BUILDING HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

In 1910 the New York Laundry, a place where all Jacksonville got their collars starched, occupied the present site of the Police Memorial Building. A large fresh water well on site being the primary reason the New York Laundry was appropriately sited and a successful business lasting 60 years. Perhaps this is the true site of the famed Florida Fountain of Youth.

In those days the Police Headquarters Building located at 711 Liberty Street contained the Police HQ functions of the day. An item in favor of this new Bay Street siting for Police Headquarters was the city jail was right across the street.

The current building was conceived in 1967 when Jacksonville Mayor Lou Ritter called for an architect’s competition of the design for a new Police Headquarters Building.

Architect William A. Morgan of Jacksonville, Florida presented the winning design. Mr. Morgan took away a prize of $6,000 topping 48 entrants from many major cites in the United States.

Mr. William Morgan’s architectural theme was a white concrete linearly expansive building covering an area 210’ by 700’ of the 5.7-acre site bound by Bay and Forsyth Streets north to south and Liberty and Catherine Streets east to west.

The building was bid out. There were three excellent bids by experienced contractors. The property was rezoned for City uses. The generous people of the City of Jacksonville put Bond money in place. The architect was ready to start and the optimum site had been selected with two runners-up. The people of Jacksonville would be getting a park, a plaza, a fountain and an overlook plus the required building for Police Headquarters…a true bonus for the City because the building was more than just a building, it was a park, a plaza, a fountain and an overlook also. Further the PMB was recognized and awarded international status from the American Institute of Architecture.