on the front lawn of her house by someone with a machete. The accused was Alan G. Stanford, the manager of St. Johns County. He was not convicted by a jury trial. If you are interested in this story you'll want to read Bloody Sunset in St. Augustine. Statue of Father Camps In 1975 on the site of the former Bishop's house next to the Cathedral a statue of Father Camps was erected. Dedicated on April 24, 1975, the statue was executed in Barecolona, Spain by Joseph Viladomat. Ponce de Leon Hall (Flagler Hotel) listed in National Register of Historic Places (May 6, 1975) - The Hotel Ponce de Leon has a high degree of integrity, which is especially remarkable in light of its age, historic function, and semi-tropical location. Continuity of ownership and operation are significant factors in its preservation. Flagler interests continued the hotel operation for 79 years, and specifically chose an adaptive use that would preserve the historic hotel and its grounds, Henry M. Flagler’s first extraordinary legacy in the state of Florida. Lawrence Lewis, Jr., Flagler’s grandnephew and founder of Flagler College, envisioned the school as a memorial to Flagler. Flagler College opened in the former Hotel Ponce de Leon in 1968 without significant alterations to the building, launching an ambitious, long-term rehabilitation and restoration program in 1975. Rehabilitation work began with the dormitory rooms (the original guest rooms), followed by restoration of the towers (1978-1979), the Grand Parlor (1982-1987), the Dining Room (1986-1992, by Biltmore Campbell Smith of Asheville, North Carolina), and the Rotunda (1991-1995). In 1981-1982, major rehabilitation of the former service building, now known as Kenan Hall, provided the college with modern classrooms and office space for faculty members. Handicapped accessibility and fire safety modifications, including fire escapes at the southeast and southwest corners of the main hotel building and a handicapped ramp along the west wall of the courtyard, were in keeping with the building’s historic character and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. Balconies, roofs, the lantern on the dome, windows, and floors have also been stabilized, rehabilitated, or restored. In 2001, the perimeter wall was restored, and the College recently qualified for a grant to rehabilitate the Boiler House and the adjacent Artists’ Studios. The rehabilitation plans for this project were developed in consultation with the Florida State Historic Preservation Office, and fully comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. (from National Park Service Documentation). Allen D. Nease High School Nease High School opened in the fall of 1981. It was named after Allen Duncan Nease a member of the St. Johns County School Board. The school originally opened to grades 7 to 10. - W. D. Hartley Elementary School In January of 1982 the Orange Street School in downtown St. Augustine closed. The staff and students were moved to the new Hartley Elementary school. This school was named after the longest serving school superintendent in St. Johns Public School history. He was elected school superintendent 7 terms in a row for a total of 28 years. He oversaw the difficult task of desegregating St. Johns County Public Schools. The school was designed for 600 students. Among the principals of the school are Delores Rowley, Lionel Key, Patricia Roberson and Mary Seymour. The Burning of Hastings March 26, 1985 "Fire leveled almost an entire downtown block in this farming community early today, leaving smoldering rubble of what had been seven stores. On the west side of Main Street, across from the burned-out block, heat was so intense in the height of the fire that it broke glass in shops and offices. Cans of food exploding in the burning stores and glass windows shattering sounded like artillery fire. This morning, sidewalks were littered wit the broken shards of glass. Bricks also littered the street from a building that collapsed during the fire. Fire departments from Palatka and three other units from neighboring Putnam County as well as Riverdale, Bakerville, Crescent Beach, St. Augustine Shores and St. Augustine South in St. Johns County brought men, women and equipment to fight the flames. After buildings in the middle of the block collapsed, firefighters concentrated on keeping the blaze from spreading southward to the Hastings Holiness Church, which has been meeting in the old Atlantic Bank of Hastings building at the corner of Main and Cochran Street. Firefighters were able to halt the flames before they caused more than "very minor damage" to the bank building, a town landmark. Stores that burned from the north end to the south were Subs and Such, Lovett's Grocery Store, an office formerly occupied by Hairlock that was vacant, Roger's Trash and Treasury, Jim Wright's Supply Store, Minnie Bates clothing store, two newly renovated buildings -- one that was to be used for offices and the other for a laundromat -- and Merry's Antiques, which had been renovated two years ago. Lovett's, the oldest business on the block, had been in that location since 1939 when it moved from the west side of the road following another fire about 1935, according to former owner Bob Lovett. Lovett and his uncle opened the grocery store in 1926 in a building that stood near where the Hastings Library is located. Lovett's uncle died in 1929, and his brother, Paul, joined the business until 1932. Lovett then ran the store by himself until two years ago, when he sold it to Frank McDaniel." Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue January 27, 1986 Central Ave is renamed by the City of St. Augustine as "Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue" on the signs however: M. L. King Avenue. "And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot |
| Great Cross |
| Athalia Lindsley House |
| Father Camps Statute |
| Richard Boone House |
| Richard Boone Neil Kutcen Collection |