JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Being Florida's first large city, Jacksonville remains a Sunshine State anomaly in that its early development was largely driven by manufacturing.
A significant port and railroad hub by the late 19th century, the city's urban core was the home of industries ranging from shipyards, cigars and paper mills to fertilizer factories, breweries and assembly plants churning out Ford Model Ts and Innes luxury automobiles.
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Like its industrialized peers in the Northeast and Midwest, the city's urban core fell into decline after World War II as its manufacturing sector disintegrated.
Today, this means industrial relics of the city's past can be found along the rail lines that put it on the map during the Reconstruction Era. One of those interesting relics, the remains of Farris & Company, quietly stands just west of Honeymoon Yard near downtown. What many may not know is that this four-story structure was a major slaughterhouse for nearly four decades.
The story of Farris & Company starts with Najeeb Easa Farris, a Syrian immigrant who was born on April 6, 1883.
According to "Immigrant Jacksonville: A Profile of Immigrant Groups in Jacksonville, FL, 1890-1920," a University of North Florida Digital Commons document, during the turn of the 20th century, Syrian immigrants in Jacksonville typically owned businesses selling produce, dry goods and groceries.