Jacksonville's Southside

Book excerpt: Beneath the asphalt and concrete of Southside's bustling streets lurks a fascinating and surprising history filled with stories from the past that rival anything found in a best-selling novel. From the remains of a Civil War gunboat to an elephant named Miss Chic, the vintage photographs in Images of America: Jacksonville's Southside feature vaudeville performers and lion tamers, peacocks and pioneers, alligators and bears, time capsules and Times Square, towers and turpentine, immigrants and entrepreneurs, Insta-Burger King and Storyland U.S.A., chain gangs and a giant orange T. Rex, underground tunnels, and even a profound "miracle in the pines."