St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville
Encyclopedia
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and became the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida
Episcopal Diocese of Florida
The Episcopal Diocese of Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . It originally comprised the whole state of Florida, but is now bounded on the west by the Apalachicola River, on the north by the Georgia state line, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the...
in 1951.
History
The congregation was founded in 1834 as St. John's Parish and is one of the seven original parishes when the Diocese of Florida was received into union with the General Convention in 1838.According to the cornerstone for the present Cathedral, the first St. Johns Church was built in 1842 and burned in 1862 during the Civil War. In the early 1870s, Edward T. Potter designed a new St. Johns and initial construction began in 1873. The church was completed and dedicated in 1877. In 1902 a new church building had to be designed by design firm Snelling and Potter when the original structure burned in the Great Fire of 1901
Great Fire of 1901
The Great Fire of 1901 in Jacksonville, Florida was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the largest urban fire in the Southeast. It was similar in scale and destruction to the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.-Origin:...
. St. John's Cathedral was completed and consecrated in 1906.
St. John's is the only cathedral in Jacksonville. Inside the building is cavernous; built in the Gothic Revival architectural style, stained-glass windows line the walls. In 1983, Advent Glass Works restored and/or repaired all stained glass in the Cathedral, the Cloister and the Cummings Chapel.
School
The St. Johns Cathedral School is sponsored by the Cathedral and Diocese and includes infants to Pre-K 4. They also receive funding from the Jessie Ball duPont FundJessie Ball duPont Fund
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund, "Florida's leading national foundation", is a charitable foundation that issues grants to organizations that received support from Jessie Ball duPont during the years 1960-1964 inclusive...
.
Cafe
Clara's at the Cathedral Café is a cooperative project between the Cathedral and the School of Culinary Arts at the Clara White MissionClara White Mission
The Clara White Mission is a non-profit organization in downtown Jacksonville, Florida that advocates for the poor and provides social services...
. Every Friday since April 13, 2007, a luncheon has been prepared by the students and staff from the Mission's culinary school. The meal is very reasonably priced and attracts workers from downtown businesses and retirees.
