Jackson Home 1880s photo. Pictured – Dr. Jackson; Sally Shands, Mary’s sister; and Mary Shands Jackson. Photo from Florida Memory Project

          The residence of Dr. James Middleton Jackson and his wife, Mary Glenn (née Shands) will soon be recognized with a Florida Historic Marker. The 1880s frame vernacular building currently serves as the Town Hall of the Town of Bronson.

            At the request of the Bronson Town Council, the Levy County Historical Society assembled the required documentation and filed an application for a marker with the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation. The State Historical Marker Council, who review requests for markers, met by Webinar on Friday, July 24 in Tallahassee. Historical Society President, Toni Collins presented the application on behalf of the Bronson Town Council.

            The manufacturer of the marker requires about 12 weeks and the finished marker will be placed next to the entry steps to the Town Hall. While waiting for the arrival of the marker, the Historical Society is preparing and will submit a grant application to the Division of Historical Resources for a small matching grant to offset a portion of the costs of the marker.

            The Jackson and Shands families migrated to Hamilton County, Florida, from Chester County, South Carolina. Jackson graduated from the Medical College of New Orleans, now Tulane University, and the couple married in 1858. Jackson enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and served as a surgeon in the company Captain E.J. Lutterloh of Cedar Key.

            In 1866, the Jackson’s son, James M. Jackson, Jr., was born in White Springs, and the family moved to Bronson shortly thereafter. For more than 50 years, Dr. Jackson cared for the people of Levy County, not only as their physician, but also as a member of the Levy County School Board and County Commission. Mary Shands came from a family who worked long and hard to bring health care to North Central Florida.

            James Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. He set up practice in Miami in 1896 and upon his death in 1924, Miami City Hospital was renamed Jackson Memorial Hospital in his honor.

            The Jackson home was formerly situated where the Drummond Community Bank is located today. The building was relocated to the present site in 1998.

———————

Press release submitted by Toni C. Collins, Historical Society President; Posted August 5, 2020