First European Contact on First Coast
The First Coast was inhabited by its native residents the Timucuan Indians a couple of decades before Juan Ponce de León landed in 1513 and took possession of this territory for Spain on his fabled journey to find the Fountain of Youth.
Jean Ribault, a French naval explorer, landed on the First Coast in 1562 and in 1564 his lieutenant René Goulaine de Laudonnière of France established the Fort Caroline settlement near the mouth of the Saint Johns River in an area that is now part of the modern city of Jacksonville. A year later, in order to defend and maintain Spanish sovereignty over Florida, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés destroyed the French colony and founded the city which he named for Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo, upon whose feast day he sighted the coast.
Under the Spanish Colonial Empire
Throughout the following 256 years, it was the northern most outpost of the Spanish colonial empire except for 20 years from 1763 to 1783 when Spain ceded control of Florida to Great Britain. Much of the Spanish and remaining native population left the area under British rule. In 1783, at the end of the Revolutionary War, Britain ceded Florida back to Spain which began the second period of Spanish rule. It was at this time that early colonist immigrated to the First Coast, under Spanish flag, from parts of the United States.
Florida becomes part of the United States
Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain was finally signed and ratified in 1821, giving all of Spanish Florida to the United States for the sum of 5 million dollars. The entire amount was paid directly to citizens with claims against the Spanish government. This gesture by the secretary of state and co-author, John Quincy Adams, assured the treaty's popularity in the United States.
American settlement of the First Coast grew rapidly after Florida became part of the United States in 1821. The city of Jacksonville was formally established in 1832; this period also saw the founding other cities within the First Coast. A lingering symbol of Spanish power in the First Coast is the massive Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine. Construction was begun on the fortress in 1672 and it is the oldest fort still standing in the United States.
Civil War and Beyond
On January 10, 1861, forty years after becoming part of the United States, Florida aligned itself with other southern states and seceded. Jacksonville, an important Southern port, changed hands several times during the Civil War, although never with a battle. By mid 1862, most of the First Coast was in Union hands, and would remain so for the duration of the war.
Henry Flagler, Financier and co-founder of Standard Oil, became interested in Florida and in mid-1880 began to develop Florida’s Atlantic Coast for tourism. He established Saint Augustine as a winter resort for the very wealthy. It was here that Flagler built two hotels, the 540-room Ponce de Leon which has since become Flagler College and the Alcazar, and purchased the third from a competitor, renaming it the Cordova.