1920 Colored Masonic Map of David City, Florida (Proposed African-American town near Jacksonville)

A unique c. 1920 broadside map promoting the development of an all-African American town, 'David City', in Putnam County, Florida. The city was planned by the African American Masonic Lodge of Jacksonville, for settlement by its members, on the abandoned site of a female-operated African American Masonic convalescent home. The map provides unique insight into the role of African American philanthropy and values in northern Florida in the early 20th century.

Sisco, Florida

Little is known of David City, this being the only known tangible reference. The textual content suggests it was to be located twelve miles south of Palatka, on the 'site formally known as Cisco'. There was a town by the name 'Sisco', and indeed Sisco is a street on this very map. The town was founded in 1884 by 7th Day Adventists Henry W. and Claire Sisco. The town was well situated on both the Dixie Highway (US 17) and the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway, which in 1902 became the Atlantic Coast Line, as indicated here. For a time, it thrived, and a railroad depot was established to support the local citrus and lumber industry. The town was laid low during the historic Freeze of 1895, and from this point forward the population declined. The railroad station closed in 1920 and, according to Alvers and Mahaffey, 'the former Sisco building [was] purchased by a female African-American Mason organization that ran it as a convalescence home.' We suspect this is the 'Colored Masonic Home' referenced on the broadside. The home was torn down around 1932 to accommodate the construction of US 17. Today little more than a railroad crossing and the name 'Sisco' survive. This area is now part of Dunn's Creek State Park. Looking at satellite footage, some older dirt paths and boundary markers do suggest the partitions indicated here, particularly the '5 Acres' in the northwest. It is nonetheless evident that 'David City' never got off the ground. Given the name, it was likely the brainchild of Daniel David Powell, head of the Jacksonville African American Masonic Lodge, and a local philanthropist. Although undated, this map of David City can date no earlier than 1920, as the railroad station is absent, and no later than 1932, when US 17 was constructed through this area.

African American Masons of Florida

The Most Worshipful Union Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Florida was established in Jacksonville in 1870. It quickly rose to become one of the largest and wealthiest African American Masonic Temples in the United States. David Daniel Powell (1868 - 1946) was Grand Master of the Jacksonville Temple from 1916 - 1944. The organization's Masonic Temple which still stands in Jacksonville at Broad and Duval Streets was built in 1912 - 1913. It remains one of the grandest Masonic buildings in Florida. Powell's secretary/treasurer for this town enterprise was Abraham Lincoln Lewis (1865 - 1947), also named on the map. Lewis was the founder, in 1901, of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, 'the first old line legal reserve insurance company established in the South for colored people.' He also helped create American Beach, 'an ideal summer resort' owned by the African American insurance company employees. Additionally, Lewis organized the Afro-American Pension Bureau in 1903, and assisted Booker T. Washington in establishing the National Negro Business League in 1904. (The Crisis, Jan. 1942, Vol. 49, No. 1.)

Publication History and Census

No publishing history, imprint, reference, or other known examples survive.