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As Fernandina Beach’s main drag, Centre Street is home to fascinating anecdotes of the people, families and industries that shaped the charming, southern town. Thanks to the Amelia Island Museum of History, the First Coast Register recently took a tour of the street to learn more and share with readers the history behind some of the landmark buildings that line the road.
Palace Saloon
Located at 117 Centre St., the Palace Saloon is the oldest, continuously operating bar in Florida. First built as a haberdashery in 1878, Louis G. Hirth bought the building in 1903 and transformed it into an upper scale drinking establishment for passing mariners. Adolphus Busch, the co-founder of Anheuser-Busch and one of Hirth’s closest friends, helped to design the Palace Saloon, traveling from St. Louis to help oversee the project. Hirth’s other friend was Asa Candler, the founder of Coca-Cola. As a result, the Fernandina landmark was the first hard liquor bar to begin serving Coca-Cola around 1905.
According to the bar’s website, many of its original features still stand today, including inlaid mosaic floors, embossed tin ceilings, hand-carved mahogany caryatids (undraped female fixtures), a 40-foot bar lit with gas lamps and walls painted with six commissioned murals.
Fernandina’s Fantastic Fudge
One of the most popular spots in town for visitors and residents alike, Fernandina’s Fantastic Fudge, located at 218 Centre St., was previously a hardware store that sold wholesale and resale goods. According to the fudge shop’s website, owner Steve Colwell, who had been making candy since he was a high school freshman in Michigan, discovered Fernandina while camping at Fort Clinch State Park. He moved to the town after college to open the shop and began renovations in 1988. Money was tight at first, so Colwell joined the construction crew for the building’s renovation. He subsequently transformed the business from a one-man show into a regionally-recognized establishment, receiving coverage from Southern Living, the Travel Channel, Food TV and other publications and outlets.
Post Office
Located at 401 Centre St., the downtown Fernandina Beach Post Office was officially dedicated as a federal customs house/post office in 1912. The Mediterranean-influenced building was designed by James Knox Taylor, the U.S. Treasury Department's supervising architect and the nephew of President Zachary Taylor. According to the Museum, a federal courthouse used to be housed there as well.
Nassau County Courthouse
Across the street from the Post Office is the Nassau County Courthouse. Built in 1891, this landmark, at 416 Centre St., became famous after former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan delivered a stump speech from atop the Courthouse’s balcony to local townspeople on a hot summer day. The fountain in front of the Courthouse is a replica of the fountain that once stood at the Egmont Hotel, the first tourist hotel in Florida that was built in the late 1870s.
Lesesne House
Built by Dr. John F. Lesesne in 1860, the Lesesne House, located at 415 Centre St., is the oldest residential home on Centre Street and one of the oldest homes in Fernandina Beach. Lesesne left the classical revival style residence and Fernandina during the Civil War and did not return. The property was purchased by the family of Judge John Friend, who had been appointed district tax commissioner after the war by President Andrew Johnson. Friend was a lawyer and served as a county commissioner and judge. At the time of his death in 1978, he was state senator-elect from Nassau County.
The house has stayed within the Friend family for seven generations but is currently for sale. The Museum is uncertain if its sale will end the tradition of the family.
The brick sidewalk adjacent to the house was made by the Friend family’s slaves, according to the Museum. The double galleried home is constructed of hand-hewn lumber fastened with wooden pegs. The Museum believes it was built by ship builders.
St. Peters Episcopal Church
At the corner of 8th Street and Centre Street stands one of Fernandina Beach’s most stunning structures, St. Peters Episcopal Church. The church was built in 1882 in the Gothic Revival architecture style with lancet, arch-shaped windows, a steeply pitched roof, buttressed walls and a tower with a castellated parapet. The tabby walls are 18 inches thick and are overlaid with cement. The Museum believes the church was most likely built by ship builders to impress the townspeople.
According to the Museum, a Yellow Fever epidemic struck Fernandina in 1877, and windows in the church commemorate the children of the church who died, as well as the doctors who responded. Windows also honor famous figures of the town’s history. In 1892, a fire severely damaged the church, leading to further construction of the church, making room for its Harrison pipe organ, among other features.
