Category: History

By Mickey Starling Riverbend News In the weeks before Christmas in 1901, the joy of the season was lessened by a couple of tragedies in the area, as well as a bit…

By Lee Trawick Riverbend News In 1859, a mild, meek looking religious family moved to a small village named Bellville, in Hamilton County. The family’s name was Powell: among the children in the…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News Marjory Stoneman Douglas was born in 1890 and moved to Miami as a young woman when the city’s population was still under 5,000 to work for her…

By Ashley Hunter Riverbend News “We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as…

Exploring Florida Contributor Throughout his career, Edison directed his studies to devices that could satisfy real needs and come into popular use. Indeed, it may be said that in applying himself to technology,…

By Gene Hall Youth Minister Providence M. B. Church Contributor “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God”  (Hebrew 3:4). I was at a luncheon the…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News There are certain people in history who may not be what some picture when they think of the word “pioneer.” The image of a pioneer is usually accompanied…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News The Suwannee River has and continues to affect all communities that live off the river. It has affected everything from commerce and schooling to farming and ranching. It…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News There are times in history when certain things happen simply because it was at the right place at the right time. The rivers of the Withlacoochee and the…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News When America won independence in 1776, another battle was already brewing at home. Although the freshly born United States of America didn’t have the power of a centuries…

Gus Potsdamer (Pottsdammer) was born in 1853 in Germany. He died on Friday, Jan. 4, 1918 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Florida Times Union obit, Saturday,…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News Florida is a unique state in many ways. Perhaps its most glaring difference to the rest of the nation is the amount of people who live here seasonally,…

By Starr Munro Riverbend News Florida’s 14th and 15th counties were created the day after Christmas, in 1827, nearly 194 years ago. Madison County, named after James Madison, the fourth president of…

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration in August 1941. Its main responsibility was to place a ceiling on prices of most goods to prevent wartime price gouging and to…

By Starr Munro: Riverbend News The story of the first Thanksgiving has been taught to school children every year since the time of small school houses. It’s common knowledge that the Pilgrims…

By Starr Munro: Riverbend News So much of history has been forgotten, either by accident or on purpose. Scholars around the world still mourn over the vast knowledge held in the Library…

By Starr Munro: Riverbend News The following is history told from Sylvanus M. Hankins, Private Company D, Florida Reserve Regiment, of America’s Confederate soldiers. Initially written in longhand in an old account…