Putnam County is a county located in the northern part of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 73,321. Its county seat is Palatka.
St. Johns County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 273,425. The county seat and most populous incorporated city is St. Augustine, although the nearby community, St. Johns, has a higher population. St. Johns County is part of the Jacksonville metropolitan area.
Lakeside is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Clay County, Florida, United States. It is part of the greater Orange Park area. The population was 31,275 at the 2020 census.
Palatka is a city in and the county seat of Putnam County, Florida, United States. Palatka is the principal city of the Palatka Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to 72,893 residents. The city is also home to St. Johns River State College, St. Johns River Water Management District Headquarters, and Ravine Gardens State Park. The area is well known for its local festivals, most notably the Florida Azalea Festival and the Blue Crab Festival. The population was 10,446 at the 2020 census.
Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity.
The Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, also called the First Coast, Metro Jacksonville, or Northeast Florida, is the metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Jacksonville, Florida and including the First Coast of North Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, the total population was 1,605,848. The Jacksonville–St. Marys–Palatka, FL–GA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) had a population of 1,733,937 in 2020 and was the 34th largest CSA in the United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area is the 40th largest in the country and the fourth largest in the State of Florida, behind the Miami, Tampa, and Orlando metropolitan areas.
State Road 207 is a four-lane state highway in northeast Florida, extending from US 17 in East Palatka, Florida at the southwest end to US 1 in St. Augustine, Florida at the northeastern end.
Kelley R. Smith is an American former politician in the state of Florida. He served as a representative in the Florida House of Representatives.
Robert L. McLendon Jr. was an American academic, and the former president of St. Johns River Community College based in Palatka, Florida. He served as the president from 1972 to 2008, and his 36 year tenure made him one of the longest-serving presidents in the history of the Florida Community Colleges System. McLendon was instrumental in transitioning the school from a community college to a state college, leading it to becoming St. Johns River State College, as well as developing two more campuses in Orange Park and St. Augustine. McLendon graduated with his bachelor's degree from Florida Southern College. He received his master's degree and doctorate from Florida State University. McLendon had previously served as vice-president and dean of academic affairs at SJRCC before he was appointed president.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Florida.
The Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail (PLB) corridor stretches nearly 47 miles (76 km) from the vicinity of Lake Butler, Florida to Palatka, Florida. The project is located along the former Georgia Southern and Florida Railway right-of-way and the trail is being constructed on top of the existing abandoned railroad bed through Putnam, Clay, Bradford, and Union counties.
Education in Jacksonville, Florida is available through both public and private sources.
Palatka High School is a public high school located in Palatka, Florida, operated by the Putnam County School Board. The school was established 1977 after merging two existing schools - Palatka Central and Palatka South. The campus has completed several renovation projects with science labs, new classrooms, a performing arts area, and office areas. Palatka High School serves the Palatka and East Palatka areas. Current student enrollment is about 1,400, drawing students from Jenkins Middle School. Students attend 7 classes per day, taking a wide variety of courses, including dual enrollment courses at St. Johns River State College. PHS offers Honors and AP courses and a variety of elective classes including Art and Journalism. Florida Virtual School is also an option for students.
The Ride Solution is a non-profit agency that provides public transportation in the city of Palatka, as well as other communities in Putnam County, Florida. The Palatka Union Depot serves as the systems hub, offering access to Greyhound and Amtrak routes. Inter-county routes connect Putnam County to Jacksonville's JTA transit system, and the Gainesville Regional Transit System. Due to the diffused population and rural nature of Putnam County, adequate public transportation is difficult to accomplish. As such, a secondary goal of Ride Solution is to address rural transportation issues.
Putnam County Barge Port is a port facility and industrial development area located in Palatka, Florida, United States. Positioned on the waters of the St. Johns River, tenants enjoy access to navigable waters maintained at 40 feet by the Army Corps of Engineers. The area is also accessible by CSX rail line and US 17. Management and development of the site is conducted through Putnam County Port Authority. The barge port has a 410-foot-long (120 m) wharf. Most of the barge freight is paper products. Major port facilities are located 60 miles downriver in Jacksonville.
Gibbs Junior College was created in 1957 by the Pinellas County Board of Public Instruction to serve African-American students in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was the first and most successful of Florida's eleven new African-American junior colleges, founded in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the racial integration mandated by the unanimous 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision. It was named for the minister and abolitionist Jonathan C. Gibbs, who opened a private school for freed slaves after the Civil War, and was later Florida's Secretary of State (1868–1872) and then Superintendent of Public Instruction, the first African-American member of the Florida Cabinet.
Collier-Blocker Junior College, located at 1100 N. 19th Street in Palatka, Florida, opened its doors in 1960. It was one of eleven black junior colleges founded in the late 1950s at the initiative of the Florida Legislature. Since racial integration in schools was prohibited in the Florida Constitution of 1885 then in effect, the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated in the unanimous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954 by demonstrating that a "separate but equal" higher education system existed in Florida for African Americans.
Lincoln Junior College, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States, opened its doors in 1960, at the same time as Indian River Junior College, restricted to white students. It was designed to serve Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, and St. Lucie counties. It was one of eleven black community colleges which were founded, at the urging of the Florida Legislature, in the late 1950s and early 1960s to show that a "separate but equal" educational system for blacks existed in Florida; the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated by the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. At the time, there was no nearby college for Negroes, while the distances and lack of funding effectively closed off most local blacks from college.
Johnson Junior College, located at 1200 N. Beecher St. in Leesburg, Florida, opened its doors in 1962 for black students at the same time as Lake-Sumter Junior College for white students. It was designed to serve Lake and Sumter Counties. It was one of eleven black community colleges which were founded, at the urging of the Florida Legislature, in the late 1950s and early 1960s to show that a "separate but equal" educational system for blacks existed in Florida; the Legislature wished to avoid the integration mandated by the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. At the time, there was no nearby college for Negroes, and the distances and lack of funding effectively closed off most local Blacks from college.
