Join us on Saturday, May 6th, 2023 in downtown Jacksonville for the Jacksonville Great Fire Run 5km. This race will follow the outline of the Great Fire boundary of May 3rd, 1901. The Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901 was the largest metropolitan fire in the American South. The fire began on May 3, 1901, with a spark from a kitchen fire at lunchtime that ignited piles of drying Spanish moss at a nearby mattress factory.
Located at Davis and Beaver streets, the factory fire soon spread to most of the downtown area. Smoke could be seen as far north as Savannah, Georgia. By 8:30 p.m., when the fire was brought under control, 2,368 buildings were destroyed, 10,000 people were homeless and seven residents were dead. In all, 146 city blocks were destroyed. The Confederate Monument in Hemming Park was one of the few city landmarks to survive the fire.