| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 1074 W King Street — Freedom Trail |
| | This was the home of Mrs. Georgie Mae Reed (1926-1995), who took part in one of the most famous events in the civil rights movement that changed America and inspired the world.
On March 31, 1964, Mrs. Reed was one of five St. Augustine women who accompanied Mrs. Mary Peabody, the 72 year old mother of the governor of Massachusetts, to the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge on U.S. 1 North. The group sat down in the restaurant there and asked to be served. They were arrested instead.
That event . . . — Map (db m17916) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 112 M.L. King Avenue |
| | This house was built between 1904 and 1910 on what was then called Central Avenue. The name was changed in 1986. There are many streets in America named to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but this one is special because he actually walked on it in the course of changing history.
In 1964 this was the home of Robert Victor Bell, who worked for the Post Office, and his wife Willie Mae Bell. The family was active in the civil rights movement, and their daughter, Veronica, was one of the . . . — Map (db m17915) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 120 DeHaven Street |
| | This house was built in the 1920s and purchased a decade later by Jutson Ayers, who worked as an alligator wrestler for a quarter of a century at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm before his death in 1958. His widow, Mrs. Rena Ayers, gave important support to the civil rights movement of the 1960s by providing lodging for out-of-towners who came here to support the movement.
In March 2005, when she was 100 years old, Mrs. Ayers had a visit from one of those she had hosted 41 years before. . . . — Map (db m17914) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 156 M.L. King Avenue |
| | The house at 156 Central Avenue was built in the 1950's for Mrs. Janie Price, a nurse at Flagler Hospital. She had taken her nurse's training at Grady Hospital in Atlanta in the 1940s and while there had attended dances with students from Morehouse College--one of them a teenager named Martin Luther King, Jr.
When Dr. King came to St. Augustine during the campaign that led to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, this was one of the houses where he stayed. Mrs. Price . . . — Map (db m7627) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 177 Twine Street — Freedom Trail |
| | The event that brought the civil rights movement in St. Augustine to international attention was the arrest of Mary Parkman Peabody (1891-1981), the 72-year old mother of the Governor of Massachusetts, for trying to be served in a racially integrated group at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge on March 31, 1964. The socially prominent Mrs. Peabody, whose husband was an Episcopal bishop, and who was related to Eleanor Roosevelt, stayed here at 177 Twine Street when she was not in the St. Johns County . . . — Map (db m7610) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 31 King Street |
| | The Ponce de Leon Shopping Center opened in 1955 as the first downtown shopping center in St. Augustine. It was designated by Morris Lapidus (1902-2001), Florida's most famous mid-twentieth century architect, and is the only example of his work in the Ancient City. It was anchored by a Woolworth's store on the west side (the door handles still say Woolworth's). On February 1, 1960, black college students in Greensboro, N.C. began a sit-in at their Woolworth's lunch counter to protest racial . . . — Map (db m7696) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 33 Bernard Street |
| | Bernard Street is one of three historically black residential streets in the North City area, dating back to the Flagler Era. At the west end of the street were a lumber yard, steam laundry, and ice plant that provided employment. Other residents worked at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind and the Fountain of Youth.
In the early twentieth century, Dawson Chapel C.M.E., Hurst Chapel A.M.E., and North City Baptist Church were built on Bernard St.
Many residents were . . . — Map (db m17913) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 57 Chapin Street |
| | 57 Chapin Street was once the home of Willie Galimore (1935-1964), the most famous athlete to come from St. Augustine. A three-time Pittsburgh Courier All-American football player at Florida A & M University under the legendary coach Jake Gaither, Galimore is now a member of the College Hall of Fame. He played professionally for the Chicago Bears under coach George Halas from 1957 until his tragic death in an auto accident in 1964. He was nicknamed "Galloping Gal" and renowned for his speed. . . . — Map (db m7732) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 64 Washington Street — ACCORD Freedom Trail |
| | 64 Washington Street was the Florida State Headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during and after the civil rights demonstrations of 1964. SCLC was founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56. The first executive director of SCLC was a former St. Augustinian, Dr. John Tilley (1898-1971). He had lived here while serving as president of Florida Normal (later Florida Memorial) College in the 1940s. In charge of . . . — Map (db m7607) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 79 Bridge Street |
| | The Rudcarlie Building at 79 Bridge Street was built in the 1950's by Dr. Rudolph N. Gordon (1901-1959) and named for the members of his family. Rudolph, Carlotta, and Rosalie. It was the first medical/dental office constructed in St. Augustine without racially segregated waiting rooms.
After Dr. Gordon's death, the office was rented to Dr. Robert B. Hayling, a dentist who became a prominent leader of the civil rights movement in St. Augustine. Many of the planning sessions for the . . . — Map (db m7640) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 8 Dr. R.B. Hayling Place |
| | The house at 8 Scott Street was built in the 1950s as part of Rollins Subdivision, a new residential area where many prominent black St. Augustinians made their homes. In the early 1960s it was the residence of Dr. Robert B. Hayling and family. A dentist and Air Force veteran from Tallahassee, Dr. Hayling became the leader of the civil rights movement in St. Augustine. This house became a target for racist attacks. In one of them, the family dog was killed and Mrs. Hayling narrowly escaped . . . — Map (db m7628) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 96 Evergreen Avenue |
| | Zion Baptist Church, with its distinctive double towers, was built in 1921 to house a congregation originally organized in 1886. It is the last house of worship passed by many funerals on their way to several nearby cemeteries, including the one from which the street takes its name: Evergreen.
It was one of the churches where civil rights rallies were held in the 1960's when St. Augustine was the site of a major campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King and Dr. Robert B. Hayling that . . . — Map (db m7803) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — 97 M.L. King Avenue |
| | 97 Martin Luther King Avenue was built in the 1920s by Frederick E. Martin, a prominent Lincolnville businessman whose name is set in the tile inside the front door. It was a popular confectionery and sundries store under many owners, drawing some of its customers from three neighboring schools: Excelsior, St. Benedict, and the Presbyterian Parochial and Industrial School.
The back section of the building, along Dehaven Street, was added in the mid 1920s. It served first as a pool room, . . . — Map (db m7727) |
| Florida (St. Johns County), St. Augustine — Gault Street |
| | Gault Street was one of the historically black residential streets in North City. Many residents worked at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, the Fountain of Youth, laundries and ice plants that were once located in the area.
Three Victorian houses on the west side of the street were built in the 1880's. Most of the houses on the east side of the street were built in the 1920's by Henry Proctor, descendant of one of the famous free black families of colonial Florida whose story . . . — Map (db m7580) |
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