Historic Jackson House to be Honored by Toni Collins
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 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.