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| George Buckland and family in Jacksonville |
The Buckland House is significant to the social history as well as the architectural history of Jacksonville, FL. The home was built around 1909 (property appraiser records have final construction date recorded as 1912) and it currently serves as the headquarters for Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) as well as the Riverside Arts Market (RAM).
The Buckland Family The house on Herschel Street appears to have been built for the Buckland Family and was owned by this family for nearly eighty years. Former owner George Buckland practiced law in Ohio with his father, Ralph Buckland, who was a colleague of former US president Rutherford B. Hayes in the 1840s and a former mayor of Freemont, OH, former member of the US House of Representatives, and a leader of the 72nd Ohio infantry during the Civil War. George Buckland moved to Jacksonville in 1908 to work for the gas company. He was known for his weekly column, "Family Pages from the Past" published in the Florida Metropolis newspaper. He married Grace Huntington and had two daughters: Mary and Charlotte.
Buckland House Becomes the French Primary School
In 1918, Grace and daughter Mary founded the French Primary School at the Buckland House. Grace taught the children French, while Mary attended to their primary education, "The Three R's." The Buckland family continued to live in the home while it served as a school. There are accounts of the butler and maid assisting with moving the furniture to accommodate for desks and such. The French Primary School taught some of Jacksonville's most prominent citizens and operated until Mrs. Buckland's death in the 1940s. Daughter Charlotte never taught at the School, but taught Biology at Duval County Public Schools.
From 1978 to 1990, RAP was headquartered on 2624 Riverside Avenue. The expansion of St. Vincents Medical Center made the relocation of 2624 necessary for that home's only salvation. RAP saved the house by moving it to Powell Place, a street zoned for strictly residential use, and in the process lost it as its offices. Harry Blanton, a long-time supporter and resident on Herschel Street, learned of RAP's predicament and reached out to Helen Chatfield Black of Cincinnati, OH who had inherited the Buckland House from her cousin Charlotte Buckland in 1990. Mrs. Black was so moved by RAP's story and circumstance that in an extraordinary act of generosity deeded the Buckland House to our organization. The Buckland House was officially dedicated as our new headquarters on March 16, 1991. This year marked the 20th anniversary of RAP owning the Buckland House.
1 comment:
Thank you so much Ms. Lavernia for posting this. I was a student of Miss Charlotte Buckland in my senior year at Landon High School in 1963. I was looking back on that time and saw her photo in my senior yearbook and decided I wanted to know more about her. Your post was the first clue to what I found to be her rich heritage. The entire history of her family collected by her father, George Buckland, is now part of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum in Fremont, Ohio. According to information published on their website, her father was the youngest son of Civil War General Ralph P. Buckland and Charlotte Boughton Buckland. My high school biology teacher, Charlotte Buckland was their granddaughter, named after her grandmother.
P.Lavoro
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