Jacksonville

Jacksonville is named for a man who never visited it and became America's largest city by absorbing everything around it. In 1822, settlers petitioned to name their St. Johns River crossing after Andrew Jackson, Florida's first territorial governor. Jackson never set foot there; he was too busy becoming president. The town grew slowly as a cotton and timber port, constrained by a river so shallow that transatlantic ships couldn't enter until the Army Corps of Engineers began dredging in the 1820s.

The defining moment came in 1968, when Jacksonville did something unprecedented: it consolidated with all of Duval County, creating a single governmental entity spanning 874 square miles—the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States. What drove consolidation was crisis: the city and county governments were failing separately, with corruption scandals and a deteriorating tax base. Merger solved the governance problem while creating an enormous territory that could absorb growth without suburban flight.

The military found Jacksonville's river mouth irresistible. Naval Station Mayport opened in 1942, followed by Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Today the city hosts the third-largest military presence in America, behind only Norfolk and San Diego, generating $6.1 billion in annual economic impact. JAXPORT handles 18 million short tons of cargo yearly, contributing $44 billion to the regional economy and employing 258,800 people.

Jacksonville now ranks 3rd nationally for economic momentum, with a 43% GDP jump and 25% export surge in recent years. Over 100 new residents arrive daily, pushing the population past one million—making it Florida's most populous city by residents, not just by land. By 2026, the question is whether Jacksonville's sprawling footprint becomes an asset (room to grow) or a liability (infrastructure costs across 874 square miles). The city that ate its county must now figure out how to digest it.