JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A historic Duval County landmark has a new home now after the oldest one-room schoolhouse in Florida was relocated Tuesday to Walter Jones Historical Park in Mandarin.
The schoolhouse was built in 1889, making it almost 130 years old.
It was moved so it could be preserved and also to give the public an opportunity to go inside and learn more about it.
"I think it's terrific," City Councilman Matt Schellenberg said. "I think we need to know about the history of Mandarin as well as what it took to survive in Mandarin 130 years ago."
The Mandarin Museum and Historical Society partnered with Schellenberg, the Mandarin Community Club and Jacksonville's Parks and Recreation Department to save the historic building. The goal, mission and purpose of the schoolhouse was to educate freed slaves.
"This schoolhouse was part of the mission of the sisters of St. Joseph, which was located where St. Joseph Catholic Church is at Loretto and St. Augustine Road," said Karen Droege, of the Mandarin Historical Society. "They were actually recruited to come to America from France in 1866 to teach freed slave children to read and write at that location, so their mission goes way back. The schoolhouse was built in 1889 and was on the property until 1943.
"There's nothing else like it in the area," Droege said. "We are doing a lot of oral interviews with folks that have family members that were either educated in the schoolhouse or others like in the past."
The move of approximately three miles began just before 9 a.m. The flatbed truck carrying the school traveled along Mandarin Road, Westberry Road and San Jose Boulevard, heading north.
"We don't have much clearance at all to get this down, so we're taking the roof structure down and restoring that so we can reassemble that," project coordinator Matthew Rounds said. "That's the biggest part of the project."
The house will be open to the public later this year.